Greek FM Nikos Kotzias is on a official state visit in Cyprus, his first one after being re-appointed to the position of Foreign Minister in September. Yesterday (26.10), Kotzias met with this Cypriot counterpart, Ioannis Kasoulides, and Archbishop Chrysostomos II of Cyprus.
After their official talks in Nicosia, Kasoulides and Kotzias gave a joint press conference, during which Kotzias talked about the Cyprus issue as an “issue of occupation, of violation of international rules and international law”. Kotzias called for the reunification of the island “in a federal, bizonal, bicommunal republic of Cyprus” emphasizing that “for this to happen, of course the occupation forces must be withdrawn, and my views on the guarantees are well known.”
In an interview to Cyrpus’ newspaper “Phileleftheros” ahead of the visit on Sunday (25.10), Kotzias said that “attempting to maintain the guarantees means a pretext for non-solution of the Cyprus problem. A member state of the European Union cannot be subject to third-country guarantees.”
Today Kotzias is set to meet with President Nicos Anastasiades and later with the head of the House of Representatives Yiannakis Omirou.
TAGS: FOREIGN AFFAIRS | GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
