Britain is strongly supportive of settlement talks between Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and the Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, said Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, while assuring that his country will do everything in its power to ensure a successful outcome.
Hammond, who is paying a working visit to Cyprus, met on Friday with his Cypriot counterpart, Ioannis Kasoulides, at the Foreign Ministry in Nicosia.
In statements after their meeting, Hammond, when asked on the future role of the UK as a guarantor power in Cyprus, said that “we are not seeking any special role”, and added that “we will do whatever we can to help the process”.
He also reiterated UK`s offer to surrender a significant proportion of the land surface of the British Bases in Cyprus, in the context of a settlement, is still on the table
Minister Kasoulides said from his part that the issue of guarantees should be discussed by the two leaders first and “when the time comes, we will speak also to the UK as appropriate”.
The Cypriot Foreign Minister also said that cooperation with the UK on security matters “has reached unprecedented levels”.