UN Secretary General’s Special Representative in Cyprus Lisa Buttenheim is one of many foreign dignitaries who will be attending tonight’s Good Friday service at Saint George the Exiler church, in Turkish occupied Famagusta.
UN spokesman Michel Bonnardeaux told CNA that “Buttenheim will be attending the church service.”
Present at tonight’s service will be, among other diplomats, British High Commissioner Matthew Kidd, US Ambassador John Koenig and the Ambassador of the NetherlandsBrechje Schwachofer.
The church of Saint George the Exiler lies within the walled city of Famagusta, which is close to the fenced off area of the town of Famagusta, known as Varosha.
The town has been under Turkish occupation since 1974. Varosha, abandoned by its Greek Cypriot inhabitants as they fled the advancing Turkish troops in the summer of 1974, has remained under Turkey`s direct control since then. The UN has called for the return of the town to its lawful inhabitants but so far Ankara refuses to comply with such calls.
Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades, engaged in peace talks with the Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu, has proposed the return of the city as a confidence building measure to restore trust between the island`s two communities, divided since the 1974 Turkish invasion.
