US Secretary of State John Kerry has expressed his intention to visit Cyprus in the “in the not too distant future” to try to be helpful in the Cyprus problem, as he welcomed at the State Department his Cypriot counterpart Ioannis Kasoulides.
The meeting lasted over half an hour and then Kasoulides continued his talks with Assistant Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland.
“Cyprus has known its own share of terror and its own share of sacrifice and agony over the years”, said Kerry who devoted the first part of his statements to the terrorist attack in Orlando.
Referring to the Cyprus issues, he said that “we are working very, very hard with our friends in Cyprus to finally bring peace to that island”, reiterating US support to the efforts to solve the Cyprus` problem and recalling the visit he paid to the island as well as the visit of the Assistant Secretary of state Victoria Nuland.
He assured that the US will continue to be engaged in these talks, and expressed the hope that the re-engagement that has just taken place in the last days will produce some progress.
Kerry said that there is progress in Cyprus and certain areas of the discussions where people believe they’ve reached some agreement. However he noted that there are still some difficult hurdles to get over.
“And we will continue to work with our friends in Cyprus on all of the security issues, the economic issues, and clearly on the negotiations themselves in an effort to try to bring this 50-year conflict to the close that it deserves. And I look forward to traveling back there at some time in the not too distant future in order to try to be helpful”, he said.
At the same time he thanked the Cypriot Minister for Cyprus` partnership on so many security issues as well as on other important economic priorities of the region.
On his part Foreign Minister Kasoulides expressed Cyprus` condolences for the attack in Orlando and solidarity in the fight against terrorists worldwide.
Kasoulides thanked the Secretary of State for his keen interest in the issue of Cyprus.
“This is the third time we are meeting here in Washington in the past three years. He has been to Cyprus, he has met for three times with the president of the Republic, and we hope that we will welcome him back in the near future”, he said.
He added that the discussion with the Secretary of State would be around ways that the United States could possibly contribute to the good offices mission of the United Nations in bringing progress in the problem.
“The will is there, and since we have started with the very sad developments in Orlando, may I say that an agreement in Cyprus will be a very important development in showing that Muslims and Christians can get together in peace and reconciliation in that part of the world which is so turbulent”, the Minister pointed out.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. UN led talks have been underway since May 2015 aiming to reunite the island under a federal roof.
