Cyprus moves to remove negative points in Contact Group report

The European Parliament Contact Group with the Turkish Cypriots is not justified in slipping towards drafting proposals that would tend to upgrade an illegal entity, Cypriot Government Spokesman Christodoulos Pashiardis said on Monday.

The Cypriot official said Cyprus‘ Permanent Representation in Brussels had already moved in the direction of ”removing any negative points” that may be included in the Group’s draft report.

Replying to questions regarding the Group’s report, Pashiardis pointed out that ”it is a draft report and not a final and approved text,” adding that ”we do not yet know the content of the report, it has not been publicised.”

”Now, regarding the alleged suggestions in the specific draft, at least as we have seen them in the press, a first general observation is that the proposal to establish a permanent dialogue with the occupation regime and to give the capacity of observer to so-called MPs of this illegal regime, shows a tendency for the political upgrading of the pseudostate,” he said.

Pashiardis added that ”the issue of giving the status of observer to so-called MPs of the pseudostate was raised about two years ago and had been dismissed by the Parliament.”

He said ”the Contact Group has a specific mandate and surely is not justified in slipping towards drafting proposals that would tend to politically upgrade an illegal entity.”