Cyprus gets tough on Syria over controversial shipping route

Cyprus Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou Markoullis has sent a letter to her Syrian counterpart Walid Al Muallem demanding explanations over the use of illegal routes of Turkish-owned cruise ships between the closed occupied port of Famagusta, and Latakia, Syria.

Markoullis handed over the letter at a meeting on Sunday with Syria’s charge d’ affaires in Nicosia Nader Nader.

The Cypriot minister stated after the meeting that she had a telephone conversation with her Syrian counterpart demanding an answer to the question she had put forward to Walid Al Muallem at their recent meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, whether the Syrian government has decided the termination of the illegal routes between the Turkish-occupied port of Famagusta and Latakia.

A company in the occupied areas has announced two special routes on October 11 and 14 for the Ramadan Bayram celebrations and from October 18 onwards it will start regular scheduled routes.
The Cypriot minister stressed that she was expecting an answer from Syria before October 11.

Markoullis said she looks forward “to further develop our cooperation and to her forthcoming visit to Syria. I wish to discuss all those issues that unite the two countries and not to waste time and energy by discussing problems created by such acts,” she added.

But presidential candidate and former Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides said last week that Cyprus should not seek to impose harsh conditions on Syria, nor threaten it with sanctions and to choose a peaceful way to a solution of the problem.