Cablegate: Cyprus to Be Helpful Within Eu On Further

VZCZCXRO5416
PP RUEHAG RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDF RUEHDIR RUEHIK RUEHKUK RUEHLZ RUEHROV
DE RUEHNC #0514 1651445
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 141445Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY NICOSIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7919
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0876

UNCLAS NICOSIA 000514

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

TO EUR/SE AND NEA/IR RMCINTURFF

E.O. 12958: N/A

TAGS: PREL KDEM IR CY PHUM EUN
SUBJECT: CYPRUS TO BE HELPFUL WITHIN EU ON FURTHER
STATEMENTS REGARDING IRANIAN HARASSMENT/DETENTION OF AMCITS

REF: STATE 80300

(SBU) Poloff June 12 delivered reftel points to MFA Near East
Affairs Attache Dionysis Dionysiou. Dionysiou responded June
13 that Cyprus likely would not take any unilateral action
over the recent harassment/detention of private Americans by
the Iranian regime. For various reasons, Cyprus had little
hope of influencing Teheran, he explained. Despite each
maintaining an embassy in the other's territory, for example,
Iranian-Cypriot relations were not close. To prove the
point, he noted that the Iranian Ambassador to Cyprus had
visited the MFA only once, for his courtesy call on Foreign
Minister Lillikas. In Tehran, the Cypriot Embassy was being
run by a TDYer in the wake of a recent scandal involving its
former ambassador; the official was too busy with internal
management issues to do any bilateral work. Further, Cyprus
was a small island state with few carrots and no sticks to
employ with the GoI. The picture was somewhat brighter on
the multilateral front, however. Dionysiou assured Poloff
that Cyprus supported the recent EU Presidency Statement
against Iran's recent actions. It also was open to a French
proposal to include in the Council Conclusions for next
week's GAERC meeting a statement urging the protection of
academics and dual nationals visiting Iran.
ZIMMERMAN

© Scoop Media