European Commission sidesteps question on Barcelona camp in north

The European Commission has declined to pass comment on the matter of the cancellation of a children’s football camp organised in the occupied north under licence by Spanish footballing giant FC Barcelona. Asked about the matter during a press briefing, commission spokesman Maciej Berestecki said that “I will not comment specifically” on it. “What I can say and actually reiterate [is] our line on Cyprus, which is that the EU priority remains unchanged and it is to achieve a comprehensive, fair and lasting settlement for all Cypriots,” he said. He added that the EU is “firmly committed to the reunification of Cyprus on the basis of a bizonal and bicommunal federation in accordance with the relevant UN security council resolutions and in line with the principles, values and legislation of the EU”. “We are also ready to play our active role in this process with all means and tools at our disposal, and in this context … the European Commission designated [Raffaele Fitto] as the commission’s special representative for Cyprus,” he said. Cypriot government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis had confirmed on Thursday that the camp had been “postponed”. This was despite Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman having raised the issue alongside the matter of the now cancelled music festival which was due to take place in Kyrenia, during his meeting with President Nikos Christodoulides on Wednesday. Letymbiotis defended the coordinated efforts made by political and sporting circles to bring about the camp’s cancellation, responding to a question on the matter asked by the Cyprus Mail by saying that “we are doing exactly what an internationally recognised state should do”. Additionally, he insisted that the Republic of Cyprus was not “exerting pressure” on international organisations to bring about the cancellation of events, saying that “it is with diplomacy that we are operating, and what we are doing is to clearly present the real state of affairs”. Erhurman had said on the matter of the festival last week that “Greek Cypriot diplomacy has been conducting a campaign for some time.” “The summary is this: ‘lifting or easing the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots will eliminate their desire for a solution’ and ‘introducing new confidence-building measures will make the status quo comfortable’,” he said. Then, on Wednesday morning, he said that “I do not want any Turkish Cypriot or Greek Cypriot person to be deprived of the opportunities which young people in other countries have because of the Cyprus problem”. “The sadness which a Greek Cypriot young person may experience for such a reason cannot be my joy. As a human being, I cannot accept that the sadness which a Turkish Cypriot young person may experience for this reason should produce joy for any Greek Cypriot,” he said. He later added that “cancelling a festival, attempting to prevent children from playing football, is, from my perspective, not a diplomatic victory, but is clearly a defeat for all people and humanity as a whole”. Turkish Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel, meanwhile, described the camp’s cancellation as “a new and extremely striking example of the Greek Cypriot administration’s intolerance towards the Turkish Cypriot people”. “There was no political activity involved. There was no attempt at recognition. It was a sporting event where Turkish Cypriot children would meet the academy of a world-renowned football club, but they could not even tolerate that,” he said. He went on to say that “on the one hand, you talk about building trust with the Turkish Cypriot people, about a solution and cooperation, but on the other, you will even exert diplomatic pressure to prevent a children’s football camp from taking place”. “This is not about building trust. This is about a policy of keeping the Turkish Cypriot people in isolation,” he said.