Prince Edward’s unilateral visit to Cyprus cause disappointment

The Office of the Turkish Cypriot Leader has said that the United Kingdom’s sincerity towards resolving the Cyprus problem was now questionable, a disappointing development for the Turkish Cypriot side.
The statement came following an announcement by the British High Commission that Prince Edward and his wife Sofie would be visiting South Cyprus.

“It has been our greatest wish and desire for the United Kingdom to treat both parties equally in Cyprus, to assist both parties and remain impartial,” the Office of the Turkish Cypriot Leader said on Sunday.
It was reported in the press that the prince and his wife will be holding contacts at the British Bases and the UN Buffer Zone during the visit, as well as meet with the Greek Cypriot Cypriot Leader Nicos Anastasiades.

“As soon as we learned about this, with the instruction of the TRNC President, a request was made to the British High Commissioner calling for Prince Edward to come and meet with the elected President of the Turkish Cypriot people President Ersin Tatar. In fact, a suggestion was made so that the meeting would be of a social nature and not an ‘official’ meeting,” the statement continued.
Emphasizing that the British Royal Family, apart from politics, was appreciated and loved by the whole world due to their humanitarian, charitable and tolerant stance the statement said, “while we expressed our desire for this synergy to have a positive impact on both sides, we noted that President Tatar and Prince Edward are graduates of Jesus College Cambridge and that we think that a social and informal meeting can be beneficial in this context”.
“Unfortunately, in the response we received, we clearly see with much regret that the United Kingdom has politicized such a visit, ignoring the Turkish Cypriot people and their elected President,” noted the statement.

(Source BRT)