As prepared for delivery...

Farewell Dinner Hosted by Foreign Minister Iacovou

Remarks by Ambassador Michael Klosson
The Hilton Hotel
June 28, 2005

Thank you, Minister, for hosting this dinner for Boni and me. We very much appreciate it. It seems like only yesterday that we arrived and I presented my credentials to President Clerides. The three years have gone by quickly -- the very opposite of this island’s catch-all phrase – siga siga, yavash yavash.

Paul Simon, a famous American artist, said in one of his songs that there are 50 ways to leave your lover. Well, we’re learning there’s only one way to leave Cyprus – and that’s by eating. I’m inclined to view this just as it seems – an expression of warm Cypriot hospitality. But given the way the island operates, the thought did occur: should I apply lessons learned during my assignment and search for a deeper Byzantine conspiracy? Perhaps the Minister and Jenny are in cahoots with the island’s tailors and will get a commission when Boni and I have to buy new clothes to accommodate our expanding waistlines.

Boni and I will leave with many happy memories. Cyprus is a special place, and we can see why Cypriots are so proud and attached to their homeland. Although there’s lots to see, it’s our friendships and relationships that will make our assignment memorable. We hope to see you in Washington so those friendships will not be just memories.

I want to thank you, Minister, for your time and partnership. You’ve always been available for dialogue. It has been open, constructive, and, yes, frank and candid – as it should be. Even if we didn’t always see eye to eye, we talked, we listened and we better understood where the other was coming from. I appreciated your insight into your government’s policies and Greek Cypriot thinking.

I am proud of what we have accomplished since 2002, as Cyprus joined both the European Union, with U.S. support, and the transatlantic partnership. We’ve cemented stronger cooperation against terrorism and proliferation. We’ve enhanced Cyprus’s capacity to protect its borders, deter terrorists, prepare for contingencies and combat weapons proliferation. We’ve concluded an agreement that makes more effective our cooperation under the Proliferation Security Initiative – something encouraged by both the Minister and President Papadopoulos. I hope it will be signed in the near future. We welcomed Cyprus’s approval of over flight rights for Operation Iraqi Freedom and its contribution at the Iraq donors conference. We have worked together to stop trafficking in persons, and intensified consultations about the Middle East. Business ties have developed. Finally, the United States continues to provide more direct funding than any other foreign government (excluding Greece and Turkey) for the education of Cypriots. The Fulbright and CASP programs have sponsored 2,400 Cypriots for academic study in the U.S.

Overall, the United States and Europe have turned a corner, and we’re moving forward. I hope this sense of common transatlantic mission will increasingly take hold here as people understand the responsibilities Cyprus assumed as an EU member and transatlantic partner. There’s lots of untapped potential to be developed.

At all levels, I remain convinced, there is much more that unites Americans and Cypriots than divides us. On most issues we agree; on some we do not. And where we disagree, we should keep things in perspective and address our differences on their merits. We have confronted difficult language at times. That is a burden American diplomats shoulder in many places around the world because of who we are, and what we represent. In Cyprus, I must say, we expect better: after all we share the same commitment to democratic values, free market principles and reunification. Our common membership in the transatlantic partnership provides a solid foundation on which we must build further.

Even on the primordial issue – the Cyprus problem – we have common goals – a comprehensive settlement, acceptable to majorities on both sides, leading to unification in a bizonal, bicommunal federation. The United States does not support the island’s continued division nor its permanent partition. While agreed on the destination, we may differ from time to time on the path to take. That’s not unexpected nor should it block progress in areas where we agree.

My first meetings after arrival in 2002 were with Clerides and Denktash. In both I expressed the U.S. hope that a comprehensive solution would soon be found and pledged our active support. Clerides welcomed my message. Denktash, by contrast, turned to the journalists present and observed, “that’s what all his predecessors said and look what happened to them.”

Well, that got our relationship off on the wrong foot, and we continued in a similar vein when I challenged his misrepresentations of the UN plan during the north’s 2003 elections and he threatened to declare me persona non grata. I have very much wanted that Cypriots prove his thesis wrong. That hasn’t happened yet. But at least he’s no longer in a position to deliver to me an official “I told you so.” The new Turkish Cypriot leader, Mehmet Ali Talat, represents a fundamentally different approach that augurs well for settlement prospects. He was brought into leadership through a political revolution in the north. This new constructive stance hopefully will endure.

In fact, much has changed for the better over the past three years. Although Greek Cypriots did not accept the UN settlement plan, at least all sides are agreed that it is the document on which negotiations will resume if and when the UN judges conditions are ripe. Perhaps most significant of all developments are the over seven million crossings of the buffer zone since 2003 with no major inter-ethnic incidents. Combine that with the initiation of business across the Green Line in both directions for the first time in thirty years. This increased contact and interaction, I am convinced, holds the greatest potential for rebuilding patterns of every-day cooperation. That can restore confidence and trust. It holds the greatest potential for dispelling negative attitudes harbored on both sides.

I can think of no more important way to prepare the path toward a successful settlement than through stepped-up contact, increased dialogue and the cultivation of a new mindset that focuses on what Cypriots have in common. After all, a settlement is not about winning, it is not about one-upmanship; it is all about building something better together. Leaders have the responsibility to chart that path.

Skepticism is growing, but I am not one who believes that a Cyprus settlement is a mountain too high to climb. A solution remains possible. However, progress will require leaders to cultivate this new mindset, the kind of vision that brought down walls and bridged divisions in Europe. In post-war Europe, leaders led with a vision of a common future, not a divisive past. Zero-sum thinking on the island perpetuates division. Take a page out of Europe’s book. Emphasize the benefits of your future partnership.

The UN Secretary General is reflecting on the future of his Good Offices Mission and is looking to the evolution of attitudes on the island. I can think of few more helpful steps to demonstrate their commitment to a settlement than for both sides to encourage more contact, project more constructive attitudes toward the other, signal a readiness to compromise and work to develop common ground.

We and others in the international community stand ready to help. At the end of the day, however, the island’s problem is neither the UN’s nor EU’s, but a problem for Cypriots. A solution has to come, in the first instance, from the two communities. It has to be achieved through real give and take in which each side can expect satisfaction on its own key interests, but each side must also be prepared to compromise on the key interests of the other. The failure of nine UN initiatives over many decades is a sobering reminder of the challenges ahead. Conditions do not improve with the passage of time. To the contrary: look at property and demographics.

Nevertheless, I believe that there remains an opportunity to be seized. Leaders and people of goodwill with realistic aims and a common vision can achieve that settlement. The United States stands ready to help you.

So, I propose a toast to the future of a unified Cyprus, a Cyprus in which all Cypriots will find security, prosperity and respect in the European Union and transatlantic partnership. To Cyprus united.