The United States has pledged to support in any way it can the talks for a settlement to the Cyprus problem, expected to resume in October.
The assurance was given by US Ambassador David Pearce, who is awaiting confirmation from the Senate to undertake the post of US Ambassador to Greece, during the hearing of his nomination on Thursday before the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
Answering a question on Cyprus by Senator John Murphy who was presiding over the hearing, Pearce said that “we applaud, of course, the efforts of the Greek and Turkish governments to foster closer tries — ties and build trust”.
He said “we support the UN effort to settle the long-running Macedonia name dispute, and of course there`s the continued division of Cyprus. We believe a mutually acceptable settlement there is in the best interests of the people of Cyprus and the region. We look forward to settlement talks resuming later this year, and we will support them in any way we can. Mr. Chairman, these are some of the things I look forward to working on if I`m confirmed”.
On Cyprus, Pearce said he was on the desk 26 years ago, and “regrettably, Cyprus is still an issue. I do think, though, from what I`ve seen, as I prepared for this appointment, that there is a couple of things which are encouraging”.
One of them, he remarked, “is that the quality of relations between Greece and Turkey is better now, it seems to me, than it was back when I was working on the desk before”.
Another, Pearce added, “is that there`s an expectation that settlement talks in Cyprus are going to resume in October. That would be great. You know, if this dispute can finally be moved off the — out of frozen status, and if the tragic division of the island can be — can end and we can have a comprehensive settlement — and, of course, we support a bizonal, bicommunal federation — that would be enormous”, he said,
not just for Cyprus but for regional stability. And that would be a really great thing.
“If confirmed, I would of course do everything that I can do from my perch in Athens to help in that regard”, he added.
Pearce also said that relations between Greece and the United States are excellent, and his country is looking forward to welcoming Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to the White House on August 8th.
The Republic of Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded and since then occupy 37% of Cyprus’ territory.
UN backed talks were halted in July 2012 by the Turkish side when Cyprus assumed the EU Council Presidency. It is expected that talks will resume in the autumn.