Washington is pushing for a solution to the crisis in Cyprus which includes the membership of the reunified island in the Atlantic Alliance. This was the message of ambassador Victoria Nuland, on the 19th April in Nicosia.
In 1974, when Cyprus became the refuge for Greeks persecuted by the dictatorship of the colonels, a joint operation by Greece and Turkey – coordinated by Henry Kissinger – allowed Athens to attempt a coup d’état in Nicosia, and Ankara to launch a military invasion of the island under the pretence of stopping it. Since then, the North-East of Cyprus has been occupied by Turkish troops and has established itself as a state under Turkish trusteeship. Since 2004, peace negociations have been working to reunify the island under a federal authority inspired by the Swiss model. The same year, Cyprus became a member of the European Union, which has not moved in its defence since it is occupied by a member of NATO.It quickly became apparent that Nuland’s plan would, in reality, maintain the presence of Turkish troops on the island, but this time under the NATO flag.
It seems that Washington is blackmailing President Níkos Anastasiádis in order to oblige him to support the membership of the island - which until now has been neutral – in the Atlantic Alliance.
Anastasiádis apparently created, with Theofanis Philippou, the Imperium company, which helped with the management of the business of Leonid Lebedev, today the object of several legal procedures, including one in New York for two billion dollars. President Anastasiádis also favoured the acquisition of Cypriot nationality by the Russian millionnaire and senator.
Πηγή: voltairenet
