Cypriot president urges British Cypriots to reject Brexit

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades urged Cypriots living in Britain to go to the polls and reject Brexit in the upcoming June 23 referendum, it was reported Thursday.

Anastasiades said a possible exit of Britain from the European Union would harm the economy of the eastern Mediterranean island and impact Cypriots in many ways.

"An exit (of the UK) from the European Union would not only affect Europe in general, but more particularly our home country," the Cypriot president told London Greek Radio in an interview.

He followed the same line in a speech to EU Ambassadors in Nicosia on Thursday.

Anastasiades said he expects the sterling pound to be devalued, with a catastrophic impact on Cypriot tourism, given the fact that nearly one in every two tourists arriving in Cyprus comes from the British market.

He also estimated that there will be a serious impact on trade, taking into account that Cypriot exports to Britain reached 8 percent, the same ratio as the imports from Britain.

Cypriot students in British universities would also lose the right to obtain loans under the same favorable terms as British students.

"For these reasons, I extend a warm call to our Cypriot compatriots and more widely to the Greek origin citizens living in the UK who have a right to vote, to position themselves positively towards Britain remaining in the EU," said Anastasiades.

Cypriot organizations in Britain claim that they represent 300,000 Cypriots, but the 2011 census showed that British residents born in Cyprus were close to 80,000. They are all entitled to vote as Commonwealth citizens. Endit