Minister of Foreign Affairs Markos Kyprianou submitted Tuesday afternoon his resignation to the President of the Republic Demetris Christofias.

In statements to the press after a meeting with President Christofias, Kyprianou said that his decision to resign is final and thanked the President “for his trust as well as for the renewal of his trust by asking me to reconsider my resignation”.

Kyprianou’s resignation came a week after the deadly blast in the Naval Base “Evaggelos Florakis”, near Limassol, in which 13 people lost their lives. Shortly after the blast, on July 11th, Minister of Defence Costas Papacostas and National Guard Chief of Staff Petros Tsalikides stepped down.

“My decision is final because as I explained to the President it is a decision dictated by my conscience, my morals, and the political perception of principles and values we have learnt in DIKO”, he went on to say, referring to his party, the Democratic Party (DIKO) which is one of the two parties, along with the AKEL left wing party, which form the government, under President Christofias.