US urges more security talks

THE US has called for more talks on security between the leaders of the two communities because the situation on the island and in the Aegean is “too dangerous”.

Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Marc Grossman described recent security talks between President Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash as a “good start”.

“We think it was a good thing that these talks took place,” Grossman said. “We want more of these security talks to take place and our assessment was that it was a good start but we need to do more.”

He said one of the most important ways to improve the situation in the region was for Clerides and Denktash to talk to each other.

“The situation in the Aegean and Cyprus is too dangerous to allow it to be untended,” Grossman said.

Asked if there was progress in the talks, Grossman said: “The fact that they have the conversation without anybody else there was progress. And secondly, the fact that they have begun a conversation on security I believe is progress. Our message to them is to go back to these talks, make them face to face, work on issues of security, get this job accomplished.”

The initial meeting between the two leaders failed to produce any results, but the UN is attempting to set up a further meeting.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.