By Jean Christou
STRICT shuttle-talk secrecy imposed by Dame Ann Hercus has not only kept the media at bay, but kept the two leaders in the dark as well, according to President Clerides.
Clerides also revealed that he had once proposed to Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash that Greeks could be barred from residency in Cyprus until Turkey joined the EU.
Clerides was answering questions after a lecture he gave on Tuesday at the London School of Economics.
He said that Dame Ann, Unficyp’s chief of mission, whom he described as “a very bright lady”, was attempting to bring the two sides back to the negotiating table through the shuttle talks which began over a month ago.
So far, the content of the shuttle talks has remained a secret, apparently even from the two leaders themselves.
“We do not yet know how far she has got because she has not been telling me what Mr Denktash is saying to her and she has not been telling Mr Denktash what I am saying to her,” Clerides said. “So she is keeping her own mind to see if our different position can find a common approach.”
The President also revealed his former proposal to Denktash over Greeks coming to the island, which he said was made in response to Turkish Cypriot fears that Cyprus’ membership of the EU would bring a flood of Greek mainland immigrants.
“I pointed out to Mr Denktash in regards to this that we both could agree to a derogation that no Greeks will inhabit Cyprus or come to live in Cyprus until such time that Turkey was also a member (of the EU) and has an equal right,” Clerides said.
He went on to say that what made it difficult to find a solution to the Cyprus problem was not only the instability of Turkish governments, but the fact the most of them were coalitions made up of partners who have different concepts about a solution.
“And above all because, as we all know, in Turkey on such issues it is he army which calls the shots, particularly when you have a coalition government which does not have a clear-cut policy,” he said.
The latest government of Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz was voted out of office by the Turkish Assembly in Ankara yesterday.
Clerides said it was very important for both communities to know what their future security was going to be. He refereed to his one and only meeting with Denktash on security issues last year.
“We had only one meeting. Mr Denktash repeated that he did not trust anyone except Turkey… he only trusted Turkey, he did not trust the EU.”
