Cyprus focus of intensive New York talks

By Jean Christou

THE CYPRUS problem will be the focus of a series of top-level meetings in New York this week as the UN General Assembly convenes.

Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, who is in New York, told journalists the Cyprus issue would be a crucial part of his discussions with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem.

Papandreou will also meet Un Secretary-general Kofi Annan “in anticipation of Mr Annan’s invitation to the two communities in Cyprus for talks,” he said. He will also meet his European counterparts and Britain’s special Cyprus envoy Sir David Hannay, whom President Clerides met yesterday in New York.

Papandreou is also slated to meet US presidential emissary for Cyprus Alfred Moses and US State Department Coordinator Thomas Weston.

According to CyBC, diplomatic sources said the US, Britain and Greece were poised to make a concerted effort to make Turkey more acceptable as a possible EU candidate.

Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash has said Turkey’s membership of the EU could smooth the way towards a Cyprus solution.

Turkish Cypriot press yesterday described the upcoming round of talks with US officials as crucial.

Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, the man who ordered the 1974 invasion, is due to meet US President Bill Clinton on September 28 at the White House.

The talks are very important for Turkey-US relations, newspapers in the north quoted Turkey’s Minister for Cyprus Affairs Sukru Sina Gurel as saying.

Gurel said Turkey-US relations were not linked to the Cyprus problem.

“The relations between Turkey and the United States form a deep strategic cooperation that far exceeds the Cyprus issue,” he said. “The United States would never deny Turkey’s regional importance in its eyes by raising the Cyprus problem to the forefront or by turning it into a bilateral problem.”

Other Turkish Cypriot newspapers said Turkey could no longer carry the burden of the Cyprus problem and that several scenarios would come to the fore in New York which could set the stage for the direction the issue would take.

A Kibriscorrespondent in New York said pressure was being put on the Turkish side by the US to come to the talks without preconditions and to discuss all issues on the table.

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.