By Jean Christou
AFTER A 24-hour game of cat and mouse with UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan, Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash finally agreed yesterday morning to attend proximity talks in New York on December 3.
The ‘will he, won’t he’ saga began on Sunday, when Denktash announced he had accepted a verbal invitation from Annan to attend the talks.
Later in the day, he changed his mind after reading the official text of the invitation, in which Annan stated he had spoken to “President” Clerides and “Mr” Denktash and that they had both agreed to attend “meaningful negotiations leading to a comprehensive settlement”. Annan also said he expected the talks to be “substantive”.
Denktash, who has been insisting on talks between two states, objected to the reference to Clerides as president and withdrew his acceptance. He also objected to Annan’s reference to substantive talks.
Denktash said he would not go to New York because the format of the talks he had agreed with Annan had changed. “The new invitation is not an acceptable invitation,” he said. “Let them return to that format and let’s go to the talks.”
A second text from the UN in Cyprus amended the original wording and referred to both men as “His Excellency”. The remainder of the statement was not altered.
Denktash, still balking at the reference to substantive negotiations, said: “The agreed formula for the proximity talks was a neutral, simple short invitation for the parties, no names, no titles, whereas now they want us to into substantive talks… whereas we were going to prepare the ground for substantive talks.”
The Turkish Cypriot leader told the Cyprus Mail last week that he wanted proximity talks on his status before resuming direct negotiations.
Following an evening of uncertainty on Sunday, which involved UN special Cyprus envoy James Holger making several calls to Denktash, the Turkish Cypriot leader appeared to soften his stance.
After a second statement out of UN headquarters in New York in the early hours yesterday Denktash finally agreed to attend the talks, responding officially yesterday morning.
Annan’s new statement read: “There seems to be some confusion about the statement I made yesterday on Cyprus. Let me be clear: The parties have agreed to start proximity talks in New York on December 3 to prepare the ground for meaningful negotiations leading to a comprehensive settlement.”
Finally satisfied with the statement, Denktash said: “Due to out insistence and the powerful support of Turkey, the announcement was returned to its original, previously agreed form.”
President Clerides, speaking yesterday to the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in South Africa Durban, said he was “not bothered” by the change in terminology.
“The secretary-general has to invite to negotiations the representatives of the two communities according to UN resolutions because the talks are held between the representatives of the two communities.”
“I believe that a possible refusal on our part to respond positively to the UN Secretary-general’s invitation… particularly following the assurances I received, would be a terrible mistake, which would have affected not only the course of the Cyprus problem but also our EU accession course,” he said in a written statement.
Clerides said that for the first time in the history of the Cyprus problem there had been assurances on the active involvement of the United States. American officials had assured him, he said, that the talks would be substantive and would focus on the basic aspects of the Cyprus problem.
Speaking on Air Force One on his way to Ankara on Sunday, US President Bill Clinton hailed the agreement to return to talks. “I ask the parties to approach this opportunity with good faith… I hope they succeed… we want them to last long enough to get to direct negotiations,” Clinton said. “The Cyprus problem has been with us for far too long.”
White House officials said the agreement was one of the biggest goals Clinton had set for his trip to the region.
