By Anthony Goodman
THE LEADERS of the Greek and Turkish Cypriots, who adjourned indirect talks in New York yesterday aimed at reuniting their divided island, have been invited to return at the end of January for another round, UN Secretary- general Kofi Annan said.
The talks would be “on the same basis” as the current round, which began on December 3, he said. That means Cyprus President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash would again hold so-called ‘proximity talks’, involving separate meetings with UN officials but not face-to-face negotiations, Reuters reported.
Denktash, asked earlier by reporters after a final meeting with Annan whether he would be coming back for another round, replied: “Yes, late January I will see you again.” Clerides made no comment after meeting Annan separately.
“After 12 days during which both parties have engaged very seriously with the whole range of issues that divided them, I have invited the parties to resume the talks on the same basis next year, and the date will be announced in due course.” Annan told a news conference. He later spoke of “the end of January”.
“We have all agreed not to engage in public discussion of the substance of these talks,” Annan said, continuing a news blackout imposed when the talks began.
“But I can at least say that the new dynamic between Turkey and the European Union, and between Greece and Turkey, provides a hopeful context in which to continue them,” he said.
He was referring to the EU decision last Friday to offer Turkey candidacy for membership, with certain conditions, and improved relations between long-time adversaries Greece and Turkey, partly as a result of the assistance they provided each other in the wake of deadly earthquakes earlier this year.
Agreement to continue the proximity talks, if not move on to face-to-face negotiations, marked at least a minimal achievement of the latest round of separate meetings that Annan conducted with the aid of his special adviser on Cyprus, Under-Secretary-general Alvaro de Soto.
Annan was asked about indications by both Clerides and Denktash that a decision to return in the new year could be influenced by the wording of a resolution to be adopted by the Security Council today approving another six-month renewal of the UN peacekeeping force stationed in Cyprus since 1963.
Previous renewal resolutions have included language that Denktash has objected to, such as references to “the government of Cyprus”, which he does not recognise as the government of the whole island but only of the Greek Cypriots.
At the same time Clerides, in a letter to the Security Council president last week, expressed unhappiness over any move to eliminate that wording to placate Denktash.
“I am aware of those two positions… I am aware of the council’s discussions and the resolution on the table,” Annan said.
“But I am not discouraged. I am still hopeful that we will meet at the end of January… I just met both of them today and I am looking forward to seeing them at the end of January. I hope we will make it,” he added.
Clerides was thought to have focused during his meetings with Annan and de Soto on ways of reuniting Cyprus as a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation, in accordance with a prescription laid down in Security Council resolutions.
Annan, in a report last June, listed the core issues to be settled between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots as security, the distribution of powers, property, and territory.
Denktash has been calling for recognition of a Turkish Cypriot state in the north of the island with himself as president.
He has also pressed for the establishment of a confederation — a much looser form of union than a federation. It would be formed through the linking of two independent nations and involve recognition of a Turkish Cypriot state — something totally unacceptable to the Greek Cypriots. (R)
