By Jean Christou
THE US State Department has welcomed the proposed renovation of the Apostolos Andreas Monastery in occupied Karpasia and the Hala Sultan Tekke on Larnaca’s Salt Lake.
“The preservation of Cypriot cultural heritage through practical projects such as this is a further expression of our long-standing commitment to improving understanding between Cypriots,” State Department spokesman James Rubin told journalists in Washington. The United States S is funding the project.
“This project will ensure that those two historic sites each of which is suffering from deterioration will be preserved for future generations,” Rubin added.
Outgoing Russian ambassador Georgi Muratov on Wednesday accused the UN and the US of stealing Russia’s ideas on possible bi-communal projects.
He said the idea had been first proposed by Russia last year.
The UN announced on Monday that the first phase of the project was under way. This will involve surveying both sites to assess what needs to be done and what the cost might be. The process is likely to take several months.
US ambassador Donald Bandler also hailed the project yesterday after a meeting he had with President Clerides.
“We are working across the island on practical areas of co-operation; for example, the recent announcement of phase one of the project to restore Apostle Andreas Monastery and the Hala Sultan Mosque,” Bandler said.
He said that practical co-operation between the two communities was very important and went on all the time, even though it was not directly connected to the talks in the political sphere.
The second round of UN-backed proximity talks is due to begin in Geneva on January 31.
Bandler said the US was optimistic that 2000 would provide the opportunity to make progress. He said that at the end of 1999, some “significant, positive things happened”.
He was referring to the first round of proximity talks, held in early December in New York, and to the outcome of the EU Helsinki summit, which guaranteed Cyprus’ unhindered candidacy irrespective of political developments and accepted Turkey as an official candidate.
“There is an ongoing effort, in which we will be engaging with the parties working with the UN and other interested countries to identify areas of convergence and to narrow the differences,” he said.
