Hannay in Athens today for Cyprus talks

BRITAIN’S Cyprus envoy, Sir David Hannay, is expected in Athens today to talk Cyprus problem with Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou.

According to Reuters yesterday, a Greek Foreign Ministry official said Sir David was to discuss ways of helping Cyprus settlement efforts proceed "more seriously and more swiftly." Sir David and Papandreou – a driving force in the recent Greco-Turkish rapprochement – are also to consider ways of getting President Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash to face-to-face talks, the Ministry official said.

Clerides and Denktash are due to begin a third round of UN-led proximity settlement talks in Geneva on May 23. The optimistic mood generated by the first two rounds of talks, in New York and Geneva, has been soured by recent statements from the two leaders.

Clerides has expressed deep misgivings about Denktash’s willingness to discuss the essence of the issue, while Denktash has been increasingly vociferous in his insistence that only a confederal solution – rather than the federation proposed by the UN and backed by the Cyprus government – will do.

The UN envoy conducting the talks, Alvaro de Soto, conceded earlier this month that UN Secretary general Kofi Annan’s comments that a solution could be found this year may be unrealistic.

Meanwhile, yesterday’s Turkish Cypriot press suggested Clerides and Denktash would be brought face-to-face in a fourth round of talks in July.

Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris cited diplomatic sources as saying Sir David and his US counterpart, Alfred Moses, might present "concrete proposals" during the third round of talks. The two sides on the island were being put under intense pressure to "do their homework" so that the third round of talks could be "more substantive," Kibris added.

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.