By Melina Demetriou
Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash promised a group of Greek and Turkish businessmen on Monday that the Turkish Cypriot regime would not impose any restrictions on bi-communal contacts anymore.
The Brussels Group, a bi-communal group of businessmen, met on Monday with Denktash in the occupied areas to discuss ways of rapprochement between the two sides.
Denktash also put forward the idea of cooperation between the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority and the corresponding Turkish Cypriot services.
The leader of the Greek Cypriot delegation, Dinos Lordos said yesterday that Denktash stressed his proposals and promises were not aimed at promoting acknowledgment of his regime.
According to Turkish Cypriot press Denktash said the Turkish and Greek Cypriot people should understand each other, adding, “I am pleased by your visit. This is a positive start because this is the first time you are here to visit me.”
“His intentions are yet to be proved honest,” said Lordos who was optimistic that something good would come out of the meeting and that progress might be made in strengthening bi-communal relations.
Denktash supported that it would be possible for the two sides to cooperate in telecommunications since they have done so already in water distribution.
President Glafcos Clerides is meeting the group of businessmen, ten Greek and nine Turkish Cypriot, to discuss Denktash’s proposals on Thursday.
The Brussels Group first met in 1997 in the Belgian capital and held four meetings since, trying to promote the idea of bi-communal cooperation in many areas such as to solve the water shortage and to promote cultural relations.
But until recently, the Turkish Cypriot regime’s restrictions imposed on bi- communal activities held the Group back from putting their ideas in effect.
The regime started becoming more flexible in the last year.
“The meeting has been conducted in a very cordial and friendly atmosphere and was very productive,” said Lordos.
The government welcomed the Brussels Group’s initiative, which aimed at overcoming the problems in bi-communal contacts but was skeptical of Denktash’s sincerity.
” We back every rapprochement move as long as it does not imply or promote in any way the acknowledgment of the Turkish Cypriot illegal state,” said the government’s spokesman, Michalis Papapetrou.
“But no citizen outside government appointed officials is authorised to negotiate with Denktash on state authorities’ relations with Turkish Cypriot so-called authorities,” he said.
President Glafcos Clerides would meet on Thursday with the Brussels Group to discuss the proposed rapprochement measures, the spokesman said, emphasising that the government would look into the matter of a bi-communal cooperation “as long as it does not promote acknowledgment of the Turkish Cypriot regime.”
“We shall wait and see whether Denktash is honest about relaxing restrictions on bi-communal meetings because he and Ankara have always believed that close ties between the two communities would prove their philosophy that the two peoples could never live together wrong,” Papapetrou said.
The Brussels meetings are organised with the help of the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo, Norway, with sponsorship from the American and Norwegian governments.
