VETERAN Socialist leader Vassos Lyssarides yesterday confirmed media speculation that President Glafcos Clerides would be rejecting a document put forward by the UN on the constitutional aspect of the Cyprus problem.
Speaking the day after his return from the talks in New York, where he had and other party leaders had accompanied Clerides as the National Council, Kisos leader Lyssarides said: “Although we should not say what has happened, I can’t deny it (that the document will be rejected) since it has become public knowledge.”
The UN-led proximity talks are being carried out under a strict news blackout.
Lyssarides declined to go into any detail on the document or others believed to have been submitted to the two sides in New York, but said: “Answers have been given based the positions adopted by the National Council, even though some parties expressed concern about them.”
Widespread reports said yesterday the National Council had decided to reject the five-page proposal on the island’s constitution, because the UN Secretary-general’s special representative Alvaro de Soto had in his outline referred to the Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides as “component states” — something that did not fall in line with UN Resolutions on the Cyprus problem.
The reports said Clerides was expected to tell UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan that the alternative proposals put forward in his plan — in particular suggestions for a rotating presidency — would not make for a working government.
Lyssarides said yesterday that Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou would be arranging meetings with Greek Cypriot party leaders to discuss further action on the Cyprus problem and renew ties between the two countries.
The Greek government – and Papandreou and Prime Minister Costas Simitis in particular — last week came under heavy criticism for their handling of the Cyprus problem and their policy of rapprochement with Turkey.
Lyssarides said he had not received an invitation yet, but was sure it could be coming soon:
“I know about the decision and I believe it will happen. I will have telephone contacts before the meeting in Athens because I do not know in what order the party leaders’ visits will take place.”
He said Cyprus should take care not to sour its relations with Greece over non-essential issues: “What we have to be careful of is building walls between Greece and Cyprus unless it is absolutely necessary, and we must not shift our own responsibilities onto others.”
Lyssarides said he would be the first to criticise Greece if he thought its stance on the Cyprus problem was damaging: “I have not hesitated to do this even with people whom I see like my own brothers.”
Lyssarides said he believed Clerides would agree to continue taking part in the UN-led proximity talks.
“In spite of disagreement by some of the parties, I believe the President will agree to set a date for the next talks. For me, this is not the most significant thing, although I disagree with it. What is significant is what he will do until then and what he will do in the next round.”
The socialist party leader everyone should work hard for it to be made clear to the UN that the Greek Cypriot side would not discuss any proposals that were not in the framework of existing UN resolutions on Cyprus.
The latest round of talks ends today with Clerides and Denktash meeting with Annan. The UN Secretary-general is expected to suggest a date and location for the next series of talks, widely expected to take place in mid-November in Geneva.
