PRESIDENT CLERIDES’ appeal for an end to party political sparring over developments at the UN-led proximity talks fell on deaf ears yesterday.
Opposition parties AKEL, DIKO and KISOS yesterday all laid in to the President for his handling of the negotiations and for his statements upon his return from the fourth round of talks on Thursday evening.
The main bone of contention remains UN Secretary-General Koffi Annan’s opening statement for round four of the talks, held in New York. Annan called on the two parties to “represent its side – and no one else – as the political equal of the other.” The Greek Cypriot side saw Annan’s statement as a concession to Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash’s demands for recognition for his occupation regime and for a confederal settlement.
In a six-page statement he read out at Larnaca airport on Thursday night, Clerides insisted the Greek Cypriot talks delegation had received assurances from the UN that there would be no deviation from Security Council resolution calling for a federal solution.
The President also attacked those who, he said, were using talks developments to score political points.
The opposition’s response yesterday was predictably terse.
Main opposition party AKEL issued a statement describing the President’s airport statement as a “blatant” effort to excuse Annan’s opening statement for the fourth round of talks. The party again insisted the Annan “equality” statement represented a serious deviation from the UN’s Cyprus resolutions. AKEL said the Greek Cypriot side should insist Annan revoke his statement before talks continued.
A firth round of indirect talks has been set for Geneva for November.
KISOS leader Vassos Lyssarides said Clerides’s “satisfaction” with the UN stance at the talks was “tragically negative” and would only “encourage” the UN to further deviate from its own Cyprus resolutions.
Clerides should demand a written detraction of Annan’s statement, Lyssarides said.
Tassos Papadopoulos, who yesterday became DIKO leader elect, described the fourth round as a “political defeat” for the Greek Cypriot side.
He added that Clerides’s plea for an end to party political sparring over the issue was nothing short of “insulting, given that all the parties had rallied round to support the President at the talks”.
Government Spokesman Michalis Papapetroun did his best to defend Clerides from the opposition barrage yesterday, insisting that the “overwhelming majority” of the public supported the President’s handling of the talks.
All the party leaders accompanied Clerides to New York and they spent long hours closeted in emergency talks with the President after Annan made his controversial opening statement.
Clerides made clear on Thursday that party leaders had been unable to reach a unanimous decision on whether to continue with talks in the light of the statement and that he had taken the decision not to abandon talks off his own bat.
