TURKISH Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash yesterday offered to abandon politics if he was granted his biggest wish: recognition of his break-away occupation “state”, the so-called TRNC.
“I will give you some good news, if you acknowledge the existence of the TRNC today, I will move out tomorrow. If you want to get rid of me, you give me this and I will move out,” a smiling Denktash told state broadcaster CyBC during an interview televised last night.
The veteran Denktash is reviled by the Greek Cypriot side for his constant demands for recognition of the ‘TRNC’ and support for the Turkish invasion.
The Turkish Cypriot leader has stalled UN-led proximity talks aimed at achieving a federal Cyprus settlement by resurrecting his recognition demands.
In his interview with the CyBC, he said he had only attended the first five rounds of indirect talks with President Clerides because the UN and the US had promised he would be treated as equal to his Greek Cypriot adversary and that negotiations would start with a ‘clean slate’.
“It was agreed that everything would be on the table, that there would be no reference to UN Security Council resolutions and no reference to communities any longer. All these conditions were forgotten after the fifth round,” Denktash stated.
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.
