Denktash: EU bid could bode ‘disaster’

TURKISH Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash said yesterday the chances were “great” that occupied northern Cyprus would join Turkey if the European Union admitted the divided island prior to a settlement.

Denktash was in Ankara ahead of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s visit to Nicosia next week to boost flagging talks between Denktash and President Glafcos Clerides.

Asked what the likelihood was of the occupied area uniting with Turkey if Cyprus joined the EU divided, Denktash said: “It is great.”

“The balance between Turks and Greeks is essential. The EU or anyone who wants to lift this are looking for a disaster,” he was quoted as saying by the state-run Anatolian news agency.

Meanwhile, Clerides yesterday held talks with UN special envoy Alvaro de Soto.

De Soto said only that he had discussed “a number of things” in his 30-minute meeting with Clerides.

Asked whether the way in which the UN would assist the peace talks had been decided, De Soto said: “let’s wait until the Secretary-general arrives. I am continuing my usual approach”.

Annan arrives in Cyprus on Tuesday and will stay until Thursday. He will hold separate meetings with Clerides and Denktash and also see them jointly over dinner.

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.