PRESIDENT Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash yesterday resumed direct UN-led negotiation talks ahead of next week’s key meeting in Paris with UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan.
According to government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou, Annan is expected to appraise how both leaders feel about UN plans to put forward a proposal outlining a solution to the Cyprus problem, with the intention of securing a compromise agreement, which will pave the way for an eventual solution. In fact, the UN is said to have already prepared such a document, which facilitates a process of give and take, on the basis of past non-papers, and the most recent discussions between Clerides and Denktash.
“We have received information that we should expect such a proposal (in Paris),” he said, which would make the next four months the most “critical and crucial period for the Cyprus problem,” as the December deadline for the island’s EU accession course looms and both difficult and definitive decisions are made.
“Both sides are anticipating such a proposal, which is being presented now so that we have enough time to reach an agreement prior to December when the EU will vote on whether or not Cyprus’ accession course is approved,” said Papapetrou.
After seven months of talks, little progress has been made towards a comprehensive settlement, with Denktash insisting on the creation of two states in Cyprus.
Yesterday’s talks marked the beginning of the sixth round of talks, which began in January, after a three-week summer break, with each side outlining its respective position on the issue of sovereignty.
The meeting lasted an hour in the presence of UN special envoy Alvaro de Soto. Unlike at previous meetings, neither side had any advisers present.
Despite suggestions that Denktash had been planning to submit a new proposal for a solution yesterday, reliable sources said no ideas or suggestions were put forward.
The next meeting is scheduled for Friday afternoon at 4pm.
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.
