TURKISH Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash yesterday rejected an invitation from Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis to talks with the Greek Cypriot side at the weekend during his visit to the island.
Simitis arrives in Cyprus on Friday for a two-day visit.
Denktash, who brought down the Cyprus talks in The Hague last month, said in Turkey yesterday that he would not attend the Saturday meeting, but added Turkish Cypriot opposition parties would take part.
“The invitation has been extended to the leaders of all political parties… only opposition groups are attending,” Denktash told reporters in the Turkish city of Bursa.
The meeting will take place at the Greek ambassador’s residence next to the Ledra Palace in Nicosia, Turkish Cypriot sources told Reuters. The Greek government had extended letters of invitation to Turkish Cypriot leaders via the Slovak embassy.
“The purpose of this meeting is to provide the opportunity for an open discussion about the common future of the two sides on the island, within the enlarging European family of countries,” read the invitation.
“We do not run away from negotiations,” Mehmet Ali Talat, leader of the opposition Republican Turkish Party (CTP), said yesterday.
“As representatives of the Turkish Cypriot people we have every right to attend this sort of meeting. Denktash has alienated himself from his people, he no longer represents the people,” Talat said.
Denktash on Tuesday blasted a UN resolution on Cyprus formulated after the collapse of the talks, which singles him out as the culprit. The Turkish Cypriot leader is also unhappy that Cyprus was signing the EU accession treaty yesterday. He has been opposing the accession of Cyprus for years on the ground that the Greek Cypriots should not be allowed to act as the government of the whole island.
Currently on a visit to Turkey, Denktash has said that he is willing to restart reunification talks but not on the basis of the UN plan. The Security Council resolution passed on Monday said the UN plan should form the basis for any future negotiations.
“The talks can start,” the Anatolia news agency quoted Denktash as saying before attending a conference in Turkey. But the Annan Plan is unacceptable “unless important changes are made on it,” he said.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday also welcomed the council’s recommendation that negotiations be relaunched.
“It is a positive development that (the council) called on the continuation of negotiations,” Anatolia quoted Erdogan as saying.
By admitting Cyprus before reunification “the EU has invited trouble,” Denktash said. “I hope the EU does not take on Cyprus as a problem, but as an issue that should be solved justly,” Anatolia quoted him as saying.
Government Spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides yesterday expressed the hope that the accession of Cyprus to the EU would contribute to a viable and lasting political settlement.
“We hope that EU accession will offer all the people of Cyprus the feeling of security and that it will safeguard human rights,” he said.
