TURKISH Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash said yesterday that UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan’s plan could not be revived and that he knew nothing of a US plan to resume talks in September.
Denktash was speaking after a 90-minute meeting with US State Department Special Co-ordinator for Cyprus, Thomas Weston, whose visit fuelled recent reports of an American plan for a resumption in talks.
Asked if the UN plan could be a basis for negotiations, Denktash said: “No, there is nothing on the table for us which can make me say yes to that,
nothing at all.”
“The Annan (plan) is not on my table… and to be on the negotiating table both sides have to agree. Knowing the view of the Greek Cypriot side and the changes they want on it and knowing what changes I want on it, it is impossible to give life to it.”
The Turkish Cypriot leader said that there was nothing on his agenda that included a meeting with President Tassos Papadopoulos, and he said he had not discussed a September initiative with Weston.
Speculation has been growing that Annan would invite the two sides to New York for a resumption of talks on his plan in September.
The international community wants a Cyprus solution before the island joins the EU next May, but since the collapse of the last round of talks at The Hague in March, Annan has repeatedly said he would not attempt to resume the talks until the two leaders asked him to.
Denktash has repeatedly declared the Annan plan dead and buried and the Greek Cypriot side, although it says the plan is acceptable as a basis for negotiation, has not actively pursued a resumption of talks.
However, this has not stopped fevered speculation on both sides about a new initiative driven by the US that would see the talks resume under UN auspices in September.
While Greek Cypriot newspapers have been speculating on possible September talks for some days, yesterday Turkish Cypriot newspaper Kibrisli said Denktash might surprise everyone by agreeing to resume the talks process “in the full knowledge that Ankara wants the process to begin”.
Rumours are also rife in the north that the December elections could be brought forward to October to allow a new ‘government’ time to work towards a Cyprus solution by May 1 next year.
After meeting Papadopoulos on Friday, Weston said a solution to the Cyprus problem should be achieved before EU accession. “Since the Greek Cypriot leader said in The Hague that he was willing to finalise the plan and to put it to referendum, and his position has not changed, obviously the phase where the necessary political will has to be expressed is the other side,” Weston said. “We are working for a restart (of the negotiations) as soon as possible.”
Weston indicated, however, that substantial changes would have to be made to the Annan plan as the original document was designed to see a united Cyprus sign the EU accession treaty last April. In addition, the opening of the Green Line by the Turkish Cypriot side on April 23 has added a new dimension to the situation.
Denktash did say he had addressed trade issues with Weston.
“We want intercommunal trade, we have asked for it, but there is no response on the Greek Cypriot side. So we are ready for that. And I think that it is how it should start first, before forcing us to use this port or that port.”
The Turkish Cypriot leader also reiterated his position about entering the EU together with Turkey. “Our entry into the EU will be possible together with Turkey,” said Denktash. “We cannot follow the path of the EU with our own signature, we cannot overstep Turkey’s basic right (for EU entry), this is a Greek and Turkish balance.
“Thus we cannot really consider entering the EU before Turkey.”
