Denktash snubs Weston

TURKISH Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash said yesterday he had refused to meet US State Department Co-ordinator for Cyprus Thomas Weston after the American envoy expressed his concerns over the elections in the north in December.

“He asked for a meeting and I told him I’m not here,” said Denktash as he was leaving for Turkey yesterday.

The Turkish Cypriot leader said Weston could meet with one of his senior advisers, Ergun Olgun. “There is no point going over the same things again,” said Denktash who has been angered by recent US pressure to accept the Annan plan.

US State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said on Tuesday the US was concerned over reports of election anomalies in the north and said that Weston, who has held talks in Ankara and Athens this week, had expressed his hope the elections in December would be fully democratic.

The Turkish Cypriot opposition fears the administration is attempting to rig the voting by handing out ‘citizenship’ to thousands of Turkish settlers in recent months.

Reports were rife yesterday that observers were already on the island to monitor the elections. The government objects to any official monitoring by the UN, the EU or any country as it would indicate recognition for the breakaway Turkish Cypriot regime, but accepts the presence of NGOs in the north.

Politis reported yesterday that some observers had already started work and were monitoring the press in the north.

Yesterday, Government Spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides said the government had no official information on the issue.

Local political observers and diplomatic sources said yesterday they were not aware of a significant amount of coming and going by anyone wishing to monitor the elections although they too said there was a lot of speculation about how much interest the elections were attracting from abroad.

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