U.N. ENVOY Alvaro de Soto said yesterday it may be difficult for the two sides to clinch a deal in the next two weeks, but hoped Turkey and Greece would help to push the process forward.
Denktash yesterday told reporters De Soto had prepared a four-paragraph document summarising the demands of each side to be discussed next Thursday. The two sides have until Wednesday to study the document after which they are expected to enter a procedure of ‘give-and-take’, said Denktash.
Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders have until March 22 to reach an accord based on the Annan plan, which envisages a reunited island joining the European Union on May 1.
If they fail to cut a deal – and all indications so far suggest that they will – the ‘motherlands’ of Greece and Turkey will join the talks to help nail down an agreement.
UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan will then fill in any remaining gaps in the peace plan, which will be put to the two communities in a make-or-break referendum at the end of April.
“It is our strong desire that the Cypriot parties should come to an agreement on all the issues in the remaining two weeks,” De Soto told reporters as he arrived in Ankara for talks with senior Turkish officials.
“That may be difficult, but then there is a possibility of meetings which will include Turkey and Greece. We hope that if there is no agreement in the coming two weeks then it will be possible in the second round,” the Peruvian diplomat said.
His comments came as the two sides yesterday again accused each other of raising unreasonable demands designed to block an accord.
President Tassos Papadopoulos said the Turkish Cypriots were resisting plans to allow some Greek Cypriots to move back to their properties in the north of the island.
“We heard some strange suggestions from the Turkish Cypriot side,” Papadopoulos said. One such suggestion, he said, was that no Turkish Cypriots should be moved before finding a new place to settle.
“What remains unclear still is whether or not Turkish Cypriots would remain in the areas to be returned.
“These matters will be discussed on Monday,” Papadopoulos said.
He also said the National Council would be meeting today. The draft Constitution of the Greek Cypriot state was given to Greek Cypriot parties on Thursday for discussion next Monday. The draft Constitution was prepared by Greek Cypriot and foreign experts.
Meanwhile, Denktash again accused the Greek Cypriot side of seeking reunification on their own terms, comparing them to the former West Germany, “which absorbed the east and now dominates the reunited country”.
Despite his dissatisfaction with the Annan plan, Denktash has pledged to stay in the talks after receiving assurances from Ankara that his basic demands would be met in any final deal.
On Thursday, Denktash, 80, told Turkish nationalist supporters in Ankara that he would quit as his community’s negotiator and campaign for a ‘no’ vote in the referendum if the plan failed to protect Turkish Cypriots’ autonomy and identity.
But after his meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, Denktash was quoted by Turkey’s state Anatolian news agency as saying: “I saw that they (Turkey’s leaders) are sensitive about our basic conditions. I am happy…”
“Our morale has been strengthened… Our duty is to continue to seek a positive agreement…,” he said.
He later cancelled a dinner engagement with Erdogan.
