A LETTER explaining why the Turkish Cypriot side halted talks aimed at kick-starting full-fledged negotiations for a solution to the Cyprus problem was to be delivered to the UN last night, Turkish Cypriot sources said yesterday.
“I can’t give details of what is in the letter because a few things are still under discussion. But we expect the letter to be delivered today,” Hasan Ercakica, spokesman for the Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.
Late last month, the Turkish Cypriot side said it was putting discussions on hold because of what it called Greek Cypriot manipulation. It believed the Greek Cypriot side had sought to convince the international community talks were going well to head off the implementation of a possible direct trade agreement between the north and the bloc by the EU.
The Turkish Cypriot side, meanwhile, had insisted talks were not going well, and that the Greek Cypriot side were using the UN-sponsored negotiations as a “smokescreen” for campaigns, primarily within the EU, aimed at weakening the Turkish Cypriot position.
Tentative talks between the sides had started as part of an agreement reached between President Tassos Papadopoulos and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat on July 8 last year.
Although Ercakica refused to give details of the letter before its delivery to UN officials on the island, he did say that the letter would explain Turkish Cypriot objections to the way the Greek Cypriot side had so far dealt with what is now known as the “July 8 process”. It will also propose ways in which talks could be restarted, he said.
Ercakica added that he hoped the letter would lead to a restart of talks in a way that would “remain faithful to the spirit” of the July 8 agreement.
Talat’s chief adviser Rasit Pertev also spoke to the Mail, saying the letter would contain the “concerns and position” of the Turkish Cypriot side.
Government Spokesman Christodoulos Pashiardis confirmed that nothing had yet been received from the Turkish Cypriot side but added the July 8 process was clear in that the government did not see any reason to re-evaluate it.
“The only thing needed is the mutual good will to promote in practice the implementation of what was agreed on, without clauses and preconditions,” Pashiardis said.
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