THE UNITED NATIONS have no plans to host an international conference on the Cyprus problem, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser Alexander Downer said yesterday.
Speaking after meeting President Demetris Christofias, Downer said the UN did not have any plans to host an international conference on the Cyprus problem and reiterated that nothing was agreed in the negotiations until everything is agreed.
Turkey has repeatedly asked for an international conference to resolve the matter but the Greek Cypriot side says that one should take place only on the international aspects of the Cyprus problem and after the rest were resolved.
“We had the opportunity to review where we are at in the negotiations and we look forward to the two leaders’ meeting tomorrow (today),” Downer said.
Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu will meet today and October 19 after a hiatus in the talks during which they met UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon in New York.
“We expect them to continue working on property,” Downer said. “Property is a difficult issue and it is good they are working on it.”
If agreement cannot be reached the process will not go too much further forward, the Australian diplomat said.
“You can start negotiating other issues but in the end if you can never agree on what is going to happen to property in Cyprus, you can never have a comprehensive agreement. Everyone knows that, it is perfectly clear”, he said.
He added: “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed; if you don’t agree on one chapter – you might agree on all the others – but if you can’t agree on one then you haven’t got a comprehensive agreement.”
Asked, he said that there are no deadlines to reaching a solution but it is important that the process has real momentum and that the leaders move forward as fast as they can, but not so fast as not to do the job properly, but on the other hand not drag their feet.
On Thursday, the two leaders will open the new crossing point at Pyrgos, in the northwest of the island.
Presidential commissioner Giorgos Iacovou said the road was ready apart from a 300-metre stretch, where pipes had been found under the old tarmac.
The road will be up and running by 3 pm, Iacovou said.
The opening ceremony will be attended by EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule.
“The European Union is fully behind confidence building measures like the opening of this crossing point and is proud to have contributed with its financial support to a major landmark of the Cypriot pursuit of peace,” Fule said.
