G8 seems likely to endorse Cyprus effort

By Jean Christou

PRELIMINARY indications from the G8 summit in Cologne are that the seven most industrialised nations and Russia will adopt a recommendation on the Cyprus problem.

The recommendation was approved last week by the foreign ministers of the eight countries, despite Turkey’s strong opposition.

According to a Cyprus News Agency (CNA) report from Cologne, diplomatic sources said the G8 effort was not a substitute for the UN peace effort, but was “supportive” of it, as the G8’s overriding goal was to get the two sides back to the negotiating table where all issues would be up for discussion.

“The role of the UN must be decisive,” one French diplomat told CNA. The diplomat reiterated his country’s backing for a Cyprus settlement within a UN framework.

According to American diplomats, Turkey’s strong opposition to the G8 effort on Cyprus stems from Russia’s active involvement in the group and to the absence of an direct or indirect reference to Turkish demands for a confederation on the island.

They also argue that Ankara objects to the fact that yet another international organisation appears to be chastising it for the absence of a desire to solve the Cyprus problem.

The US believes Turkish concerns about the G8 involvement might put in jeopardy the group’s entire effort to give an impetus to Cyprus peace talks, but still believes the timing of this initiative is just as good as any other.

In Nicosia yesterday, Russian ambassador Georgi Muratov said that two UN security council resolutions on Cyprus which are expected to be approved next month would probably be influenced by the conclusions of the G8 summit.

Speaking after a meeting with President Clerides, Muratov said that the summit would to a certain degree push the Cyprus peace process forward.

The Cyprus government has made it clear to the leaders of the G8 that such talks — if they were to resume — would have to take place within the framework of UN Security Council resolutions on Cyprus.

The government has also expressed the view that the G8’s involvement and its active support of UN efforts is of particular importance.

British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said on Thursday that Britain and the other countries would seek to inject a new momentum into the Cyprus talks.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.