TURKISH Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash yesterday resisted renewed efforts by the United States to draw him back to the negotiating table.
US presidential emissary to Cyprus Alfred Moses said the Turkish Cypriot side and Turkey had agreed to consider suggestions for ways to resume UN sponsored talks aimed at reuniting the island.
But Denktash stuck to his tough line by saying he would not attend talks in Geneva unless the basis of the negotiations was changed. However, the Turk Cypriot leader said he was willing to meet UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Moses was speaking at the end of a trip to Cyprus, Athens and Ankara, in an effort to restart the stalled talks process.
“I cannot tell you the Turkish side has accepted the proposals that we discussed,” Moses told reporters in Ankara.
But he added: “The Turkish side have told us they will consider the points that we discussed.
“All of the leaders with whom we met were of one view that a comprehensive settlement is preferable to the continuation of the status quo — a divided Cyprus, an unstable situation with ramifications for all countries in this region and the world beyond,” Moses said after meeting Turkey’s foreign minister.
A sixth round of UN-led proximity talks are due to start in Geneva later this month. But they hang in the balance since Denktash has said he would not attend.
Asked if he would go to Geneva at the end of this month when Annan is expected to visit, Denktash said: “Not for proximity talks”. He said he would not go if President Glafcos Clerides was in Geneva at the same time as that would amount to proximity talks.
“But we won’t decline an invitation from the (UN) Secretary General,” he added.
Denktash has insisted that he will not continue the proximity talks unless he is granted equal status to the internationally recognised government of President Clerides.
“I cannot report to you now that the ideas we discussed were finally agreed on by the Turkish Cypriot side, but what I have are assurances from Mr Denktash that he will certainly consider our views,” Moses said. Ankara gave similar assurances, he added.
Moses said Turkey’s EU candidacy status added urgency to the need to resolve the Cyprus dispute.
“We would like to see a united Cyprus enter the EU. One of the reasons we’re advocating seeking to facilitate a comprehensive settlement is to ensure that a united Cyprus enters the EU not a divided Cyprus,” Moses said.
“And we hope that will be followed closely by the accession of Turkey to the European Union.”
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.
