THE prime ministers of Greece and Turkey will attend UN-backed Cyprus reunification talks in Switzerland on March 28, officials said yesterday, raising hopes of a breakthrough in the thorny negotiations.
“The prime minister (Costas Karamanlis) has accepted an invitation by the United Nations Secretary-general to attend the enlarged talks on the Cyprus issue on March 28 in Burgenstock in Switzerland,” a Greek government spokesman said.
Turkey’s state-run Anatolian news agency also said Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan would attend the next round of talks, which aim to clinch a peace deal so a reunified Cyprus can join the European Union on May 1.
A Greek official said US President George W Bush had discussed Cyprus with Karamanlis by telephone yesterday and offered help.
Karamanlis asked Bush to press the Turkish side to help reach a “viable solution” which accorded with EU laws, he added.
Under a tightly-scripted UN timetable, officials from Greece and Turkey will attend the talks in Switzerland from Monday, March 22. Karamanlis and Erdogan will then join in from March 28.
UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan will fill in any gaps left in the plan which goes to a pan-Cyprus referendum on April 20. Annan’s Spokesman Fred Eckhart said in Nicosia yesterday that the Secretary-general expect Greece and Turkey to “meet their commitments” to the procedures signed up to last month.
Diplomats said the planned personal involvement of the Greek and Turkish leaders underscored their determination to resolve a problem which has bedevilled bilateral relations for decades and which could still wreck Turkey’s own hopes of joining the EU.
Despite the decision of Greece and Turkey to attend at highest level, Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash is insisting he will shun the talks, having said on Wednesday night that joining them would prove pointless.
Denktash yesterday received a blunt warning from UN Under Secretary-general for Political Affairs, Sir Kieran Prendergast, who said whoever was not in Switzerland next week would no longer be considered part of the procedure.
“The process that we are engaged in at the moment moves on to Burgenstock next week and anyone who is not in Burgenstock is not in the process,” Prendergast said at Larnaca airport on his departure yesterday.
The UN official expressed disappointment that more had not been achieved on the core issues.
“My assessment is that good progress is being made in the various technical committees, but maybe there needs to be an additional sense of urgency when it comes to the core issues,” he told reporters.
Government Spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides said Denktash’s decision to stay away could prove problematic.
The spokesman added that the National Council would meet this afternoon.
“Denktash’s decision should be examined very carefully; this has caused problems relating to the substance as well as the procedure of the talks,” Chrysostomides said, and pointed out that “to date Denktash was our interlocutor in his capacity as the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community.
“Now Denktash refuses to participate in the talks, the reasons he has cited for not attending the talks should be looked into in order to take our own decisions.”
The spokesman noted that Denktash had not relinquished his post as interlocutor at the talks and that he said he would remain on the island in anticipation of their outcome.
“President Papadopoulos and the National Council will decide on our reply to Annan’s invitation to talks,” he added.
Responding to questions, he said Annan’s invitation noted that those who go to Switzerland should be in a position to take decisions, adding that the Secretary-general himself would be in Burgenstock at the end of March.
Speaking at a news conference in occupied Nicosia yesterday, Turkish Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Mehmet Ali Talat said he was not surprised by Denktash’s decision not to join negotiations in Switzerland, but viewed his decision as a blow to the Turkish side’s position.
“I do not approve of his decision,” he said. “I hope he changes his mind.”
And in a sign of Denktash’s growing isolation, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told reporters yesterday he had not been aware of the Turkish Cypriot leader’s decision in advance.
“I saw (Denktash) on live television. I spoke with him a day earlier by telephone, he didn’t tell me that,” Gul said.
“We must all work day and night, thinking of the Turkish Cypriots’ future. We won’t get anywhere with heroic speeches on these subjects,” he added in tacit criticism of Denktash’s stance.
Talat added that UN Special Envoy Alvaro de Soto had asked both sides for a commitment to finalising a fourth version of the UN plan by March 31.
Asked whether he would take up the role of chief negotiator in the absence of Denktash, Talat said: “Denktash has not resigned from his position. He is just not going to Switzerland” and stressed that Denktash was still part of the negotiating team and that the team in Switzerland would be in “close consultation with the president and others”.
