U.N. ENVOY Alvaro de Soto insisted yesterday the Burgenstock Hotels complex was the ideal location for the Cyprus talks because it brought all sides more or less under one roof, the only obstacle being the half a metre of snow that had fallen on the Swiss village since Monday.
Both the Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides have complained about the isolation brought on by the snow and by the UN. Serdar Denktash said yesterday he felt imprisoned, echoing the sentiments of the Greek Cypriot delegation a day earlier.
De Soto said that because of the snow there was not much of a view, outside or inside, and admitted that the complex was “a little bit like a prison”.
“There is no view,” he told reporters yesterday. “If that is a prison then I suppose I’m the warden.”
The Burgenstock complex, which comprises three separate hotels, is no stranger to big events and celebrity visits. Greek and Turkish Cypriot journalists were taken on a short visit there yesterday but not allowed into any of the hotels.
The complex is some 950 metres above sea level and about 10 minutes by bus from where the press corps is staying. Two years ago, it hosted a Sudan summit and twice played host to top secret Bilderberg conferences.
The Bilderberg Group brings together a select few world leaders, top newspaper men, and global bankers who have been meeting once every year at a secret location since 1945 to discuss world events. Henry Kissenger is a famous Bilderberger.
Complex general manager Jurg Thommen said Bilderber meetings had been held at Burgenstock in 1981 and 1995. Other famous visitors included Golda Meir and Jimmy Carter and members of the European aristocracy.
The complex, which has 183 rooms spread over the three hotels – the Grand, the Park and the larger Palace, was also a favourite of the late Hollywood star Audrey Hepburn and Mel Ferrer, who got married at the chapel there, as did Sophia Loren and Carlo Ponti.
“The house where I live is where Sophia Loren lived for 12 years,” said Thommen. “I take my bath every morning in Sophia’s bath tub.”
The Burgenstock hotels were founded by the sons of two peasants in 1870 and now it’s on a par with the Ritz, Thommen said.
Rooms normally cost between 380 and 730 Swiss francs per day (£150-300), including breakfast. Thommen said no ‘ethnic’ foods were served.
During Wednesday’s dinner hosted by De Soto at the Park Hotel for the four parties in the talks, delegates were served asparagus vinaigrette, grilled chicken and risotto, followed by tiramisu and fruit salad.
The entire three-hotel complex has been exclusively booked from March 23-31 for the Cyprus talks, Thommen said.
“Our foreign minister insisted they be undisturbed and unobserved,” he said, referring to the visibly heavy security around the complex.
He said the UN requirements for the talks had been one of the biggest challenges for the conference centre, adding that they required 37 computers, 24 printers, 10 shredders and 50 phone lines “in case ours were possibly tapped”.
Thommen said the most important event held in Burgenstock had been the Sudan summit, which reached a deal – “so we do also hope the Cyprus conference will come to a happy agreement,” he said.
Thommen puts Burgenstock’s success down to a high level of bio-energy in the area, which he said Swiss scientists had precisely measured. He said energy levels there were twice as high as other places in Switzerland, and that from his personal experience he needs less sleep and still wakes up refreshed.
It seems one Greek Cypriot party leader agrees, and unlike some other members of the Cyprus delegation has no complaint about being ‘imprisoned’ at the Burgenstock complex.
He said such reports were nonsense.
“I am not at all unhappy here,” he told the Cyprus Mail. “The food is excellent, the drink is even better and there are lots of pretty girls around.”
