UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan’s report is unfair and has misinterpreted the positions of the Greek Cypriot side, the government said immediately after its publication.
Speaking hours before President Tassos Papadopoulos met Annan in New York, government spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides, although he welcomed the fact that the report had left the door open for a settlement, said it did not present a good overall picture of the negotiations. He said the government disagreed with several parts of the report, which he said represented ”an unfair and far-fetched conclusion to claim that the rejection by the Greek Cypriots of the Annan plan was in fact a rejection of either a solution or the notion of a bizonal, bicommunal federation.”
Annan’s report stated: “What was rejected was the solution itself rather than the blueprint”. The Secretary-general did not say the Greek Cypriot side was not interested in a solution per se.
Chrysostomides also said the Secretary-general had contradicted himself by calling in members of the Security Council to open bilateral ties with the Turkish Cypriots but at the same time citing UN resolutions on the recognition of the north. Annan had made it clear that any moves towards recognition or secession would contravene Security Council resolutions.
”Some of the suggestions in the report, in particular the call to the Security Council to eliminate unnecessary restrictions and barriers that have the effect of isolating the Turkish Cypriots, lead to dangerous ground and we believe that they are outside the framework of the Secretary General’s good offices mission and go beyond international law and Council resolutions,” Chrysostomides said.
He also said that the report did not refer to Turkish occupation and had not mentioned the negative stance of the Turkish side prior to the Burgenstock phase talks or throughout the past 30 years.
He said references to the fact that Greek Cypriots did not negotiate during the final phase of the talks in Burgenstock Switzerland were also inaccurate, and he disputed the UN’s figures on the number of Turkish settlers in the north. Commenting on security aspects the spokesman said there was no justification for the continued right of Turkey to intervene in Cyprus.
”The government would wish to see all events presented clearly and objectively as they occurred during the negotiations, noting the position of the other side prior to the talks,” Chrysostomides said.
”Reports by the Secretary-general are and should be objective. I do not think that the Secretary-general is entitled or has an intention to punish or be vindictive towards the people of Cyprus. He says in the report he respects the outcome of the referendum.”
Greece yesterday agreed with the government’s view saying the views outlined in Annan’s report do not in all instances coincide with the views of the parties involved.
“In certain points the assessment made is not absolutely accurate,” George Koumoutsakos, the Greek Foreign Ministry pspokesman, said.
He said that the interpretation of the outcome of April’s referendum in the report was not clear. ”The rejection of the proposed solution plan was interpreted as a desire for a non solution but this is not so,” he added.
Koumoutsakos said that any measures to help the Turkish Cypriots must act as an incentive and not an obstacle towards a solution. He also said the report was not clear on the issue of future efforts for a settlement.
Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot side, which received extremely favourable remarks from Annan, were pleased with the content of the report, Turkish Cypriot politicians indicated yesterday.
In Ankara, reports said that it was confirmation for the first time that the Turkish side was not to blame for the lack of a solution.
“According to Ankara, the fact that the Greek Cypriot administration was criticised in a clear language shows that the Cyprus picture has been presented truthfully in the Annan report,” Turkish NTV reported.
A diplomatic source said that Ankara was now “exerting efforts to ensure that a negative amendment – through Greek Cypriot pressure – is not made in the time it takes for this report to be turned into a resolution”.
