FOREIGN Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides said yesterday the United Nations was losing patience over the lack of progress on the Cyprus problem.
Cassoulides told journalists that was the message the recent UN Security Council statement was sending. The Security Council issued a statement on Tuesday saying that the Turkish Cypriot side had been “less constructive” than the Greek Cypriot side in efforts to solve the Cyprus problem.
Talks between President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash began on January 16 this year, but six months later no progress has been made. The talks will resume on July 16 when UN special envoy Alvaro de Soto returns to the island after briefing the Security Council earlier this week.
Cassoulides referred to the Council’s clear position that the effort made by de Soto to determine the component parts of a comprehensive settlement should take fully into consideration the relevant UN Security Council resolutions on Cyprus, but most importantly that the Turkish side should change its views.
The Foreign Minister said that the time left for a solution to the Cyprus issue was narrowing.
“It is not possible for us to continue (with the talks) after October without any constructive and significant effort on the four core issues of the Cyprus problem – governance, security, territory and property”, Cassoulides said.
Referring to the political situation in Turkey, he said the government was following developments very closely.
“The political instability, uncertainty and the possibility of early elections in Turkey do not help, since there is a possibility that they give Denktash the chance to hide behind those developments and continue with his intransigent stance”, he said.
Commenting on the Security Council statement, Denktash was yesterday quoted as saying that if the international community did not begin to act impartially “by giving up the biased attitude it has been displaying for 40 years, then the issue naturally remains at an impasse”.
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.
