Clerides ‘has not rejected Denktash meeting proposal’

PRESIDENT Glafcos Clerides has replied to a second letter from Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash proposing a face-to-face meeting.

In his reply, Clerides made it clear that he has not rejected Denktash’s proposal, nor has he set out any preconditions for such a meeting.

Clerides also told Denktash all he has to do is to agree to meet him either in the presence of a UN representative or in the framework of the UN peace process.

In Denktash’s second letter, received by Clerides on Tuesday in New York, he expressed regret that Clerides “rejected” his proposal and said he had not laid down any preconditions for the meeting. He expressed support for the good offices mission of the UN and again invited Clerides to a meeting.

Denktash, backed by Ankara, withdrew from UN-led proximity talks in November last year and in early September he rejected an invitation from UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan to resume the search for a comprehensive settlement.

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.