Confidence-building on talks agenda?

PRESIDENT Glafcos Clerides could discuss confidence-building measures when he meets Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash next month, the government spokesman said yesterday.

Mediators trying to solve the island’s division have in the past been reluctant to pursue such measures between the Greek and Turkish communities, fearing they could shift the focus of talks away from the goal of settling the stalemate.

“Discussions on measures which can be adopted quickly, improve the climate and facilitate a settlement cannot be ruled out,” Government Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou told reporters.

Clerides and Denktash are poised to resume direct talks on January 16.

Several steps aimed at improving the climate between Greek and Turkish Cypriots have been raised in the past, but they were never adopted.

The suggestions included handing over the Turkish-controlled ghost town of Varosha to UN control — from where it could possibly be re-occupied by Greek Cypriot residents, a reduction in Turkish forces on the island and a freeze on arms spending.

Pressure is mounting for a settlement to the conflict on the island as it prepares for European Union membership.

Cyprus is now a frontrunner to be included in the EU’s next expansion wave, expected to start in 2004. Turkey has said it could annex the occupied north if Cyprus joins without a settlement, possibly dashing its own decades-old hopes of joining the EU.

EU member Greece, frequently at loggerheads with Turkey over Cyprus, has said the island must join in the next enlargement wave or it will block the entire expansion process.

Clerides, who took the unprecedented step of visiting Denktash at his home for dinner in occupied Nicosia last week, planned to return the invitation soon, Papapetrou said.

He said Clerides may issue the invitation in the last week of December, earlier than the mid-January date initially speculated on.

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