By Jean Christou
TURKISH Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash said yesterday new common ground had to be found to restart the abandoned intercommunal talks.
“Now we have to find new common ground for starting the talks. The common ground is the reality on the ground,”
Denktash told Reuters news agency in an interview after a meeting with UN Cyprus envoy Gustave Feissel.
Denktash last month declared the talks “dead” following the European Union’s decision to invite Cyprus to begin membership talks.
“We want the world to treat the Greek Cypriot government for what it is, a Greek Cypriot republic, and not a legitimate representative of the whole island,” Denktash said.
Denktash said he had told Feissel that “reality on the ground” entailed recognition of his state as a legitimate one. “Two cultures, two democracies, two governments, two states exist in Cyprus today,” he said.
Denktash has also entered the row over the ‘Cordovez documents’ telling Turkish Cypriot newspaper Kibris that UN special envoy Diego Cordovez had no authority to prepare documents on the Cyprus problem.
He added that he did not take seriously reports that Cordovez would be bringing documents to Cyprus in March.
Denktash’s comments to the paper were in response to statements by Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides last Saturday that Cordovez was preparing documents for his visit to the island in March, immediately after the presidential elections.
The documents are reported to include the text of a draft constitution, the outlining of the borders for Greek and Turkish Cypriot territories, solution proposals on the problems of immigrants and forcibly displaced persons, basic freedoms, economic problems and a security package.
The Turkish mainland newspaper Turkish Daily News, quoting political observers, said the “set of documents” for the resumption of talks could backfire.
Aytug Plumer, the ‘TRNC ambassador’ in New York, said the talks scheduled for March could no longer be between communities but must be between states.
“The United Nations bears a special responsibility on the Cyprus problem… Secretary-general Kofi Annan was supposed to mention in his report to the Security Council the TRNC’s position,” Plumer said. “The signal the UN will give is very important. It is clear that the UN does not have any function such as recognising states, but it should not stand by, looking at the issue. The parties are clear at the negotiating table but nowhere else. We cannot accept this.”
UN sources told the paper the documents would not be binding and are aimed only at guiding the parties.
Cassoulides had also made it clear last Saturday that the documents being prepared were not a solution to the Cyprus problem but an analysis of each of the main issues which could be used to take the intercommunal talks further along.
However the whole matter has become bogged down in the run-up to the presidential elections, with Akel and Diko-backed candidate George Iacovou questioning the existence of international initiatives on Cyprus.
In an immediate response President Clerides listed a selection of envoys who would be visiting the island after the elections.
In addition to Cordovez he said US emissary Richard Holbrooke and Britain’s special envoy Sir David Hannay would also be visiting.
Cassoulides continued his attack on Iacovou’s comments yesterday, saying significant developments are expected on the Cyprus issue in March.
He called on Iacovou to state what policy he will follow given that Diko wants to set preconditions for the talks and Akel favours dialogue without preconditions.
Diplomatic sources said yesterday the fuss over the Cordovez papers and visit is merely the result of electioneering tactics before the presidential election.
