Cem ‘should learn to read’

By Jean Christou

TURKISH Foreign Minister Ismail Cem has lost the plot when it comes to UN resolutions on Cyprus, the government said yesterday.

“It seems Mr Cem understands things his own way or it seems he does not know how to read, as he should do, certain words which are very well known, both in the framework of international law and of common sense,” government spokesman Christos Stylianides said in New York.

He was responding to comments by Cem that the confederation proposal by Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash was constructive because “it is for unity, not separation”.

“When we talk about UN resolutions, we should not see them as a very rigid set-up but we should look into their essence, the essence of UN resolutions, ” Cem told reporters in the US.

“And when I look at them, I think it would be much more wiser, instead of insisting on the words of some resolutions which have proved to be ineffective, inoperative since 25 years, I think it should be much wiser if we were to consider the essence.”

Cem said he believed what Denktash was proposing in a confederation “goes in line with the essence of what supposedly all parties are advocating and (confederation) is in line with the essence of UN resolutions.”

But the government said Denktash’s proposal “speaks bluntly” about the creation of two states, which would lead “without any doubt” to the partition of Cyprus.

“If Mr Cem believes that Mr Denktash’s’ proposal falls within the framework of the resolutions, he must have distanced himself from common sense as the resolutions speak very specifically about the territorial integrity, independence and unity of Cyprus,” Stylianides said.

Both Cem and President Clerides were yesterday due to have separate meetings in New York with UN presidential emissary for Cyprus Richard Holbrooke.

According to sources, the UN is attempting to set in motion moves to establish some form of negotiations between the two sides after Denktash said he would only talk on the basis of confederation.

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.