Clerides expects movement on Cyprus soon

PRESIDENT Glafcos Clerides expects movement on the Cyprus problem soon, he said yesterday.

Speaking in London at a conference on ‘Cyprus; a Regional Business Centre’, Clerides said he had indications that an effort was imminent for Cyprus negotiations to be jumpstarted.

“I believe that we are at the moment at a situation of standstill which I do not expect to last for very long,” said Clerides.

Attributing the current impasse to Turkish Cypriot Leader Rauf Denktash’s attempts to “change the basis of negotiations”, he said Denktash wanted to create a separate sovereign state for the Turkish Cypriots and a “loose” confederation.

“We oppose this idea because it abolishes the independence of Cyprus and creates a Turkish protectorate in the north and a Greek protectorate in the south,” Clerides said.

But he added that the Turkish side’s attempts to delay the negotiating process had not found favour internationally. Cyprus, he went on, was still seeking a peaceful solution along UN guidelines, a position supported by the international community.

“Therefore there is no reason to worry about the events that will take place in the near future.” the President concluded.

Some 100 business people took part in the conference, organised by the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Confederation of British Industry. It was aimed at encouraging investment in Cyprus.

Clerides will today meet with British envoy for Cyprus, Sir David Hannay, to discuss Hannay’s recent contacts in Ankara.

According to Turkish press reports, the British envoy’s talks there on Friday concerned the deadlock over Cyprus, but did not produce any concrete results.

On Friday, Clerides will be in Athens for crunch talks with Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis. The talks are expected to centre on when, where and whether to deploy Cyprus’ controversial S-300 missile system.

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.