Clerides: bombing could sidetrack US initiative on Cyprus

PRESIDENT Clerides warned yesterday that if Nato air attacks on Yugoslavia continued until after the elections in Turkey, it could adversely affect international efforts to solve the Cyprus problem.

Clerides was speaking to journalists yesterday during services to mark the April 1 anniversary of the beginning of the Eoka struggle.

Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides also said Cyprus was worried that the situation in the Balkans was destabilising the entire region and hoped that diplomatic efforts would soon bear fruit.

Clerides said the continuation of the bombing for an extended period might turn into an obstacle to the international community’s efforts for a Cyprus solution.

According to the Cyprus government, the US is working on various ideas that might lead to a new initiative on the Cyprus problem after the Turkish elections this month. Last year, Clerides claimed the US was planning a ‘big push’ on the Cyprus problem after the presidential elections on the island. Hardly anything materialised.

US President Bill Clinton has pledged to intensify his administration’s efforts to resolve the Cyprus problem by convincing all parties to return to negotiations.

Talks on the Cyprus problem have been deadlocked since late 1997 when Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash declared them ‘dead’ in retaliation at the opening of Cyprus’ EU accession talks.

UN Chief of Mission Dame Ann Hercus has been conducting secret shuttle talks between the two sides since last October.

EU and US mediators who visited the island last month left pessimistic about the possibility of progress following meetings with both sides.

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.