Current period critical for Cyprus, says Clay

THE CURRENT period is critical for the Cyprus problem, British High Commissioner Edward Clay said yesterday.

Speaking after a meeting with House President Spyros Kyprianou, Clay said the recent G8 statements calling for Cyprus talks to resume with no preconditions were good for both sides on the island.

Britain, Clay added, would like to see the initiative survive.

He said he had explained to Kyprianou why Britain was attached to the G8 initiative, “why we want it to succeed, accepting on the one hand that Cypriots want to think very carefully about how to approach their joint future, and at the same time (seeking) to avoid the sort of controversies that might mean another initiative is spoiled before it gets started.”

Clay said that the main reason for his visit to Kyprianou had been for the Diko leader to brief him on his party’s opinion on where the Cyprus problem should go from here.

Meanwhile, Turkish Cypriot papers yesterday quoted Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash as saying he did not expect a direct invitation from the UN Secretary General to take part in Cyprus negotiations.

Speaking in the eastern Black Sea region, Denktash told reporters that even if invited he would not go.

“We wrote to him (UN Secretary General Kofi Annan) that this is not the time to issue such an invitation,” said Denktash.

He also claimed the world was beginning to understand why the Turkish side wanted a confederal solution and added that anyone who expected Turkey to make any concessions would be disappointed.

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.