Ecevit-Clinton meeting seen as crucial to Cyprus developments

By Jean Christou

TODAY’S meeting between US President Bill Clinton and Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit will be decisive in determining whether UN Secretary- general Kofi Annan issues invitations for talks between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides.In Nicosia yesterday, American ambassador Donald Bandler said the US had been working very hard to prepare the ground for today’s meeting.”We hope it will bear fruit,” he said. “All of us are working very intensively on this question so I do not think there should be much doubt about it.”Bandler was speaking after a meeting with Akel leader Demetris Christofias.Christofias said he told Bandler that Cyprus expected the US to exert pressure on Turkey to change its stance on Cyprus.But Ecevit has made it clear that Turkey must not be put under any pressure on Cyprus. “We will never accept it, even if the pressure is put on us,” Ecevit said in Brussels on his way to Washington.”I think our meetings in the US, especially the meeting with Mr Bill Clinton, will be very comprehensive,” he added.Commenting on US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s statements that Greece and Turkey should hold negotiations on the Cyprus issue, Ecevit said the two countries should first negotiate on the Aegean dispute and that Greece should Turkey’s invitation to do so. “It will not be realistic to expect the Cyprus question to be solved with Greece’s contribution while the main problems between Turkey and Greece remain unsolved,” Ecevit said. “The Cyprus question should be solved between the two communities on the island. In accordance with our opinion there is not any problem on Cyprus, but those who claim there is a problem should leave its solution to the communities on the island. Otherwise I do not think that it would be useful to add the Cyprus question to the problems which have not even been discussed between Turkey and Greece.”Speaking in New York, government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou said after President Clerides’ Sunday meeting with Annan that the Secretary- general was staking a great deal on today’s meeting between Ecevit and Clinton.”Immediately after this meeting, he will reach a final decision,” Papapetrou told journalists.Reports from New York suggest Annan expects a positive outcome, leading to the issue of invitations. The Secretary- general has told UN journalists he may not be able to attend a gathering of theirs on October 21 because of developments on the Cyprus issue.During their meeting, Clerides and Annan exchanged views on the Cyprus issue and when a new initiative for a new round of talks would be launched.US State Department Coordinator Thomas Weston said in New York that both Nicosia and Athens had the necessary political will for a settlement. “There remains to be tested if the political will to reach a settlement exists on the other side or maybe, more importantly, if it can be engendered,” Weston said in an address to the Cyprus Federation of America.

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.