Cypriot Leaders Agree Resumption Of Talks

by Lorys Charalambous, Tax-News.com, Nicosia

06 December 2001

In what has been widely hailed as a major breakthrough, Cypriot leaders Glafcos Clerides and Rauf Denktash yesterday agreed to resume face-to-face negotiations on Cyprus after they met for the first time in four years. The breakthrough agreement was capped a short time afterwards when Clerides accepted an invitation to dine tonight at Denktash's residence in north Nicosia.

Yesterday's meeting was at the home of UNFICYP chief of mission Zbigniew Wlosowicz inside the grounds of UN-controlled Nicosia Airport in the presence of UN special envoy Alvaro de Soto. After the 70-minute meeting no comments were made by the two leaders, but de Soto made a brief statement to some 200 journalists.

Reading from a prepared text, de Soto said Clerides and Denktash had agreed that UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan would invite them both to direct talks to be held in Cyprus in mid-January. The talks would be without preconditions, with all issues on the table, with a pledge by both sides to continue negotiations in good faith until a comprehensive settlement is reached, and that nothing will be agreed until everything is agreed.

Government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou, announcing tonight's dinner engagement, made it clear that the visit did not constitute recognition, "not even remotely", of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot regime in the north. It is believed the last time Clerides (who is an old friend of Rauf Denktash) went to the occupied areas was in 1976.

Speaking on his return to the north Denktash said the process should be continuous. "We should start the meetings and continue without break. It cannot be done with just one meeting a month," he said, adding they should aim to reach a solution by June and before Cyprus completes accession talks with the EU.

The agreement was also hailed in Ankara, Athens and Brussels yesterday. Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit welcomed the resumption of talks, saying: "They have come together face-to-face, as two next-door neighbours. This is a pleasing development. It cannot be certain what the result will be but there is the possibility that talks secured in this way will open a few doors." Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis also welcomed the decision but said a settlement would not be easy. "This is progress both because the discussion took place in a good climate and because there was an agreement for further talks," he told an Athens news conference.

In Brussels the European Commission said it was also pleased with yesterday's breakthrough. The EU had recently signalled that in the absence of any talks to reunite the island, it might be forced to take in only the Greek-controlled south, a move which caused Turkey to threaten to 'annex' the northern part of the island, putting paid to its own chances of joining the Union.

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