Turkish Source Says Cyprus To Return To Pre-1960 Constitution

by Lorys Charalambous, Tax-News.com, Nicosia

24 January 2002

Ankara English-language newspaper the Turkish Daily News says that according to well-informed sources, Turkish Cypriot President Rauf Denktas and his Greek Cypriot counterpart Glafcos Clerides have agreed to try to build a new Cyprus starting from the pre-1960 status of the two peoples of the island.

Speaking with the Turkish Daily News the sources, who have insight with the indirect invigorated talks process launched by the two leaders after a history making Dec. 4, 2001 meeting, said Denktas and Clerides have reached an understanding after two formal meetings and two dinners since Dec. 4, to brush aside everything that has been said and done until now, and start building a new state structure on the island based on the pre-1960 status of the two peoples of Cyprus.

Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots were the two "founding equal partners" of the 1960 Cyprus Republic that lived only three years and collapsed in December 1963 when Greek Cypriots expelled their Turkish Cypriot partners from the administration of the island.

Although the Greek Cypriot-administered Cyprus government is recognized by the United Nations (U.N.) and the international community as the "sole legitimate government" of the eastern Mediterranean island, Turkish Cypriots and Turkey do not consider it as a continuation of the 1960 partnership republic.

In a sign that this construction of the talks may be correct, the Greek Cypriot administration, which until the start of the current process was stating that the negotiation process was just a "constitutional exercise" and any settlement would restore the authority of the Cyprus Republic throughout the island, changed its language last week. A top Greek Cypriot government source, briefing reporters on the new talks, was quoted by Greek Cypriot papers as saying that "Clerides and Denktas will focus on the status of the new state that will be founded after a solution and on specific constitutional and power-sharing issues."

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