UN Begins Preparations For Paris Meeting Of Cyprus Leaders

by Lorys Charalambous, Tax-News.com, Nicosia

27 August 2002

After a summer break of three weeks, direct talks between Greek Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash are set to resume on Tuesday, and United Nations special envoy Alvaro de Soto returned to the island on Sunday to prepare for the resumption.

De Soto is set to meet both leaders today separately to lay the groundwork for a meeting in Paris in early September between the two leaders and UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan, who will hold separate meetings with Clerides and Denktash in the presence of de Soto, followed by a joint session. Until now, de Soto has been restricted to a watching brief, and has not been permitted to make proposals to the leaders.

Annan invited Clerides and Denktash to the Paris meeting during his visit to Cyprus in May in an effort to push the talks forward and make headway on the four core issues under discussion: governance, security, territory and property.

Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Ioannis Magriotis met Mr Clerides yesterday and said afterwards that Turkey could only gain from a change in its attitude. “We do not want Turkey in the margins, we want to see Turkey on the path to Europe through the implementation of international law and order and the road map which Ankara and Europe have decided upon,” he said.

Cyprus is expecting to be invited to join the EU at the summit due in December; Turkey is also seeking to secure a date for the start of accession talks during the summit, but stands little chance of success if it remains inflexible on the Cyprus question.

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