World Hopes for Progress in Cyprus' Upcoming Direct Meeting

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, December 02, 2001

World Hopes for Progress in Cyprus' Upcoming Direct Meeting

The world community has hoped that positive results would be produced at a direct meeting between Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash due December 4.

The world community has hoped that positive results would be produced at a direct meeting between Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash due December 4.

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has voiced support for the meeting, the first between the two in four years.

Annan's special advisor on the Cyprus issue Alvaro de Soto arrived in the Mediterranean island Saturday afternoon to join the meeting.

Reports said that de Soto is ready to present a set of proposals envisaging a comprehensive solution to the protracted Cyprus issue, if the two men decide to resume the U.N.-sponsored talks on the Cyprus issue.

Cyprus has remained divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and took the northern third of Cyprus after an abortive coup by the Greek Cypriots seeking union with Greece.

Clerides and Denktash have held five rounds of proximity talks under the sponsorship of the U.N. in an effort to resolve the Cyprus problem. But no tangible results have been achieved.

In November 2000, Denktash walked out of the talks. And he rejected a U.N. invitation last September to return to the talks, demanding the recognition of his breakaway regime in northern Cyprus.

The planned December 4 meeting was the result of an exchange of letters between Clerides and Denktash, who invited Clerides for "one to one and heart to heart" talks.

The United States and Britain, main players on the Cyprus issue, have expressed hope that the two leaders will use this meeting to overcome existing differences and find ways that will help advance the settlement of the Cyprus issue.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is expected to visit Turkey on Tuesday, where he would encourage Turkey to seek a settlement of the Cyprus issue.

"I'd like to see greater momentum with respect to moving forward on Cyprus and I will explore with my Turkish interlocutors what might be done," Powell has said.

Britain has welcomed the upcoming meeting and the presence of a U.N. envoy at the meeting.

"We always encourage dialog between the two sides. We especially welcome this meeting taking place at a time when there is a sense of urgency," a British Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman has said.

The European Union (EU), which favors a political solution to the Cyprus issue before the island becomes an EU member, has strongly hoped that the meeting would yield progress.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Gunter Verheugen, in a meeting with Greek and Turkish Cypriot entrepreneurs in Brussels on Friday, called on the Turkish Cypriots to weigh influence behind their politicians so that the December meeting will bear fruit.

During her recent visit to Cyprus, European Parliament President Nicole Fontaine said the EU parliament hopes that the meeting will bring about positive elements conducive to solving the Cyprus issue.

She expressed hope that the Turkish Cypriots will shift from its present position on the Cyprus issue, saying that the EU parliament wishes to see a political settlement of the Cyprus issue within the framework of a federal state.

On Friday, Secretary General of the Council of Europe (COE) Walter Schwimmer welcomed the forthcoming meeting between Clerides and Denktash.

A COE press release said that Schwimmer appealed to both leaders "to demonstrate far-sightedness and seize the opportunity of this meeting to move toward an equitable and lasting solution for Cyprus."

China, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, has also hoped for a fair and proper settlement of the Cyprus issue in accordance with the relevant U.N. resolutions.

Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao and Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan told Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides, who is on a week-long visit to China, that China hopes both the Greek and Turkish Cypriots would cooperate with Annan to find a just and reasonable way to resolve the Cyprus issue based on the relevant U.N. resolutions.

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