Second Round of Cyprus Talks Ends

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, March 28, 2002

Second Round of Cyprus Talks Ends

Cyprus' President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash concluded their second round of direct talks Wednesday afternoon.

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Cyprus' President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash concluded their second round of direct talks Wednesday afternoon.

According to the Cyprus News Agency, the two leaders met for about 90 minutes during the last meeting of the second round, in the presence of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special adviserfor Cyprus Alvaro de Soto.

The U.N.-sponsored Cyprus talks began in mid-January. Mediators hope results can be achieved by June, ahead of the completion of Cyprus' European Union (EU) accession negotiations and before Denktash undergoes heart surgery in the summer.

Little has been disclosed about the content of Clerides-Denktashtalks, but judging by public remarks of interested parties, it appears that little progress has been achieved towards a settlementof the Cyprus issue.

Speaking at an annual conference of Cypriot Reservists Association on Tuesday, Clerides said no encouraging results had come up from the talks.

Meanwhile, Denktash said in northern Cyprus on Tuesday that a recent EU-backed deal for a new union between Montenegro and Serbiaoffered a model for Cyprus.

Earlier this month, Montenegrin and Serbian leaders agreed to make a loose union and name it Serbia and Montenegro.

De Soto will leave the island Wednesday night and travel for consultations in Athens and Ankara before flying on to New York to brief U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the Security Council inearly April.

The third round of the U.N.-sponsored direct talks on Cyprus is expected to resume in the second week of April, once de Soto returns.

Cyprus has been divided into the Greek Cypriots-dominated south and the Turkish Cypriots-controlled north since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied the northern third of the island after a failed Athens-backed coup seeking union with Greece.

The U.N.-headed international community has been trying for decades to reunite the island with a bizonal, bicommunal federationformula, but all efforts have so far failed.

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