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Cypriot Government Not to Accept Turkish Cypriots' Terms on Talks: Spokesman
The Cypriot government on Wednesday reiterated that it will not accept the terms Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash sets for the UN-sponsored peace talks between the Greek and Cypriot communities on the island.
Speaking at his daily press briefing, government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou stressed that there is no more room for concession on the part of the Greek Cypriot side beyond the settlement for a bizonal, bicommunal federation in the island.
"The government and the president are not going to agree on either acknowledging the self-styled Turkish Cypriot regime in Turkish occupied Cyprus or upgrading the status of Denktash," Papapetrou said.
He pointed out that anything to the contrary will be in conflict with the specific provisions of relevant U.N. resolutions.
Cyprus has been divided into the Turkish Cypriots-controlled north and the Greek Cypriots-dominated south since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied the northern third of the island in the wake of a short-lived coup in Nicosia seeking union with Athens.
In 1983, the Turkish Cypriots unilaterally declared a republic in northern Cyprus which is only recognized by Turkey.
The U.N. has been trying for decades to reunite the island through a bizonal, bicommunal federation formula, but so far no tangible results have been achieved.
Denktash, backed by Ankara, abandoned the U.N. peace talks last year, claiming that unless the "realities" in Cyprus are acknowledged, there can be no settlement to the Cyprus issue. He demands the establishment of a confederation of two separate states on the island.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special adviser on Cyprus Alvaro de Soto Wednesday arrived in Cyprus for separate consultations with Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides and Denktash, in an effort for the resumption of the peace talks.
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