Cypriot President Leaves for New York for Talks on Cyprus Issue

Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides left here Monday for New York, at the invitation of United Nations chief for talks on Cyprus issue, the Cyprus News Agency reported.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has sent invitations to Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash for separate meetings on September 12 in New York, aimed at resuming peace talks to find a comprehensive settlement to the Cyprus issue.

Clerides has accepted the invitation, but Denktash has refused the offer, saying that there are no grounds for such talks.

Prior to his take-off at Larnaca airport on the southern coast of the island, Clerides said that he will discuss with Annan future moves with regard to the U.N.-sponsored peace process in Cyprus.

He also said he would be happy to see Denktash in New York, adding that he is ready to hold talks within the framework of U.N. resolutions and other international conventions.

Reports said that Denktash, who insists on recognition of his breakaway state in northern Cyprus before he returns to negotiations, has formally informed Annan that he will not attend the meetings in New York.

Denktash also blamed Alvaro de Soto, Annan's special adviser on Cyprus, for making public the date of talks, saying that he "does not have the right to publicly declare a date for a meeting when he knows that one side will come to the meeting while the other will not be able to."

Cyprus has been divided into the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied the northern third of the Mediterranean island after a failed coup by the Greek Cypriots seeking union with Greece.กก

In 1983, the Turkish Cypriots unilaterally declared the breakaway "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus," recognized only by Turkey. The Republic of Cyprus is internationally acknowledged.

Since December 1999, the U.N. has sponsored five rounds of proximity talks between Clerides and Denktash, in an effort to find a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus issue.






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