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The
UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, has invited TRNC President Rauf Denktas
and Greek Cypriot leader, Tassos Papadopoulos, for talks on the
Cyprus
issue in
New York
on February 10.
The
statement was issued on 4 February 2004 by the Office of the
Secretary-General’s Spokesman at UN Headquarters in
New York
.
Distributing
the statement to the press yesterday (February 5), UNFICYP Spokesman, Brain
Kelly, said the two Cypriot leaders had been invited by the
Secretary-General to resume negotiations on the basis of the Annan Plan in
New York on February 10.
The
full text of the statement is as follows:
“The
Secretary-General wrote today (February 5) to the Greek Cypriot and Turkish
Cypriot leaders inviting them to come to New York on 10 February 2004 to
resume negotiations on the basis of his plan.
The
objective of the negotiations would be to put a completed text to referenda
in April 2004, in time for a reunited
Cyprus
to accede to the European Union on 1 May 2004.
The
Secretary-General has also written to the Prime Ministers of Greece,
Turkey
and the
United Kingdom
asking them to have representatives on hand in
New York
on that occasion.
The
Secretary-General was moved to take this initiative by his recent,
encouraging contacts on the
Cyprus
question during his trip to
Europe
and afterwards.
In
his letters, the Secretary-General has appealed to the leaders to summon the
political will needed to bring about this result in the short time
available. He has also set out what needs to be done for this to happen.”
TRNC
President Rauf Denktas, who went to Ankara on 4 February with Prime Minister
Mehmet Ali Talat and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Serdar
Denktas, for contacts with Turkish government officials on the Cyprus issue,
will remain in Ankara for another day in order to evaluate the UN
Secretary-General’s invitation to the two leaders in Cyprus to resume
negotiations on the Cyprus issue in New York.
Pointing
out that he had received the Secretary-General’s invitation to resume
negotiations on the Cyprus issue in New York on 10 February 2004, President
Denktas said he was in the process of evaluating the invitation and the
invitation was made to resume the negotiations on February 10.
The
President said the reason for extending his stay in
Ankara
for one more day was so that together with Prime Minister Talat and Deputy
Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Serdar Denktas they could evaluate the
Secretary-General’s invitation and if necessary have reciprocal contacts
with Turkish officials on the issue.
Asked
by reporters what Annan’s conditions were, the President said he would
only be able to answer this question after they had completed their
evaluations.
Later,
Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, met with President Denktas and
speaking to reporters after the meeting, Prime Minister Erdogan, pointing
out that they were in constant communication with TRNC officials on the
Cyprus
issue, said: “We have always followed a common path with the same aim and
view”.
Speaking
after his meeting with the Turkish Prime Minister, President Denktas said
the Turkish Cypriot side would probably go to
New York
and following their contacts in
Ankara
they would also evaluate the issue in the TRNC.
Meanwhile,
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Serdar Denktas said they
(government) were trying to observe with a positive approach the
developments that would lead to a settlement protecting the rights of the
Turkish Cypriot people.
LAKADAMIA
TURKISH
CEMETERY
TURNED INTO A PARK
The
Greek Cypriot daily “Alithia” reported that the former Turkish Cypriot
residents of Lakadamia, approximately 200, who fled from their former homes
to live in other ghettos during the intercommunal conflict last buried their
died in the Turkish Cypriot Cemetery in Lakadamia in 1958, and that today
the cemetery has become a small park, where nothing remains of its previous
existence as a cemetery.
The
daily stated that on one side of this park, which is on the
Lakadamia-Deftera road, is a large icon symbolizing the birth of Jesus.
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