|
The
UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, will today (February 10) meet with TRNC
President Rauf Denktas and Greek Cypriot leader, Tassos Papadopoulos.
The
Secretary-General will decide whether or not to resume the
Cyprus
talks depending on the messages given by the two leaders during the meeting.
Today
(February 10), TRNC President Rauf Denktas and Greek Cypriot leader, Tassos
Papadopoulos, will inform the Secretary-General about their reservations and
views on his (Annan) Plan. Referring to his meeting with the
Secretary-General in
New York
and the resumption of the
Cyprus
talks, President Denktas said: “We’ll wait and see, we’re here (
New York
) for one-day and are planning to go back on Wednesday (February 11)”.
Meanwhile,
speaking to reporters before an evaluation meeting with
Umit Pamir
,
Turkey
’s Permanent Representative to the UN, as well as other officials,
President Denktas said: “Recently, the UN Secretary-General has been in
constant contact with
Turkey
and
Greece
and the Greek Cypriot side, but not with us. I don’t know why he excluded
us, but he did. Therefore, we there are many things that we want to tell
him”.
Pointing
out that the Turkish Cypriot side was in
New York
to protect the rights of the Turkish Cypriot people, the President said in
order to protect these rights,
Turkey
also needed to protect her rights over
Cyprus
.
He
added: “The Greco-Turkish balance is very important for us. In order to
create a positive atmosphere,
Turkey
has made many good will gestures and taken many constructive steps. There
may be some people who misinterpret these steps. However,
Turkey
’s desire is to achieve a permanent peace in
Cyprus
. The parameters for this are evident and this issue has been discussed for
years. Within this framework, we came to
New York
to establish a new partnership with the Greek Cypriots, which will be
permanent and solid”.
De
Soto-Denktas Meeting
Speaking
to reporters after his meeting with Alvaro
de Soto
, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for
Cyprus
, President Denktas said the meeting would take place between him, the Greek
Cypriot leader, Tassos Papadopoulos and the UN Secretary-General.
Referring
to
De Soto
’s visit, the President stated that
De Soto
only visited him at the Turkish Centre in
New York
to invite him to the meeting with the Secretary-General.
He added: “I accepted the invitation and in today’s (February 10)
meeting the two sides will put forward the changes they want to be made to
the plan. This is something that we’ve been wanting to do for a long
time”.
During
today’s Denktas-Papadopoulos-Annan meeting, the two sides will each put
forward the changes that they want to be made to the plan in others
presence. Annan also stated that before today’s tripartite meeting, if
there was enough time, he would meet separately with the two leaders.
The
tripartite meeting between the UN Secretary-General, President Denktas and
the Greek Cypriot leader, Tassos Papadopoulos, will take place this evening.
Before the meeting, Annan will meet with the leaders separately. The
face-to-face meeting, where each side will put forward their reservations
and views on the Annan Plan, is expected to last for one hour. During this
meeting if
the two leaders agree, the Cyprus talks will restart in Lefkosa next Monday
(February 16).
Following
his meeting with the Greek Prime Minister, Kostas Simitis, in Athens
yesterday (February 9), Papadopoulos departed for New York. The Greek
Cypriot leader is being accompanied by the Greek Cypriot negotiating team,
government and opposition party representatives and former-Greek Cypriot
leader Glafcos Clerides.
Annan:
If the sides agree, changes can be made
Meanwhile,
in a briefing given to the UN Security Council on Cyprus and Iraq yesterday
(February 9), the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, said he would accept
changes to his plan only if the two sides mutually agreed.
The
Secretary-General pointed out putting the Annan Plan to a referendum on
April 21, 2004 was part of the agreement and that the Plan was a basis for
the negotiations. He also added that he would negotiate all aspects with the
two sides.
|
