PRESS CONFERENCE BY PRESIDENT OF CYPRUS

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE BY PRESIDENT OF CYPRUS

The current rapprochement between Turkey and Greece was not sufficient in itself to solve the Cyprus problem, the President of Cyprus, Glafcos Clerides, told correspondents this morning at a press conference. At this stage the two countries were discussing secondary issues while they had not touched on the main problems, he said. Still, their talks could create an atmosphere conducive to the negotiations between the two sides. In the same spirit, discussions currently under way between the European Union and Turkey on a partnership agreement might also prove useful.

Asked to suggest an approach which could be used to get the talks between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots out of their current deadlock, Mr. Clerides said his side would not change from a negotiated settlement to any other form of solution.

Asked who was responsible for the deadlock on the talks, Mr. Clerides replied that in his opinion, the other side was responsible, since they had not wanted to negotiate without a leveling of the issues. However, the Security Council had set the terms of references for the negotiations and if the other side did not want to accept such terms, it was up to the Security Council to speak on the matter.

Noting that the issue of Cyprus had been cited as both a success and a failure, a correspondent asked if it was a success without a resolution? Mr. Clerides replied that while the peace-making effort had failed, peacekeeping had been successful, preventing tension between the two sides from escalating, despite incidents along the demarcation lines. As an example, he said there had recently been serious violations by Turkish forces, which had not yet been resolved.

If the United States did not bring pressure to bear on Turkey to pull out of Cyprus, who then would be expected to take action? another correspondent asked. In reply, Mr. Clerides emphasized that the peacekeeping Force in Cyprus was under United Nations command and therefore the situation should be examined by the Security Council, not by a single Member State alone.

[In a statement distributed at the press conference, but not read out, Mr. Clerides said he would approach the new round of talks, soon to begin, with “good will and determination to find a solution to the Cyprus problem based on the United Nations resolutions and the two High-level Agreements of 1977 and 1979”. It was necessary to engage in substantive negotiations on the core issues aimed at achieving a comprehensive solution to the problem. It was hoped that the Turkish side would “approach the negotiations with similar positive spirit and thus facilitate the finding of a settlement, which will reunify Cyprus through a solution within the parameters established by United Nations Security Council resolutions”.]

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