PRESS BRIEFING BY SPECIAL ADVISER ON CYPRUS

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING BY SPECIAL ADVISER ON CYPRUS

A “qualitative step forward” had taken place in the latest round of Cyprus proximity talks that had just ended, and another round had been scheduled from 1 to 10 November in Geneva, Alvaro de Soto , Special Adviser to the Secretary- General on Cyprus, said at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon.

He said the two sides engaged in substance during the talks that begun on 12 September in a way that they had not done before. “To that extent, we are encouraged”, he said, and added, “Lest this be interpreted as a premature `peace is at hand statement', let me hasten to say that we’re not unfurling banners, lighting fireworks, blaring trumpets or breaking out champagne yet. There is still a long way to go and we must take a long view. I have said this before and it bears repeating.”

He said the Secretary-General this morning had consecutive wrap-up sessions with the two leaders -– Mr. Glafcos Clerides and Mr. Rauf Denktash, and reminded them, among other things, of the news blackout which he would like the parties to continue to observe. Mr. de Soto also underscored that point.

He said the Secretary-General had also recalled the Security Council mandate under which he was operating and which he wanted the parties to observe: no preconditions; all issues were on the table; a good-faith commitment to continue with the talks until a comprehensive settlement was reached; and that full consideration would be given to all relevant Security Council resolutions.

The Secretary-General had invited them to meet again for proximity talks from 1 to 10 November in Geneva during which he would be in the city. Mr. de Soto said the Secretary-General had also asked him to go to Cyprus in October to continue consultations. He hoped also to visit Ankara and Athens, and other European stops.

Progress, particularly in a proximity format, was hard to report on, he said, adding that it was hard to measure. “Do not expect, either today or in the near future, announcements of breakthroughs as we go along. Progress was more likely to be incremental rather than in leaps and bounds, at least for the present.

He said “But the process has moved to a new level which we hope to build upon in the coming months.” Having said that, it was hard not to notice a certain nervousness in some quarters, he observed, and he drew attention to the transgressions of the blackout. It also had to do with the fact that new ground was being broken. “And that had to do, in turn, with the fact that what we are aiming at is not a new framework -– a retread of the set of ideas, but rather a comprehensive settlement.”

He said previous frameworks had left a lot of ground untilled, as well as a lot of lacunae. “We need to fill those lacunae.” Breaking new ground could

Alvaro de Soto Press Briefing - 2 - 26 September 2000

be disquieting in a process that had a long history and background, he explained.

He also said that the transgressions were due in part to the misuse of bits of paper that had appeared. “I’m not going to insult your intelligence by denying any role or authorship of any papers that some of you might have come by”, he said. “We have intensified our input of ideas to the parties, and we intend to continue doing so in Geneva in November. But sometimes, for ease of understanding, I may even allow my notes to be looked at.”

He said readers should, however, not be misled by notes of what he had said to the parties at the meetings. Those notes did not constitute formal proposals in any way. It would be wrong for the public to try to see or read into such bits of paper “a snapshot of a process which is by definition a moving target”. He said they would continue to give ideas to the two sides in the effort “to reach the ambitious goal of a comprehensive settlement”. "But, please, you and other readers, particularly the Cypriot public of the north and south, should know that the only authoritative version you are ever going to get about what goes on, and what is emerging from the process is from the United Nations -- from the Secretary-General or from me.”

Responding to questions, Mr. de Soto said that one of the “rules of thumb” he had followed was to try not to attribute labels or terminology associated with the position of one side or the other. It was simply to facilitate progress in the talks. “We do not want to put the highest hurdles at the beginning, but work towards them gradually.”

He said solutions were being sought from the bottom up, rather than starting with labels which only tended to complicate matters. He observed, “That is one of the items that might lead to confusion upon reading of these bits of paper which may or may not be ours. We sometimes use tentative, stop-gap terms that are not necessarily binding. We’ll continue to approach it in a gradual way by dealing with the essence of the question rather than how it would be labelled at the appropriate time.”

A correspondent asked whether the leaders had been given ideas or suggestions to consider, and how close Mr de Soto thought the two sides were to reaching a common ground. On the first question, he said ideas were constantly being put forward, and that was likely to be intensified as the talks went on. With regard to the second question, he said he would hesitate to characterize progress in building a common ground beyond what he had already said.

Commenting on the news blackout, a correspondent observed that the talks were important and journalists need to know how they were proceeding. The correspondent said she might have to consult her colleagues on the matter. Replying, Mr. de Soto observed that the correspondent might be “a newcomer to this process”, that other correspondents were more used to it, though it did not necessarily mean that they were happy with it. He went on, "There’s, unfortunately, a certain tension between your desire to report, and the need to keep a negotiating process confidential. And at least for the present, we must try to keep it confidential. As you would have seen, we have not always been

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successful in this and I hope that you will accept that there’s a desirability to do this if the negotiations are going to succeed.”

He said they were not helped at all by leaks, or by opinions voiced on the basis of bits and pieces. He assured correspondents that Mr Clerides and Mr Denktash, leading the negotiations, were two world class negotiators, with accumulated experience, worthy of the best, if not better than the best. He said a “certain amount of trust should be deposited in them”. He also said he did not know of any negotiations conducted in the open that had succeeded.

Did he find the gap between the two sides narrowing now, a correspondent asked. She also wanted to know what happened to ideas that were rejected, and whether they still remained on the table. “All issues were on the table”, Mr. de Soto responded. On the second question, he said he did not want to “eliminate any possibility”. “On the question of Cyprus, he said “there are few wheels to be invented, and it is still possible on given issues, sometimes to trot out an old wheel, which may not have worked before but which in a new and different context would be able to roll.”

He told a questioner that he would not be “more specific” about his earlier remarks that qualitative steps forward had taken place. Did he intend to present a package of ideas to the two sides at the next round of talks, a correspondent asked. She also wanted to know how he thought a comprehensive settlement would be achieved. “A comprehensive settlement is a very ambitious goal”, Mr. de Soto told the correspondent. It meant all main areas, as well as secondary ones, had to be covered. They did not want to leave anything, if possible, to be negotiated once there was an agreement and the leaders had signed. “In fact we even want to have a calendar of implementation, possibly several different interlocking calendars for the different parts of the comprehensive settlement. Putting forward something like that in a very short time is rather difficult to do. But I do not want to rule out anything that we might do in the future.” Confidentiality would have to be maintained, he added.

He told a correspondent, in response to a question, that the Secretary- General was observing his mandate in a way that he saw fit and that mandate required all issues to be put on the table, with no preconditions, with good- faith negotiations to the end and with full consideration given to all relevant Security Council resolutions. There had been no change, he added.

Mr de Soto was asked to what extent would he say the negotiations about the accession of Cyprus into the European Union had been hindered or helped by the proximity talks. He replied that he would not care to speculate on that. Pressed, he said it was a fact that had to be reckoned with that certain processes were ongoing before the European Union. “The Union, obviously, has an important role to play within its sphere. We are in contact with them in order to ensure that there is no clash with the goals of the United Nations process.”

A correspondent observed that the leaders on their return would have to report to their constituents on what had been discussed and decided upon. Did the United Nations not have a responsibility to also tell the world what conclusions had emanated from the talks, the correspondent queried.

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Mr. de Soto replied: “I’m comforted by the fact that there are no conclusions as such that can be announced, and certainly not unilaterally by one or the other side. Let the word go out, please, that we have no conclusions to report publicly at this time. There has been full engagement by both sides on all issues that are on the table. And to that extent, we are happy with how things are going.”

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