SECRETARY-GENERAL EXPRESSES REGRET THAT TURKISH CYPRIOT LEADER CANNOT ATTEND NEW YORK TALKS

SECRETARY-GENERAL EXPRESSES REGRET THAT TURKISH CYPRIOT LEADER

CANNOT ATTEND NEW YORK TALKS

Following is the text of a statement issued today by the Office of the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

His Excellency, Mr. Rauf Denktash, has today informed the United Nations that he is unable to accept the Secretary-General’s invitation conveyed to him at the beginning of this week.  This is a regrettable development.  We hope that it is not Mr. Denktash’s final position.  There is much work to be done and efforts must get back on track without delay and in earnest.  We hope Mr. Denktash will see fit to support the Secretary-General’s good offices by engaging in a new and reinvigorated phase of a search for a comprehensive settlement, starting next week in New York.

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