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Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 99-12-09
Thursday, December 09, 1999
Clerides fury at Unficyp mandate resolution
THE CONTENT of the UN resolution for the renewal of Unficyp's mandate is
threatening to bring the peace talks to a premature end, according to press
reports. Phileleftheros said that President Clerides Aexploded with anger
after seeing the draft resolution that was to be approved by the UN
Security Council. Clerides was clearly annoyed by the fact that the draft
failed to refer to the basic parameters for a Cyprus solution - no mention
that a federal state would have one sovereignty, one international
personality and one nationality - and sent a letter to the five permanent
members of the Security Council. In his letter, Clerides said that he would
have preferred for the Unficyp mandate not to be approved rather than
accept the draft resolution. He said he would consider not attending
January proximity talks if the Security Council adopted the draft
resolution. Clerides said the Security Council, in its effort to persuade
Rauf Denktash to attend talks, had encouraged him to adopt extremist
positions on the Cyprus problem. Politis described the draft as a toothless
document that contained nothing substantive apart from a reference to the
need to renew the Unficyp mandate. Clerides had ordered the diplomatic
service to make demarches at the UN and the capitals of the five permanent
member-countries of the Security Council. The permanent members justified
the draft on the grounds that anything else would have provoked a reaction
from the Turkish side. In reality, with the resolution, Denktash was
securing what he had failed to secure at the negotiating table - his
equality with president Clerides. So far, there had been equality only at
the negotiating table, the paper said. Now, with the pretext that the good
climate of the proximity talks was at stake, Denktash's demands, regarding
equality and the existence of two states, would be included in a UN
resolution. Haravghi said that Turkey's intransigence has taken on new
dimensions after the signing of an agreement for the construction of an oil
pipeline from Baku to Alexandretta in Turkey. Denktash was quoted as saying
that Turkey could make no concessions because the pipeline from the
Caucasus increased the strategic importance of Cyprus. Turkish
intransigence was being encouraged and reinforced by the stance of the US
and Britain. It accused Britain's envoy Sir David Hannay of being the
architect of the UN draft resolution, which was indicative of US-UK
intentions. Alithia took a more moderate line on the draft resolution,
saying the UN did not want to link this to the ongoing proximity talks. The
Security Council was trying to maintain delicate balances on the
phraseology and wording it was going to use so as not to upset either of
the two sides. Machi claimed it had information on how the territorial
issue would be settled. It said that Varosha would become an international
port, while Morphou would be returned to the Greek Cypriots. All areas
north of the Nicosia-Famagusta road would be under Turkish Cypriot
administration. This arrangement would allow the return of a large number
of refugees, it said. With regard to Morphou, there was thought of setting
up a new residential area that would be under Turkish Cypriot
administration, next to the town. Simerini reported that the German
government had intervened in an attempt to bridge the differences among
Greece, Turkey and the EU so as to prevent a deadlock at the Helsinki
summit. Germany had asked Greece not to veto the EU candidate status of
Turkey at Helsinki. In exchange, Turkey should undertake some goodwill
gesture to give Greece the opportunity to justify it decision not to use
the veto to Greek public opinion; it should give assurances that it has no
territorial claims against Greece and that it would try to make Denktash
change his stance in the Cyprus issue.
© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1999
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