Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 99-12-16

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From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cynews.com/>

Thursday, December 16, 1999

Denktash blackmail over resolution

THE TEXT of the UN Security Council resolution for the renewal of the Unficyp mandate became a major issue of controversy in New York, according to yesterday's papers.

Politis said that with the help of Britain and the US, and with the ludicrous excuse of protecting the good climate of the proximity talks, Denktash imposed his condition on the UN Security Council. Through the use of blackmail, he forced the Security Council to remove the most important and substantial paragraph 11 of the resolution, which said that the federal state would have single sovereignty, one nationality and one international personality. This negative development angered President Clerides, who later consented to the removal of the paragraph from the resolution. While Rauf Denktash had agreed to return for a second round of proximity talks, Clerides said that he would give his answer to the UN only after he saw the Security Council resolution. Diplomatic sources said he response would be positive.

Simerini described the goings-on in New York as a diplomatic thriller in which the sovereignty of Cyprus was the victim. While the resolution made reference to previous resolutions on Cyprus, paragraph 11, which spoke of a single sovereignty, had been removed. Under the circumstances, not only was there a danger of the Cyprus state being called into question, but also of a change to the basis of the negotiations. There had been no mention in the resolution about the parameters of a Cyprus settlement, which were based on a unitary state. The fact that Denktash had said he would return for the second round of talks, was proof that the UN had adopted his conditions, regarding the context of the resolution, the paper said.

Phileleftheros said that President Clerides was clearly annoyed by the fact that Denktash's demands about the content of the resolution had been satisfied by the UN, and, consequently, avoided saying whether he would attend a second round of talks. Although, in the end, he would attend, he wanted to send a message to the mediators that he was unhappy with their actions. Clerides had recently written to the five permanent members of the Security Council, saying that if there was no direct reference to a single sovereignty in the resolution for Unficyp, he would not accept it. Using strong language, he had made his participation in the second round of talks dependent on the wording of the resolution.

Alithia reported that the second round of talks would be held on January 26 and would last 10 days. During the second round, there would be an in-depth analysis of the positions of the two sides and an effort would be made to find common ground or bridge differences on certain issues. Direct talks would be avoided at this stage because the UN, as well as the British and the Americans, believed that this format of negotiations was more effective and had been successful in the case of other international disputes.

Haravghi continued to express its disapproval of the Helsinki summit decision, which had led to the burial of the Cyprus problem. It cited an announcement by the Communist Party of Greece, which claimed that Cyprus is heading for formal partition. The EU saw the Cyprus problem as an issue that should be settled by the two sides and promoted the new imperialist order. Machi said that the Turkish side was preparing to return Famagusta to the Cyprus government in an effort to gain acceptance of its proposal for a confederation. Apart from Famagusta, Denktash has also offered to return Lefka, Kokkina and Louroudjina. The US was behind these efforts, the paper said.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1999

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