Cyprus News Agency: News in English, 06-09-22

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From: The Cyprus News Agency at <http://www.cyna.org.cy>

CONTENTS

[01] FÌ - TURKEY

[02] CYPRUS RALLY

[01] FÌ - TURKEY

The Minister also believes that there is not sufficient time between now and the end of the year for the UN to undertake any fresh initiative on Cyprus, nonetheless there is time to prepare the ground and create the right conditions to enable the new UN Secretary General to work in this direction soon after he takes over from Kofi Annan.

Speaking on his return from New York, where the UN General Assembly meets, he said that it is not realistic, bearing in mind Turkeys stance today towards Cyprus and its EU obligations, to expect that Ankara is ready to discuss seriously and in a spirit of consensus or mutual concessions to find a solution.

I do not believe that there is sufficient time for the UN Secretary General to undertake a new initiative for a Cyprus settlement before the end of his term in office, he added, noting that Annan had pressed on with setting up technical committees to prepare the ground, something which has not yet happened.

The committees are to be created in the context of an agreement reached in July between President Tassos Papadopoulos and the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community Mehmet Ali Talat to appoint representatives to hold discussions with a view to set up the committees, that would deal with issues affecting the day to day life of people as well as substantive issues.

Lillikas expressed hope that intervention from the UN and other countries would convince the Turkish Cypriot side to show the necessary consensus to put into force the July agreement.

The UN and the EU believe that the only way we can make headway towards a settlement, through substantive talks, is to implement the July agreement, the Minister added.

A solution in Cyprus cannot come from unilateral moves on the part of the Grek Cypriot side but through a dialogue with the Turkish Cypriots and Turkey, he said.

On Turkeys European accession course, he said that Ankara must meet its commitments to avert any looming crisis as the Commission prepares its progress report on Ankara, due in early November.

Ankara has so far refused to open its ports and airports to Cypriot vessels and aircraft, in spite of repeated calls by Brussels to comply with EU decisions to that effect.

[02] CYPRUS RALLY

According to a press release, Gronholm, bidding to prevent the flying Frenchman from clinching an unprecedented 28th WRC win and a third championship title, drew first blood by pipping the defending champion by 2.2s in the opening 8.09km special stage between Xyliatos and Kapouras. Toni Gardemeister mastered the slippery gravel conditions to take third and Mikko Hirvonen and Chris Atkinson completed the top five.

Gronholm extended his lead to 6.2 seconds through the second stage between Kapouras and Asinou, as Petter Solberg set the third fastest time, but the Norwegian was awarded a 10s penalty for a jump start.

Solberg set the fastest time in the third stage to leap up to seventh overall at the mid-day break, but Gronholm managed to edge ahead of Loeb to take a confidence-boosting advantage into the final loop of stages on Friday afternoon.

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