Cyprus PIO: News Update in English, 97-11-25

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From: The Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office Server at <http://www.pio.gov.cy/>

News Update

Tuesday, 25/11/97

CONTENTS

• [01] Cyprus government will accept any UN procedure for Cyprus settlement
• [02] Cordovez' contacts in Athens

[01] Cyprus government will accept any UN procedure for Cyprus settlement

Asked to comment on statements made by the UN Secretary-General's Special Advisor on the Cyprus issue, Diego Cordovez, that the methodology he had used in the summer peace talks in the US and Switzerland had been wrong, the Spokesman said that it is not the methodology used until now that did not bring about a settlement in Cyprus but the Turkish side's intransigence.

"We are prepared to follow the procedures which the UN suggests," Mr Christofides said.

We support talks that will lead to a solution of the Cyprus problem and not talks for the sake of talks or for using Cyprus to further Turkey's designs on the island, the Spokesman said. "We hope that this is where international interest will concentrate", he added.

Commenting on Mr Cordovez's remarks that the new initiative is a last chance for Cyprus and that if it fails the international community will lose interest in the Cyprus problem, Mr Christofides said this is a cynical observation of how the millstones of international interests crush the rights of small states.

Noting that the Cyprus problem is high in the international community's agenda, he stressed "the Cyprus resolutions can be implemented if this is the wish of the UN and influential governments."

"International interest should concentrate on the implementation of UN resolutions on Cyprus," Mr Christofides said and stressed that the Cyprus government will participate in next year's negotiations with goodwill.

"What is important today", he added, "is that the UN are planning to begin new and decisive negotiations immediately after the presidential elections of February 1998".

[02] Cordovez' contacts in Athens

Athens News Agency reported that Mr Cordovez on Saturday met with Greece's Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos and examined recent developments in the Cyprus problem. Diplomatic sources said that the two men discussed possibilities of achieving progress in specific issues on the basis of a step by step approach.

From the Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office (PIO) Server at http://www.pio.gov.cy/

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