Cyprus PIO: News Update in English, 98-04-24

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

News Update

Friday, 24/04/98

CONTENTS

• [01] Holbrooke in Cyprus next week for open-ended visit with new ideas
• [02] Joint Cyprus-EU Parliamentary meeting warns Turkey
• [03] Turkish Cypriots can still join Cyprus-EU negotiating team
• [04] Passport rule waived for EU visitors

[01] Holbrooke in Cyprus next week for open-ended visit with new ideas

"How long he stays on the island will depend on the developments that will arise as a result of his contacts", he added.

Mr Stylianides said the government had no information that US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, who will be in Ankara and Athens at the time, will also visit Cyprus.

The US State Department Special Co-ordinator for Cyprus, Thomas Miller, who is currently in Athens also said that Mr Holbrooke has no set timetable for leaving the island.

He added that Holbrooke will bring new proposals to try to end the island's division.

"We have some ideas. It is a kind of open-ended visit and I can't tell you how long we will stay," Thomas Miller told reporters. "We think that it is important not to have artificial time constraints placed on this visit", he said.

Mr Miller, who met Greek Foreign Under-Secretary Yiannos Kranidiotis, refused to say what Washington had on offer but emphasised that it still saw a "bi-zonal, bi-communal federation" as the solution to the Cyprus problem.

"The US believes that it is the time to make a great effort to bring a settlement to Cyprus," noting that "there is indication that both leaders in Cyprus want to solve the problem."

"The US government is absolutely committed from the highest level... to do all we can at this time to try to bring about a Cyprus settlement," he said.

[02] Joint Cyprus-EU Parliamentary meeting warns Turkey

Deputies also said Turkey cannot be allowed to raise obstacles in Cyprus' EU membership bid and urged the Turkish Cypriots to reconsider their stance.

They warned Turkey and Turkish Cypriots that they stood to lose by opposing the island's EU accession process, and that Cyprus' future in Europe would not be held hostage to their policies.

"Negotiations with Cyprus depend neither on the eventual solution of the Cyprus question nor on the pre-accession negotiations with Turkey," Phillippe Monfils, who shares the chairmanship of the meeting with DIKO deputy Tassos Papadopoulos, told its opening session.

He stressed that "we cannot accept that an army of occupation prevents a state recognised by international law to choose freely its European destiny."

Mr Monfils pointed out that "enlargement negotiations could be a catalyst for a resolution of the Cyprus question", noting that Turkey's obvious wish for closer links with the Union is another element which could help in this direction.

The Belgian MP expressed the conviction that Cyprus' entry into the Union without any strings attached could lead the Turkish Cypriots and Turkey to adopt European principles.

"If the Turkish Cypriot leadership continues to refuse to negotiate, if Turkey continues to link Cyprus' entry to the Union with its own, we have to declare that there can be no backing down and admit the Republic of Cyprus into the Union as it is recognised by international law", he said.

Cyprus Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides stressed that the government's proposal for Turkish Cypriot participation in the accession talks "is still on the table and the door will remain open for their participation, whenever they ask for it."

Any effort to link accession talks and peace negotiations would give Turkey not only a veto over Cyprus' European aspirations but also provide a pretext to Turkey to continue being intransigent, Mr Kasoulides said.

"EU persistence on the continuation of the accession negotiations would act as a catalyst on the peace effort," he added.

Expressing regret about the absence of progress towards a negotiated settlement, he called on the international community to focus their efforts on "the resumption of direct talks as soon as possible on the same legal and political basis as in the past."

"These negotiations should be substantive, intensive and should last as long as it takes to yield some positive result", the Minister said.

Mr Kasoulides called on the Turkish side to return to the negotiating table and abandon its preconditions for the resumption of the intercommunal dialogue.

The questions of Turkish Cypriot participation in Cyprus- EU accession talks, of missing and enclaved persons and the construction of a nuclear power plant in Turkey, were among the issues discussed yesterday by the EU- Cyprus Joint Parliamentary Committee.

[03] Turkish Cypriots can still join Cyprus-EU negotiating team

He was speaking in Brussels at the first working session of the Intergovernmental Conference between the European Union and Cyprus.

Present at the meeting were Cyprus' chief negotiator George Vassiliou, the Permanent Representative of the Republic to the EU Ambassador Nikos Agathocleous and the Permanent Secretary of the Planning Bureau Panicos Pouros. The EU was represented by the head of the task force for enlargement, Nikolaus Van Der Pas, the negotiator for Cyprus Leopold Maurer, as well as the Permanent Representatives of member-states and the Secretariat of the Commission.

The meeting decided on organisational and procedural issues for the accession talks.

Mr Vassiliou also said that despite the difficult task ahead, Cyprus is willing to make all sacrifices needed for full harmonisation in order to achieve the final target of obtaining entry into the EU.

[04] Passport rule waived for EU visitors

Holidaymakers coming from EU countries will be allowed into Cyprus with a national identity card instead of a passport.

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

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