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Cyprus PIO: News Update in English, 03-01-28
From: The Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office Server at <http://www.pio.gov.cy/>
[01]Tuesday, 28 January 2003 No decision on submission of new revised UN
plan, says De Soto
[02] Extremely difficult talks lie ahead, says British envoy on Cyprus
[03] Cyprus pays UN budget contribution for 2003
[01] No decision on submission of new revised UN plan, says De Soto
The UN Secretary-General's Special Adviser, Mr. Alvaro de Soto, stressed
that the United Nations had not decided whether a new revised peace plan
would be put forward. At the same time, he said he did not want to rule out
that possibility. Asked by journalists, after a meeting with President
Clerides this morning at the Presidential Palace, how possible the
submission of a third revised UN plan was, Mr. de Soto replied, "We will
just have to see how the talks progress to see whether something like that
is justified". The UN diplomat also said he was departing for Ankara, for
consultations with Turkish officials. He is due to return tomorrow to
attend the scheduled meeting between President Clerides and Mr. Rauf
Denktash, in the framework of the UN-led direct peace talks.
[02] Extremely difficult talks lie ahead, says British envoy on Cyprus
"We are now entering the last month of a long, complex and extremely
difficult negotiation", Britain's Special Representative for Cyprus, Lord
David Hannay, noted yesterday. Speaking to the press after a meeting with
the Foreign Minister, Mr. Ioannis Kasoulides, Lord Hannay said that
decisions, on resolving the Cyprus problem, to be taken during the coming
month would be of great significance and would bear consequences on all the
parties involved. At the same time, he pledged that the British Government
would do everything possible to secure a positive outcome in the negotiations
for all concerned. On his part, the Foreign Minister, Mr. Kasoulides, said
that he and the British envoy reviewed the Turkish side's actions in the
framework of the peace talks, adding that the new Turkish government
understood the need to have an agreement signed within the time limits put
forward by the UN and that it was not in its interest to have Cyprus'
Accession Treaty signed without a prior settlement of the political
issue. Mr. Kasoulides expressed the view that there were conflicting forces
within Turkey, between the establishment and those in favour of a change of
policy, and also in the occupied areas of Cyprus, between Mr. Rauf Denktash
and the Turkish Cypriots who demanded a solution of the Cyprus problem.
"We will wait and see how this discord will evolve in the next few days, as
Mr. Denktash - according to the international community - will be called
upon to assume his responsibilities, while it is expected that the peace
process will pick up the pace and a more intensive effort will be made, in
the hope that it will draw to a successful close", Mr. Kasoulides said.
Asked to say what he meant by "intensive effort", he replied, "I cannot
predict how the talks will evolve or what exactly will be their conclusion,
but the international community does not rule out a sudden change of stance
by the Turkish side". Invited then to clarify why the international
community believed that such a change in the Turkish stance was possible,
Mr. Kasoulides said that such an assessment was probably based on private
talks that foreign envoys were having in Ankara with politicians who
supported a change in Turkish policy on Cyprus.
Asked if a change in the Turkish stance meant the submission of a third
revised UN plan, he replied, "not necessarily, this could mean a sudden
change in the Turkish policy on the existing revised plan". "I cannot say
that there will be another revised plan nor can I predict that there will
be one, but I realise that the international community is working towards
that direction", he added. The Foreign Minister also noted that a sudden
change in the Greek Cypriot side's stance vis-a-vis the efforts for
reaching a settlement could endanger Cyprus' accession to the EU.
[03] Cyprus pays UN budget contribution for 2003
According to a UN press release, issued yesterday, Cyprus became the 29th
Member State to pay its 2003 regular budget contribution to the United
Nations in full, with a payment of more than $500,000.
From the Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office (PIO) Server at http://www.pio.gov.cy/
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