Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 98-03-12

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

Thursday, March 12, 1998

'Menu' decision to wait

MOST papers led with reports from Athens as to what had been decided about the Cyprus government's proposal regarding the participation of Turkish Cypriots in EU accession talks.

The reports were almost identical as the papers' correspondents appeared to have been briefed by the same sources.

Phileleftheros said that the proposal, which President Clerides was to be made public in London in the next 24 hours, would consist of general political principles, but no detailed formula for the participation of the Turkish Cypriots. This was decided after Clerides' meeting with Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis.

In the end, the prevailing feeling was for the submission of a brief but substantive proposal to the Turkish Cypriots, whose response would determine whether there would be discussion of the ways in which they would participate. It quoted a Greek diplomatic source as saying that the menu and the wine could not be discussed when the invitation to dinner had not yet been accepted.

Simerini said that Clerides would give the government's proposal to British Prime Minister Tony Blair at today's meeting in London. It was unclear whether the proposal would be given to Blair "orally, in writing or as a non-paper".

The main concern of Nicosia and Athens was to make the proposal "constructive" in order to show that the Cyprus government possessed the political will to include the Turkish Cypriots in accession negotiations.

Alithia described the proposal as "complete, attractive and generous". However, the contents, which were unanimously agreed, remained a carefully- guarded secret.

According to reliable information, the proposal made clear the following points: 1) it does not put in doubt the Republic of Cyprus and does not allow direct or indirect recognition of the pseudo-state; 2) its allows the government room for manoeuvre; 3) both Athens and Nicosia have studied all possibilities and have decided their next moves.

Haravghi led with a report of the press conference given by the State Department's co-ordinator for Cyprus, Tony Miller, who avoided expressing any optimism about the peace prospects. He called on both sides to show "creativity and flexibility".

The paper said that the "notorious US initiative had turned into just US interest". It also quoted Miller as saying that the gulf separating the two sides was "big".

Machi claimed that Israel was Turkey's main source of classified information regarding the security of Cyprus. Israeli military intelligence collected information about Cyprus' defences via satellite and passed on the information to Turkey.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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