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Cyprus PIO: News Update in English, 03-05-15
From: The Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office Server at <http://www.pio.gov.cy/>
[01]Thursday, 15 May 2003 Foreign Minister departs for Strasburg to attend
CoE meeting
[02] Lord Hannay: crossings are neither a settlement nor an immediate
precursor to settlement
[03] Washington reiterates hope for Cyprus settlement within UN framework
[04] No other way towards a settlement than through UN, says Weston
[01] Foreign Minister departs for Strasburg to attend CoE meeting
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr George Iacovou, departed yesterday for
Strasburg to take part in a meeting of the Council of Europe (CoE)
Committee of Ministers. Speaking upon departure at Larnaca Airport, Mr
Iacovou stressed the importance of the Council of Europe as an institution,
as "it is the guardian of the Human Rights Convention and the institutional
framework of the European Court of Human Rights".
He further told reporters that on the sidelines of the Strasburg ministerial
meeting he would hold contacts with the CoE General Secretary, the
President of the European Parliament, and European counterparts. He would
also have meetings with the CoE Secretariat on the issue of the ECHR
decision on the Titina Loizidou case. On the aforementioned case, Mr
Iacovou pointed out that Turkey had been extremely active at the CoE, and
that it had sent a group of experts for contacts with the Court and the
Secretariat. "The team of experts has submitted some supposedly compromising
proposals", he added. In other statements, the Foreign Minister told
reporters that Mr Denktash's announced intention to establish a "special
court" to deal with property claims was not "irrelevant", and pledged to
spend a significant amount of his time there to ascertain the situation.
Invited to say on whether an EU initiative on the Cyprus problem was
expected, Mr Iacovou noted that the Government was holding a series of
meetings, the first phase of which would be concluded by the end of June,
in order to determine the intentions of the countries that had traditionally
shown a high-level interest in the UN Secretary-General's actions. On the
same topic, he made reference to the illegal visit of the Turkish Prime
Minister to the occupied areas, saying that "Mr Erdogan has made some harsh
and intransigent statements which must be taken into consideration for our
planning and predictions."
[02] Lord Hannay: crossings are neither a settlement nor an immediate
precursor to settlement
Britain's Special Envoy on the Cyprus problem, Lord David Hannay, has
reiterated his government's commitment to the reunification of Cyprus
within the framework proposed by the UN Secretary-General, stressing that
the revised version of the Annan plan was a "unique framework for a
settlement". In an interview to London Greek Radio (LGR) yesterday, Lord
Hannay described the recent partial lifting of restrictions on movement by
the occupation regime as "an entirely positive thing which should be
welcomed by everyone", warning, however, that there is a danger of
"deluding ourselves into thinking that this is in itself a settlement, or
that it is an immediate precursor to a settlement. In fact, it is neither
of those two things". The British diplomat further expressed his hope that
all sides would commit themselves to the peace process and to the
resumption of negotiations, "but resuming negotiations with the intention
of putting the outcome to a referendum within a measured period of
time". "I know that President Papadopoulos has stated very clearly in the
letter that he replied to Mr Denktash that he was prepared to work in that
way", he noted. As to the Turkish Cypriot side, Lord Hannay expressed the
belief that time was needed for Mr Denktash to realise that in spite of his
objections, the Annan plan remained on the table - as the UN Security
Council had said quite firmly - and that it constituted a "unique framework
for the achievement of a settlement".
Invited to comment on the Cyprus Government's support measures for Turkish
Cypriots, Lord David Hannay noted, "Anything that increases contacts,
anything that increases trade, anything that increases movement, in my view
is a good thing to be encouraged", adding that that was also the view of
the European Union.
[03] Washington reiterates hope for Cyprus settlement within UN framework
The US White House Spokesman, Mr Ari Fleischer, mentioned yesterday during
the regular press briefing that US President George W. Bush had discussed
the Cyprus issue in a telephone conversation with the Turkish Prime
Minister on that same day, and that both leaders had welcomed "the
unprecedented freedom of movement between the Turkish and Greek sectors of
Cyprus in recent weeks, and noted their hope for a lasting Cyprus
settlement". The White House Spokesman further said that President Bush had
reiterated to Mr Erdogan the US's support for a Cyprus settlement based on
UN Secretary-General's "fair and balanced plan".
In addition, Mr Bush's National Security Adviser, Ms Condoleezza Rice, also
referred to the Cyprus issue replying to a question of a Turkish reporter,
yesterday, on the specific measures that the Turkish government had to take
to overcome difficulties in US-Turkish relations. Ms Rice made reference,
inter alia, to the Cyprus problem noting, "We obviously have an interest in
dealing with the Cyprus problem. We had made some progress on Cyprus. The
UN Secretary-General has made heroic efforts to try and resolve that, and
we would hope that Turkey would put its weight behind a settlement of the
Cyprus issue".
[04] No other way towards a settlement than through UN, says Weston
"We believe that there is no way to get a settlement other than through the
UN", the US State Department's Special Coordinator for Cyprus, Ambassador
Thomas Weston, stressed, speaking at an event on the recent developments in
Cyprus organised by the American Hellenic Institute (AHI) in Washington DC
last week. On the recent crossings along the ceasefire line on the island,
Mr Weston noted, "I don't know of any other situation in human history that
I can think of where you have had 300,000 people doing this sort of
crossing after a division going back to 1974 with almost no incidents
whatsoever… it is absolutely incredible how peaceful and positive this
whole experience has been." At the same time, he emphasised that despite
these positive developments - which the US applauded - "I do not think that
we can lose sight of the fact that those [developments] are not a
settlement. These moves do not and will not solve some very basic issues
like property, like security, like how you run a government, which are
covered in the [UN Secretary-General's] plan. The only path to settlement
is a settlement." On a closing note, Mr Weston reaffirmed his government's
strong and continued commitment to finding a comprehensive settlement of
the Cyprus problem.
From the Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office (PIO) Server at http://www.pio.gov.cy/
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