Annan Sticks to UN Timetable on Cyprus Deal
NICOSIA (Reuters) - The United Nations stuck firmly on Tuesday to its December 12 deadline for a peace deal for divided Cyprus, despite protests from parties involved that it was embarking on a mission impossible.
The deadline for Greek and Turkish Cypriots to seal and sign a complex power-sharing deal has been met with open disbelief on the Mediterranean island, separated militarily since 1974.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan insisted on Tuesday however that it was achievable. "I'm still hopeful that we will have an agreement on Cyprus," Annan said when asked if he believed a deal was possible before a key European Union summit next month.
"Let me say this: I have put forward to the two parties a proposal that I believe should be a basis or could be a basis for comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem," Annan told reporters in Kosovo.
Cypriots effectively have 20 to 25 days to negotiate and sign up to the U.N. peace plan, ending a conflict which has been one of the toughest nuts to crack in world diplomacy and has kept NATO allies Greece and Turkey at each other's throats.
The U.N. plan was struggling on two fronts on Tuesday after a Monday deadline for its acceptance as a basis for talks passed without formal response from the Turkish side. Domestic Greek Cypriot opposition to the plan has also mounted.
While Greek Cypriot leaders met the Monday deadline and formally agreed to discuss the plan, the illness of Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash and his failure to respond kept the proposals hanging in the balance.
His aides said it would take several days before he would be strong enough to return to Cyprus from a New York hospital where he is recovering from heart surgery.
One aide told Reuters the Turkish Cypriot side would need more time to prepare its response, while Turkey's unofficial leader Tayyip Erdogan said that although he supported the plan the time frame was unrealistic.
The U.N. is striving for a deal in time for the EU summit in Copenhagen, which is expected to invite 10 states, including Cyprus, to join the bloc in 2004.
GREEK CYPRIOT REFUGEES ANGRY
Prospects for any deal were complicated by growing anger among Greek Cypriot refugees who panned the blueprint, which essentially prevents many of them returning to their homes, as blackmail.
Weekend polls have shown that more than half the Greek Cypriot population have strong reservations about the plan and want key clauses changed. If negotiations succeed, the deal would have to be put to public referendums by March 30.
"They are asking us to compromise on principles acknowledged throughout the world. We've ended up with the Secretary General of the U.N. asking us to relinquish our right to our homes for a few dollars," said Yiannis Shekersavvas, a representative of Greek Cypriot refugees.
The U.N. blueprint calls for reunification of Greek and Turkish Cypriot-administered areas under a common government with rotating presidency. It proposes the return of 85,000 of the 162,000 Greek Cypriot refugees to their homes under a territorial handover by the Turkish Cypriots, and the displacement of 42,000 Turks living in the area.
The plan has received unsolicited support from Britain, Cyprus's former colonial ruler, the EU and the United States.
The EU said on Tuesday it hoped at its December summit to invite a reunited island to join the bloc.
"The presidency reiterates the willingness of the EU to accommodate the terms of a comprehensive U.N. settlement...and its intention to encourage all those concerned to bring the negotiations to a positive conclusion (by mid-December)," current EU president Denmark said in a statement after a meeting of EU foreign ministers.
The United States also urged an accord.
"We want people to work very hard to seriously evaluate this very, very complex plan. We understand it takes time to do that, but we want people to do that...with the necessary urgency in the time that we think is available," U.S. Cyprus envoy Thomas Weston told reporters in Ankara.
REUTERS 19/11/2002
Greece Signs Up for Talks on Cyprus Peace Plan
"We agree and support this decision (to hold Cyprus peace talks)," Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis told reporters after meeting the leaders of all of Greece's main political parties.
His announcement raised hopes that a deal could be done before an EU summit in Copenhagen on Dec. 12, the deadline set by the United Nations for a basic agreement on ending the decades-long conflict.
The Greek decision left Turkish Cypriots and Turkey still to formally sign up for talks that could remove a cloud over EU enlargement, including Cyprus' entry, and help Turkey to get a date to at least start negotiations on joining the bloc.
Greece has threatened to veto EU enlargement at December's summit if Cyprus, unified or not, is not admitted. Turkey has threatened to annex the Turkish Cypriot northern part of the island if a divided island of only Greek Cypriots is admitted.
REUTERS 19/11/2002
Annan 'Very Concerned' by Delay in UN Cyprus Plan
"The secretary-general is very concerned. A way to get negotiations under way needs to be found urgently, because further delay could result in the disappearance of the opportunity," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Annan gave his proposed peace plan for the divided Mediterranean island to the main parties -- Turkey, Greece, the Turkish Cypriots and the Greek Cypriots -- on Nov. 11 and gave them a week to decide whether to accept the plan as a basis for negotiations.
He hopes for an agreement prior to a Dec. 12 European Union summit at which Cyprus is to be invited to join the bloc in 2004.
But Denktash, who underwent two bouts of heart surgery in October in New York, remained in a hospital after coming down with a high fever last week and missed Monday's deadline for deciding whether to enter U.N.-backed talks on the plan.
REUTERS 19/11/2002
Brussels brief: Erdogan lobbies
By Our Brussels Bureau Published: November 19 2002
Recep Tayyep Erdogan, leader of Turkey's Justice and Development party arrives in Brussels on Wednesday, fresh from meeting Tony Blair for breakfast in London.
Brussels is an important stop for Mr Erdogan, one of his many visits to European Union capitals ahead of the EU's summit in Copenhagen next month.
Mr Erdogan really wants to win the backing from the European Commission and all 15 member states to agree a timetable for starting accession negotiations with Ankara.
Both sides have cards to play. Brussels might deliver the promise of a date if Turkey delivers a deal on Cyprus on the basis of the latest United Nations proposals. These have suggested a very wide degree of centralisation in a bid to end the 28-year-old division of the island.
Cyprus is one of the 10 candidate countries that will join the EU on May 1, 2004.
The Commission is far from united over giving Turkey a date, let alone seeing the EU expand to the borders of Iraq.
Nevertheless, Mr Erdogan will try to convince them that the new government will embark on radical reforms in the coming weeks, the most important being the abolition of torture, full respect for press freedom. The idea is to bring as far as possible Turkey's legislation on these issues into line with the EU's Copenhagen Criteria, a set of preconditions for starting accession negotiations that place great emphasis on the rule of law and human rights.
Later in the day, after holding news conference in Brussels, Mr Erdogan flies onto Prague ahead of the Nato summit that starts on Thursday. There, he will join his president on another round of diplomacy. President George W Bush, Mr Blair and President Jacques Chirac will all hold bilateral meetings with the Turkish delegation.
Meanwhile, on more a technical but nonetheless important issue, Loyola de Palacio, the EU's transport and energy commissioner, will elaborate a response to the recent open skies verdict by the European Court of Justice and call for member states to revoke bilateral aviation agreements.
FT 19/11/2002