Cyprus PIO: News Update in English, 98-03-19

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

News Update

Thursday, 19/03/98

CONTENTS

• [01] Cordovez starts contacts in Cyprus
• [02] Sweden wants to contribute to Cyprus peace effort
• [03] Clerides meets Israeli leaders

[01] Cordovez starts contacts in Cyprus

"The international community is extremely concerned, but you know, there may be a moment when they may simply give up and that would be tragic. I am trying to avoid that," he said.

He added that the two community leaders are the ones that have the responsibility to work out a settlement.

"They are the ones that have to come up with the formulas that they both can accept," he noted. "We can help them".

Commenting on Mr Cordovez' statement, Government Spokesman Christos Stylianides said he viewed this not as a warning but as "an encouragement" to the two sides to work for a solution.

"The people of Cyprus have repeatedly proved their deep concern and interest in a settlement," he added.

He expressed the conviction, moreover, that the international community cannot allow such a crucial issue, as the Cyprus question, to remain pending.

He also pointed out the government considers that the international community is playing a "very important role in the process for a Cyprus solution and sees Cordovez' visit here as significant."

Moreover at a meeting yesterday with Cyprus' chief negotiator in accession talks with the European Union (EU) George Vassiliou, Mr Cordovez called for "quiet diplomacy" and for "specific discussion" on certain aspects of the Cyprus question.

"We have to keep knocking at the door of the interlocutors and sometime they may open the door", Mr Cordovez said.

Mr Vassiliou on his part said it is up to the UN to persuade the Turkish Cypriot side to return to the negotiating table and abandon any notion of recognition of their self-proclaimed regime.

"All UN resolutions refer to bicommunal talks and the mandate of the UN Secretary General is to promote intercommunal dialogue and not some kind of inter-state dialogue," Mr Vassiliou said.

[02] Sweden wants to contribute to Cyprus peace effort

In statements afterwards Mr Lund stressed Sweden's dual capacity both as a member of the European Union and of the Security Council, saying he wants to see "if we in some small way, can contribute to a resolution of the Cyprus problem".

Mr Lund described President Glafcos Clerides' proposal to the Turkish Cypriots for participation in the forthcoming Cyprus - EU accession negotiations, as "very constructive" and said he hoped Rauf Denktash and the Turkish Cypriot community would be prepared to "reconsider their first negative reaction to that proposal".

Mr Lund said he had also raised the question of the S-300 surface-to-air missiles expected to be deployed in Cyprus later this year and stressed that his government "does not find it helpful to see the deployment of the missiles in the particular situation we find ourselves" with the current efforts for the resumption of the UN talks and the forthcoming EU negotiations.

"It would be a very positive development if those missiles were not deployed", he said.

Mr Kasoulides, on his part, said that he had explained that the questions of security and defence are as important to the Cypriot people as the island's EU accession course, in view of the presence in Cyprus of 35,000 Turkish occupation troops, and that the one will not be sacrificed for the benefit of the other.

He said that the only way the deployment of the missiles could be re- examined was that if either a procedure leading to peace or a dialogue on the reduction of forces leading to demilitarisation, or both, were to be established.

"Our message was very clear. It was also a message which has not only been conveyed to Sweden, which is a very friendly country, but to all others who have raised this matter".

As Cyprus' defence is equally as important as the country's EU accession course, it is futile to press the Cyprus government to make concessions on the question of defence by warning about possible consequences as regards Cyprus' aspiration to accede to the EU, he said.

[03] Clerides meets Israeli leaders

The President returns to the island this evening.

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

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