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Leaders Reject UN Reunification Proposals - UN Security Council - Global Policy Forum Leaders Reject UN Reunification Proposals
UN Wire
September 26, 2000
The fourth round of UN-sponsored talks on reunifying the divided island of Cyprus ended yesterday without agreement. Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash said efforts by UN special adviser to Cyprus Alvaro de Soto to bridge differences between the two sides proved to be "unworkable." Cyprus President and Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides said he rejected de Soto's ideas because they did not conform with UN Security Council settlement demands.
The Security Council resolutions call for reunification as a single sovereign state with a Greek and a Turkish Cypriot federal region (Alex Efty, Associated Press, 26 Sep). One Greek Cypriot source referred to the UN suggestion of a rotating presidency between the Greeks and the Turks as "a monstrosity." Denktash said, "We must not belittle the differences which exist" between the two sides, but added, "I would not call this a wasted two weeks." The talks, in which the two sides do not meet face-to-face but negotiate through de Soto, began in New York on 12 September (Reuters/CNN.com, 25 Sep).
A fifth round of talks is slated for November in Geneva. A sixth and final round is expected to follow at UN headquarters in New York in January, a Greek Cypriot source said (AP).
Meanwhile, Austria intends to withdraw its peacekeeping forces from Cyprus next year, saying it can no longer afford to keep them there. Sarah Russel, spokesperson for the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), confirmed the news and said the mission will begin a search for replacement troops. UNFICYP was established in 1964, four years after Cyprus won its independence from the United Kingdom, when clashes erupted between the Greek and Turkish communities. The island has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied the northern third of the island. (Xinhua News Agency, 20 Sep).
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