UN present plan for Cypriot reunification
The UN today handed Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders its long-awaited plan for the reunification of their divided island.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s plan was delivered simultaneously Monday to President Glafcos Clerides, the Greek Cypriot leader, in Nicosia and to an aide to Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash in New York, where he is recovering after a heart operation.
Alvaro de Soto, the special UN envoy conducting reunification talks between Clerides and Denktash, revealed no details after delivering the plan to Clerides. He said the deadline had not been set for the leaders’ response.
A UN diplomat said the plan had “a very broad framework which pushes the parties to negotiate details themselves within a specific time frame.”
The eastern Mediterranean island has been split into a Greek Cypriot-controlled south and the Turkish-occupied north since Turkey invaded in 1974 following an abortive coup by supporters of union with Greece.
The breakaway Turkish Cypriot state is only recognised by Turkey, which maintains 40,000 troops there.
A sense of urgency surrounded the delivery of Annan’s proposal because of plans for Cyprus to join the EU in 2004.
Turkey has threatened to annex the Turkish-occupied north if Cyprus joins the EU before a settlement and Greece has said it will veto the planned EU expansion if Cyprus is excluded from the 10 new candidates.
The document presented to Clerides and Denktash is believed to contain detailed proposals to break the deadlock in UN sponsored talks.
Clerides and Denktash, with de Soto as mediator, have been meeting twice a week since January, but deadlocked following the Turkish side’s insistence on recognition of the breakaway state as a first step toward confederation of two independent states.
