The governments of Greece, Turkey and Cyprus, as well as the United States, want the UN secretary general to resume Cyprus reunification efforts, with a new process, according to diplomatic sources at the UN.

According to the sources, following the various meetings that took place in the past few days on the sidelines of the UN's 60th General Assembly/world summit, all the sides involved are calling for action on the issue of Cyprus, but at the same time appear to disagree as to who and under what conditions a new initiative could be launched.

Cyprus president Tassos Papadopoulos, during a press conference on Sunday in New York following his address to the General Assembly, said he was awaiting some move on the party of UN chief Kofi Annan in the near future, in the framework of the secretary general’s efforts for a Cyprus solution.

Papadopoulos said that "any initiative must be prepared correctly, aimed at its successful outcome", adding that "any time margins that may prospectively arise during a new initiative should be determined by the negotiations themselves and the progress possibly achieved, and not on outside factors", and reiterating that any new effort must be well prepared.

Greece's foreign minister Petros Molyviatis, following his sidelines meeting Sunday with Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul, said that, with respect to the Cyprus issue, they had discussed "the prospects on the horizon for the possible reactivation of the secretary general's efforts for finding a solution".

Molyviatis said that Gul, in turn, had expressed "our joint support to the UN Secretary General for seeking a solution to the Cyprus problem", adding that "we agreed to continue".

US deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs Matthew Bryza, who visited Athens two weeks ago, in statements to reporters after Molyviatis' meeting with US undersecretary of state for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns on Sunday expressed the US's full support for the secretary general's efforts, noting the "necessity" for continuation of the UN's role on the issue of Cyprus.

Source: Athens News Agency

^
top

print this page   send this page