CYPRUS: UN SECRETARY GENERAL KOFI ANNAN LEAVES LARNACA AFTER MEETINGS WITH GREEK AND TURKISH CYPRIOT LEADERS OVER PROGRESSION OF PEACE TALKS

Record ID: 222992

  • Title: CYPRUS: UN SECRETARY GENERAL KOFI ANNAN LEAVES LARNACA AFTER MEETINGS WITH GREEK AND TURKISH CYPRIOT LEADERS OVER PROGRESSION OF PEACE TALKS
  • Date: 15th May 2002
  • Summary: (W5) LARNACA, CYPRUS (MAY 16, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV: CYPRIOT SOLDIER ON GUARD AT AIRPORT 0.05 2. MV: CAR CARRYING UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY GENERAL KOFI ANNAN ARRIVING AT AIRPORT 0.10 3. SV/CU: ANNAN GETTING OUT OF CAR, GREETING OFFICIALS/ U.N. FLAG ON CAR (2 SHOTS) 0.21 4. PAN: ANNAN WITH WIFE WALKING INTO BUILDING 0.33 5. SLV: ANNAN WALKING INTO NEWS CONFERENCE 0.39 6. SV: (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANNAN SAYING: "We can make substantial progress by end of June despite the doubts on the part of Mr Denktash (Turkish Cypriot leader) and I would urge him and everyone concerned to really focus on the core issues so we can move forward. I genuinely believe that if we focus on the core issues and put the interest of the people first and are determined to make peace, it can be done and it can be done this year." 1.15 7. SV: PHOTOGRAPHERS AT NEWS CONFERENCE 1.19 8. SCU: SECURITY OFFICER AT AIRPORT 1.24 9. PAN: ANNAN WITH WIFE WALKING FROM NEWS CONFERENCE TOWARDS PLANE 1.37 10. SV: PILOT IN COCKPIT 1.41 11. MV: ANNAN AND WIFE WALKING UP STEPS INTO AIRCRAFT 1.50 (W5) NICOSIA, CYPRUS (MAY 15, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 12. MV/SCU: POLICE OFFICERS ON DUTY (2 SHOTS) 2.04 13. PAN; ANNAN CAR PULLING UP 2.12 14. SV: ANNAN GREETING GREEK CYPRIOT PRESIDENT GLAFCOS CLERIDES 2.25 15. VARIOUS: INTERIOR, CLERIDES SEATED WITH ANNAN FOR TALKS 93 SHOTS) 2.37 16. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) CLERIDES SPEAKING TO MEDIA OUTSIDE: "We had a very good meeting, we discussed how we can accelerate in the consultation process. The Secretary General will have a meeting this afternoon with Mr Denktash on the same issue, how to accelerate the talks." 2.2.56 17. HAS/WS/CU: PROTESTERS WITH TURKISH FLAGS AND BANNERS 93 SHOTS) 3.08 18. SLV: CLERIDES AND ANNAN ON STEPS, SHAKING HANDS 3.19 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 30th May 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LARNACA AND NICOSIA, CYPRUS
  • Country: Cyprus
  • Reuters ID: LVADCAGLGYLDDMLVCO36QN8X5HPB
  • Story Text: United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has left
    Cyprus after meetings with the Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf
    Denktash and the Greek Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides on
    the progression of peace talks.


    U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Thursday (May
    16) he was convinced leaders of divided Cyprus could crack a
    decades-old dispute by the end of June if they tried, but one
    side said the target was too ambitious.

    Annan's call for progress within weeks contrasted sharply
    with the views of Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, who
    said he thought a June deadline to resolve core issues in
    flagging talks may now have to be moved to December.

    Speaking to Reuters earlier, Denktash said he had told
    Annan that a June target for resolving the conflict was
    unrealistic but added he believed a deal was possible by the
    end of the year.

    Annan met Denktash and Greek Cypriot President Glafcos
    Clerides on Wednesday, hoping to head off the prospect of a
    divided island being admitted to the European Union.

    Before leaving Cyprus, he told reporters he stood by the
    June deadline.

    "We can make substantial progress by end of June despite
    the doubts on the part of Mr Denktash and I would urge him and
    everyone concerned to really focus on the core issues so we
    can move forward. I genuinely believe that if we focus on the
    core issues and put the interest of the people first and are
    determined to make peace, it can be done and it can be done
    this year," he said at Larnaca airport.

    "The timetable of June, in my judgment, can be met if the
    two leaders focus," he said, listing the core issues as
    governance, security, territory and property.

    Annan said he was "sobered by the challenge" but convinced
    that it was an historic opportunity to reach a settlement
    which has eluded estranged Cypriots for decades.

    The approach of a decision on EU enlargement, set to
    include Cyprus at year's end, sets a clear deadline to solve
    the problem for the first time.

    Mediators are anxious for a deal soon to enable them to
    begin work on the legal drafting and detail of a settlement
    before December.

    Annan, the first U.N. secretary-general to visit Cyprus in
    more than 20 years, said he had stressed to Denktash and
    Clerides that they bore a heavy responsibility. He said both
    leaders expressed readiness to speed up efforts.

    Cyprus has been partitioned since 1974 when Turkish troops
    invaded in response to a coup by Greek Cypriot militants
    seeking union with Greece. Since then, generations of
    diplomats have failed in efforts to broker an agreement.

    Key to disagreement are the parties' visions of a
    settlement. Greek Cypriots, anxious to preserve sovereignty,
    want a bizonal bicommunal federation to replace the existing
    Cyprus Republic. The Turkish Cypriots want a union of two
    sovereign states.

    And admission of the island "over the heads" of the
    Turkish Cypriot leadership, unrecognised by the world, could
    cause serious strains between Turkey and the EU and between
    Turkey and NATO ally Greece.

    Both countries are fiercely defensive of their ethnic kin
    on the island. EU member Greece has made it clear it will
    block a future enlargement which does not include Cyprus,
    while Turkey has said it may "annex" the north if the island
    is included in the next expansion.


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