The United Nations has increased its efforts to find a formula acceptable to all sides for the resumption of the Cyprus peace talks.
The United Nations is trying to identify a formula acceptable to both Turkish Cypriot President Rauf Denktas and Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides, reported the Turkish Daily News on Saturday.
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan will meet Denktas later this month in Salzburg, Austria, and a meeting between the secretary general and Greek Cypriot leader Clerides is tentatively scheduled to be held in September, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting.
In remarks to the Anatolia news agency, Denktash was quoted as saying he was going to the meeting to determine "whether there were common points between the two sides to resolve the Cyprus issue and, if so, whether these points would bring the two sides to a consensus."
The head of the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) added that the reason for the failure of previous talks was that both sides pretended to have common targets.
"We have to determine our targets first, and other details should be handled afterwards," the veteran leader said.
Denktash boycotted indirect negotiations with Greek Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides under UN auspices ahead of a sixth round, scheduled for January 2001, on the grounds that the talks were against Turkish Cypriot interests.
The breakdown came in November, when the Turkish Cypriot side was angered by an unofficial document prepared by Annan, which acknowledged the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government as the legitimate authority on the island.
Denktash added that UN envoy Alvaro de Soto was scheduled to visit the island on August 29 and hold meetings with both sides.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey occupied its northern third in response to an Athens-engineered military coup in Nicosia seeking to unite Cyprus with Greece.
The TRNC and Turkey, the only country to recognize it, insist that the reunification of Cyprus must be as a two-state confederation, thus making recognition of the TRNC a precondition to a settlement.
Greek Cyprus, a frontrunner for European Union membership, and the international community, favor a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation – Albawaba.com
