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No Outcome Yet in Cyprus Talks: Cypriot House President

Cyprus House President Demetris Christofias said on Sunday that no outcome has been yielded in the ongoing UN-led talks in the Swiss resort of Burgenstock, the semi-official Cyprus News Agency reported.  

Christofias, also ruling left-wing Working People's Progressive Party (AKEL) General Secretary, is among political leaders accompanying Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos for the talks in the resort.

 

Christofias said that UN chief Kofi Annan would probably present the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot sides with the final version of his proposal on a comprehensive settlement Monday morning.

 

"We must keep cool, self-restraint is essential. The give-and- take procedure has not yet started, I believe that by tomorrow morning we will have something concrete," Christofias was quoted as saying.

 

The UN "is likely to give us tomorrow Annan's final text and we will probably spend two long nights and two long days during which an attempt for a give-and-take procedure will be made," he said.

 

He said that the final result, according to the February 13 New York agreement, would be conveyed to the people of Cyprus, the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots to jointly decide what will happen at referendum.

 

Responding to questions on possible attempts by the United Nations to get the two sides to sign some documents before leaving Burgenstock, he said, "Signing of any document is not included in the New York agreement."

 

He said that any agreed text must go to Cyprus for political parties and others to take their positions on it and give their own advice to the people, and the people will decide on the day of the referendum.

 

In the resort, Greek Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis met on Sunday with Annan's special advisor on Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto.

 

It was reported that the meeting focused on procedures to be followed for the submission of a UN proposal on a comprehensive settlement to parties involved in the ongoing talks.

 

Some reports said that all four delegations (Greek Cypriot, Turkish Cypriot, Greek and Turkish) have expressed displeasure because of lack of sufficient time for the delegations to study the UN's proposal, the fourth version of the Annan plan. The revised Annan plan is made up of 9,000 pages.

 

Cyprus has remained split since 1974 when Turkish troops entered the north of the island after a failed Greek Cypriot coup seeking union with Greece.

 

Negotiations between the two sides, under the UN's auspices, resumed in Nicosia last month, but failed to achieve any concrete results in the first phase of the talks that ended on March 22.

 

The second phase of the talks switched to Switzerland on March 24, with the participation of the Greek and Turkish leaders. The aim of the talks is to reach an agreement, so that a united Cyprus could join the European Union in May this year.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 29, 2004)

Cyprus Reunification Talks to Enter Critical Phase
Cyprus Peace Talks Start, UN Says
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