LEFKOŞA - TRNC President Rauf Denktas said on Wednesday that he would not meet with U.S. State Department's Special Coordinator to Cyprus Thomas Weston, adding that ''there is no use in saying and listening to the same things. In fact Mr. Weston went too far and he shows us as a target to our people.''
Speaking at Gecitkale Airport before leaving for Ankara, Denktas said that Weston who was expected to come to the island this evening wanted to meet with him, but he would not be in the island.
''Mr. Weston went too far and he shows us as a target to our people saying that we impede finding a solution on the island. On the contrary the decision which the Greek Cypriot National Council took in 1989 impedes the solution of Cyprus issue. Everybody should read that decision once again, and make Mr. Weston read it, too. Everybody should also ask how compromise can be reached when the Greek Cypriot leadership is bound by that decision. The second question is does Mr. Weston regard one nation in Cyprus or two nations, one state or two states, one democracy or two democracies? We must know that first,'' Denktas said.
Denktas said that Weston regarded ''one state, one nation and one democracy'' in Cyprus, adding that those who regarded everything as one impeded the solution of Cyprus problem. ''If this issue has not been sorted out for 40 years, it is because the U.S., Britain and others accepted Makarios, the Milosevic of Cyprus, as the head of legitimate Cyprus government,'' he said.
Denktas noted that they protected their rights and they would continue to do so, adding that those rights were freedom, sovereignty, equality and state. ''Protecting them is a mission for us, our people protects them. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says that 'Cyprus issue can be sorted out on realities and lists these realities as the existance of two peoples, two democracies and effective guarantee of Turkey,'' he said.
Upon a question, Denktas said that his undersecretary Ergun Olgun would meet with Thomas Weston, adding that ''therefore Mr. Olgun will explain our views to Weston.''
(ÖŞ-AY) 22.10.2003