NEW YORK - United Nations (U.N.) Secretary General Kofi Annan on Thursday called on Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas and Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos to New York on February 10 to resume Cyprus talks.
A statement of the U.N. said that Annan sent a letter to Denktas and Papadopoulos calling them to resume new round of Cyprus talks in New York on February 10.
Annan also asked Turkey, Greece and Britain to send representatives to talks planned to take place in U.N. headquarters in New York next week.
The statement said that Annan had encouraging meetings on solution of Cyprus issue during and after his visit to Europe and pointed out that U.N. Secretary General then speeded up his initiative.
Diplomatic sources said that Annan's letter had been conveyed to Turkey's Permanent Representation to the U.N.
In his previous statement, Annan had stated that he met with leaders of Turkey, Greece and Greek Cypriot side and noted that he would try to contact Denktas immediately.
DENKTAS RECEIVES ANNAN'S INVITATION
Denktas said on Thursday that he had received United Nations (U.N.) Secretary General Kofi Annan's letter inviting him to New York on February 10.
Denktas told reporters that he, TRNC Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Serdar Denktas evaluated developments in Cyprus issue among themselves when explaining the reason of his decision to prolong their visit to Ankara one more day.
He had received Annan's letter inviting him to New York on February 10, Denktas said.
Denktas noted that they started to evaluate the invitation.
TRNC President Denktas said that he could make a statement about Annan's conditions after their evaluation.
Denktas stated that as TRNC officials, they could meet with Turkish officials to discuss developments in case of any need.
TRNC President Denktas answered positively to the question if Annan's invitation was made to resume talks and added, ''we have just heard about the invitation although the Greek Cypriot press wrote about it a week ago. There is always an intimate traffic with the Greek Cypriot press. This really saddens us.''
Asked if he had expressed that uneasiness to Annan, Denktas said, ''we have expressed it right now.''
(AA) 05.02.2004