ANKARA - Turkey has proposed that Turkish and Greek foreign ministers could participate in the first stage of the quadrilateral talks under the negotiation process aiming to find a fair and lasting solution to the Cyprus issue, and prime ministers could attend the final stage.
Diplomatic sources told the A.A correspondent on Thursday that the sides were expected to give a response to Turkey's proposal after United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan's Special Envoy to Cyprus Alvaro de Soto's visit to Greek capital Athens.
Noting that all high-level officials of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and the Greek Cypriot side would be in attendance at the talks, sources said that United Nations Secretary General Annan would attend a part of the talks.
De Soto is expected to act as a bridge between the sides.
Recalling that the Greek side had requested to postpone the negotiation process for two days, sources said that such a postponement would not cause any problem for the Turkish side because of the upcoming local elections on March 28. Sources noted that the two-day postponement would be valid only for the quadrilateral talks, and it would not affect the date of referendum.
Meanwhile, a delegation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will go to Athens next week to discuss the security dimension of the Annan Plan.
(UK) 11.03.2004