ANKARA - United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan's Special Envoy to Cyprus Alvaro de Soto has said that there had been a process and high-level commitments in Cyprus on which all sides agreed.
De Soto, who came to Ankara on Sunday to hold talks about the negotiation process aiming to find a fair and lasting solution to the Cyprus issue, met with Ministry of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal.
Replying to questions of journalists following the meeting, De Soto said that there had been some commitments to be fulfilled by all sides in the negotiation process in accordance with the plan of United Nations Secretary General Annan. He expressed his hope over fulfillment of these commitments by the sides.
When asked whether or not he was hopeful about the conference to be held in Switzerland, De Soto said that there had been a process and high-level commitments in Cyprus on which all sides agreed, adding that if the sides displayed a comprising attitude and political will, a solution could be reached.
He recalled that he had held a beneficial meeting with Ziyal.
When the four-party conference to be held in Switzerland was compared to the negotiations held in Dayton for Bosnia-Herzegovina, De Soto said that the only difference was that no one was fighting in Cyprus.
He refrained from answering a question about Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas' decision not to attend the four-party conference in Switzerland.
De Soto did not give detailed information about derogations.
De Soto added that he was not planning to go to Athens since he would meet with the sides in Switzerland.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Deputy Undersecretary Baki Ilkin, Bilateral Political Affairs Director Ertugrul Apakan and Ambassador Deniz Bolukbasi and other bureaucrats were also in attendance at the meeting.
(UK-AÖ) 22.03.2004