BURGENSTOCK - The four-party Cyprus talks are expected to start in Burgenstock, Switzerland, later today.
Foreign Minister Petros Moliviatis of Greece is expected to come from Athens to Burgenstock to start the talks.
Turkish Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul, who came to Switzerland overnight, will meet with Moliviatis before beginning of the talks.
Gul held talks with members of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) delegation. He also met with United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan's Special Envoy to Cyprus Alvaro De Soto.
Both Gul and Moliviatis will leave for Brussels on Thursday morning to attend the spring-term summit of the European Union (EU). During their absence, undersecretaries of Turkish and Greek ministries of foreign affairs will attend the talks.
Greece will try to include a paragraph about Cyprus in final statement of the summit. Sources said that the paragraph would be of importance in regard to the talks.
Gul and Moliviatis will return to Burgenstock on Friday to continue attending the talks.
Meanwhile, the United States, which has accepted to undertake a facilitating role on the Cyprus issue as a result of initiatives of Turkey and assisted the sides to overcome deadlocks by intervening in the process from time to time, sent State Department's Special Coordinator for Cyprus Thomas Weston to Burgenstock.
Since the United States is not one of the sides of the four-party talks, Weston is staying in another hotel.
Diplomatic sources said that the sides would hold talks with Weston during the talks whenever it was needed.
The same sources added that some British officials also came to Burgenstock to follow the talks.
(UK-AÖ) 24.03.2004