First Round Of Direct Cyprus Talks To End On Tuesday

LEFKOSA, Feb 18 (A.A) - President Rauf Denktas of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and Greek Cypriot administration leader will finalize the process of their direct talks with their 14th meeting on Tuesday.
The direct Cyprus talks process started on January 16 upon Denktas's initiative to find a lasting solution the Cyprus issue.
During their tomorrow's meeting at 17:00 Turkish local time, Denktas and Clerides will try to determine a general framework by reviewing the issues they have so far discussed.
The talks which are closed to press will be recessed until March 1 due to the Feast of Sacrifice.
U.N. Secretary General's Special Envoy to Cyprus Alvaro de Soto who attends the talks as an observer will go to New York, the United States on February 20 and inform Secretary General Kofi Annan and Security Council members on the direct talks on Cyprus.
In the second round of talks which will start on March 1, Denktas and Clerides will come together on Tuesdays at 16:00 and on Fridays at 10:00.
Denktas and Clerides enter the meetings with their delegations.
DENKTAS:''REALITIES SHOULD BE ACCEPTED IN ORDER TO RESOLVE 38-YEAR OLD PROBLEMS IN 38 DAYS''
Denktas said that there would be no agreement between the two sides in Cyprus if the Greek Cypriots think that they don't need to make any compromises since they would join the EU, with our without an agreement.
After a weekly meeting with Prime Minister Dervis Eroglu, Deputy Prime Minister Salih Cosar on Monday, Denktas said that all aspects of the Cyprus conflict have been examined and debated at the talks so far.
The TRNC president listed the areas which cause stagnation as the Greek Cypriots' claims that they are the sole government of the island and their insistance not to step back from these claims. Greek Cypriots' trying to fiddle with the Guarantee Agreement by placing 60,000-70,000 Greek Cypriots in the TRNC and spreading Turkish Cypriots to the whole island was another obtacle.
''If they help us resolve these matters during the talks, then we would try to accomodate their wishes and we would reach a result. If they act thinking that 'why should we make concession to Turks because we would join the EU as the Cyprus government with or without an agreement' just like Verheugen said, there would be no progress even after June. But we also have to know if there would be a progress before June,'' Denktas commented.
Denktas said that the Greek Cypriot side leaked information to public about the ongoing direct talks violating the self-imposed ban. Therefore, he said, they also had to make an announcement to the Turkish Cypriots in order to prevent misinterpretations among people.
Stating that news leakage was in fact beneficial, Denktas said, ''it becomes clear for our people what Greek Cypriots have wanted. The Greek Cypriot newspapers were complaining that I asked for an exchange of properties. This is an issue that has been alive since the exchange of populations in 1975. What I have been asking is a realist, natural development,'' he said.
He said that realities should be accepted by the Greek Cypriot side in order ''to resolve 38-year old problems in 38 days.'' He said that no point would be reached if the sides keep accusing each other. Stating that everything should be discussed, he urged people not to be pessimistic, but added extreme optimism was not good either.
Denktas declined to make an evaluation of the first round of the direct talks when a reporter asked him and said it was early to do such an assessment.
The TRNC president said that both sides presented their viewpoints on a number of subjects and in the coming meetings, they would try to bring these views closer to a midpoint. Denktas said that this week he would brief political party leaders about the point reached at the talks.
About the visit of foreign mediators to Cyprus, Denktas said that this was a problem for them since they had to explain every visitor the Cyprus issue from the very beginning. He said some of these people were conditioned to see the issue from the point of view of the Greek Cypriots' side while some of them were aware of the real situation in the island.