LEFKOSA (A.A) - 02.08.2002 - Rauf Denktas, the President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) said on Friday that U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan should not put forward any other proposal other than helping in the solution of the problem by the sides in Cyprus during the meeting to be held on Sept. 6 in Paris.
The fifth round of direct talks between Denktas and Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides ended the same day with the two leaders' last meeting.
Speaking to the press after the meeting, Denktas said that he listened to the views of the Greek Cypriot side about the issue of territory and that he would respond to that.
Denktas said that the direct talks recessed until August 27, adding that ''both sides maintain their own views. I suppose both sides would put forward a comprehensive proposal on August 27.''
Denktas stated that there are many documents to examine, adding that he will go over these documents during the break.
It will be misleading to talk about any compromise or progress on any issue, said Denktas and noted that ''the issue is to sort out the matter. The principle accepted for sorting out the problem is that there is no agreement on any issue unless there is agreement on all issues. It will be misleading to talk about progress now as we adopted this principle.''
''The direct talks continued for such a long time, therefore both sides have expectations. But is this the same expectation or not, it will come out in the end. This is the difficult issue. We talk about vision, expectation, principle, but the Greek Cypriot side does not want to allow us to speak about them because the visions and expectations are almost 180 degree opposite to each other's. The thing that matters is to unite them. Both sides must make a re-assessment to unite these expectations,'' Denktas said.
When asked if the meeting to be held with U.N. Secretary General Annan in Paris on Sept. 6 would bring a new opening to the direct talks, Denktas said he guessed that U.N. Secretary General would present certain proposals to them in line with the documents to be submitted to him.
''What will you do if Annan puts forward certain proposals to you in Paris,'' asked journalists to Denktas who said that ''the word 'once bitten twice shy' is valid for Annan. It has been seen that when a new proposal is made, either one side, or the other one, or both sides react to it. I think that Secretary General should not put forward any proposal other than helping the sides to sort out the problem.''
When asked if it was by coincidence that the invitation of U.N. Secretary General and the invitation of European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee came at the same time, Denktas said that there was no place for coincidence in diplomacy, adding that ''if those who didn't invite us for a meeting, do it today, this means that they wonder the things we say. They want to learn it. The number of guests who visit us increased because they see the realities which they didn't focus on before. Therefore, those who say that 'there is no sovereignty,' should get out from the parliament immediately.''