LEFKOSA - TRNC President Rauf Denktas and Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides have authorized the U.N. ''to seek submissions on a flag and anthem for common state through open public competition as foreseen in the proposal for a comprehensive settlement put to them by Secretary General Kofi Annan on 10 December 2002.''
Issuing a written statement, United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) Spokesman Brian Kelly said that the two leaders reached consensus of opinion on this issue during their meeting yesterday.
''The parties agreed that this procedure needed to be set in motion if a flag and anthem were to be ready to be included in a completed agreement by 28 February 2003, so as to enable the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots to decide on the settlement in seperate referenda on 30 March 2003. These competitions are foreseen in Article 3 of Appendix B of the Secretary General's proposal and concern only the 'common state' flag and anthem. It is understood that the flag and anthem would only be adopted as part of a comprehensive settlement if the entire plan is approved in the seperate referenda and a new state of affairs comes into being. The United Nations will shortly announce details of how the competitions will be conducted. Submissions shall be required by a specified date in February. They shall be reviewed by bilateral committees, chaired by the United Nations. The committees shall make by consensus recommendations to the two leaders from among entries received. This decision reflects a shared commitment to ensure that all preparations are made for a completed agreement in accordance with the timeframe proposed by the Secretary General. It should not be taken as an indication of the state of play in the ongoing negotiations,'' it was noted.