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By refusing to start the first round of talks between delegations from the TRNC, the Greek Cypriot administration, Turkey and Greece, the Greek Cypriots were seeking to wind down the clock on the negotiation process, President Rauf Denktas said Wednesday.
The first day of the four party talks, being held in the Swiss resort town of Burgenstock, did not start as scheduled Wednesday as the Greek Cypriot delegation claimed the TRNC representatives were not authorised to broker a final agreement. This was a sad development, said Denktas, who is boycotting the talks.
“If the Greek Cypriots had gone to Switzerland with good will, the quartet conference would have already started,” Denktas said.
According to the TRNC head of state, the Greek Cypriot side knew in advance who would be represent the Turkish Cypriots at the meetings in Switzerland and that they would have authority to negotiate on behalf of the TRNC.
“The Greek Cypriot side and everybody knew about all these issues before going to Switzerland to attend the four party meeting,” Denktas said. “They brought the issue onto agenda in Switzerland and this does not show good will.”
The President said that he felt the Greek Cypriots were trying to evade the negotiations and had been looking for a pretext to do so.
“If they had had good will, the conference would have already started,” he said. “The parties were expected to discuss deficiencies. The Turkish and Greek delegations were expected to help them. This means that the Greek Cypriot side ended the process without starting it today. Tomorrow (Thursday), the Foreign Ministers of Turkey and Greece will go to Brussels. They will stay in Brussels for two days and return to Switzerland on March 27. Thus, we will come to the end of the timetable of the four-party conference.” | |
