11 March 2003
U.S. Disappointed by Failure of U.N. Cyprus Meeting
(Boucher says Turkish Cypriots should have opportunity to decide) (1490)
The United States is "deeply disappointed" that U.N. Secretary General
Kofi Annan's discussions with Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos
and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash in The Hague "did not result
in an agreement to put [Annan's] plan to referenda in both
communities," State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher said March
11.
"The United States has long supported the efforts of the Secretary
General, of his initiative to find a lasting solution to the Cyprus
problem."
Speaking during the regular State Department briefing, Boucher said
Annan described "the responses of President Papadopoulos, as well as
Mr. Denktash, to the proposals for the referendum and the reasons why
his efforts didn't succeed."
According to press reports, both leaders had objections to the plan,
but Papadopoulos accepted it and Denktash did not.
"We find it very regrettable that Mr. Denktash has denied Turkish
Cypriots the opportunity to determine their own future and to vote on
such a fundamental issue," Boucher said.
"We think Turkish Cypriots should have gotten the opportunity to
decide these issues in a referendum," he added later on in the
briefing.
"Despite the setback, we remain committed to seeking a just and a
durable settlement to the Cyprus problem," Boucher said.
The United States worked "very hard on the UN proposal," he said, "and
we think that there were advantages, not only to the people of Cyprus
or the security of Turkey, but also, for example, for Turkey's
accession to the European Union, of reaching agreement on the Cyprus
issue."
Following are excerpts from the March 11 State Department press
briefing:
(begin excerpt)
U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing
Tuesday, March 11, 2003
1:10 p.m. EST
BRIEFER: Richard Boucher, Spokesman
CYPRUS
-- UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's Remarks and Closure of Mr. De
Soto's Office
-- Expect a Detailed Report from the United Nation's Special Advisor
-- April 6 Referendum/Influence of New Turkish Government
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
[...]
QUESTION: Yesterday in The Hague, the discussions for Cyprus
officially broke down. The UN Secretary General made the statement
that he will close the office of Mr. De Soto in Cyprus and it's up to
the parties to decide what they want they do from now on, if they will
accept the -- his plan -- is ready to come back to it. What's the U.S.
reaction to this incident?
MR. BOUCHER: Well, first, I need to make clear we are deeply
disappointed that the Secretary General's discussions with the two
leaders in The Hague did not result in an agreement to put his plan to
referenda in both communities. The United States has long supported
the efforts of the Secretary General, of his initiative to find a
lasting solution to the Cyprus problem.
We applaud the commitment and the creativity, which the Secretary
General and his Special Advisor, Mr. Alvaro De Soto, brought to this
effort. Despite the setback, we remain committed to seeking a just and
a durable settlement to the Cyprus problem.
The Secretary General has asked Mr. De Soto to prepare a detailed
report to the Security Council. So the Security Council, we would
expect, will address the outcome, consider the Secretary General's
recommendations on the conduct of the mission at that time.
QUESTION: One comment. The Secretary General of the UN, in his
statement in a way blamed Mr. Denktash for the breakdown. Any comment
on that?
MR. BOUCHER: I would say that I think the Secretary General did
describe the responses of President Papadopoulos, as well as Mr.
Denktash, to the proposals for the referendum and the reasons why his
efforts didn't succeed.
We find it very regrettable that Mr. Denktash has denied Turkish
Cypriots the opportunity to determine their own future and to vote on
such a fundamental issue.
Sir.
QUESTION: On the same subject.
MR. BOUCHER: On the same subject. Sir. One, two, either way.
QUESTION: Mr. Boucher, since from 1974 to 2003, the U.S. Government
supported the UN initiative to find a solution to the problem, but
finally unsuccessfully. Are you planning to take any U.S. initiatives
in order to find a solution to this problem, like, say a Camp David
process or any other idea to --
MR. BOUCHER: I think it is way premature to start speculating along
those lines. As I said, the UN Special Advisor, Mr. De Soto, will be
preparing a full report for the Security Council. We and other
Security Council members will get a chance to look at that report. The
United States commitment to helping to find a solution in Cyprus has
been longstanding and, obviously, if there is an opportunity to do
that, we would like to see that done. But until we get the report from
Mr. De Soto and a chance to consider it with the Security Council, I
wouldn't start speculating on something that could be considerably
farther down the road.
The parties had this opportunity. The parties had to take this
opportunity. And as we say, we are disappointed that they didn't.
Sir.
QUESTION: I was listening to De Soto's statement on TV live. He said
he's not blaming only the Turkish side, he's blaming the Greek side
too, because the Papadopoulos doesn't accept the guarantor countries
situation, he said that, and the Turkish side doesn't accept the
referendum, so both sides has the problem in this agreement.
MR. BOUCHER: I'm not going to argue this with you here. Our view, I
think, has been stated. The Secretary General did describe, or his
representative, they have described the positions of both sides. You
can analyze those for yourself.
Okay. Same thing, or change?
QUESTION: Well, you did specifically criticize Mr. Denktash, but do
you have -- you don't have any particular comment on the position of
Mr. Papadopoulos?
MR. BOUCHER: As I said, we think Turkish Cypriots should have gotten
the opportunity to decide these issues in a referendum, and leave it
at that.
QUESTION: Yes. And Mr. Papadopoulos?
MR. BOUCHER: I'll leave it at that. I said both sides' positions have
been laid out and you can analyze those.
QUESTION: Richard, yesterday when you were talking about this, you
said that the United States continues to support the Secretary
General's initiative and his call for a March 30th referenda, but
either shortly after you spoke, or maybe while you were speaking, he
had put forward a compromise proposal that would push --
MR. BOUCHER: An April 6th referendum.
QUESTION: Exactly. Did you guys -- were you guys pushing the two sides
to -- as you have been, were you signed on to that?
MR. BOUCHER: Oh, yes, we were definitely signed on to the idea of the
referenda. The actual staging and signing and dates for those would
have been acceptable to us if the parties agreed. The disappointment
is that there wasn't agreement to go forward with this and that people
in Cyprus were not given the chance to choose.
QUESTION: Okay. And do you -- does the U.S. feel at all that the
Turkish Government, the new Turkish Government, or the kind of trans
-- in flux, transition Turkish Government could have done more to push
Mr. Denktash to accept this deal?
MR. BOUCHER: I think at this point, that would be a matter of
speculation. We will look at the report that the Special Advisor
presents to the Security Council -- the Secretary General presents to
the Security Council. We will see in there what the various sides have
done.
Certainly, the issue of Cyprus has been an issue of close consultation
between the United States and Turkey. As you know, the Secretary, in
all his meetings with Turkish or Greek, for that matter, diplomats, or
European Union diplomats, has emphasized the importance that we attach
to reaching an agreement on Cyprus, the importance of taking advantage
of this opportunity. So there is a disappointment that that didn't
happen.
But I would say we worked very hard on the UN proposal and we think
that there were advantages, not only to the people of Cyprus or the
security of Turkey, but also, for example, for Turkey's accession to
the European Union, of reaching agreement on the Cyprus issue, and
that we have often pointed those out.
QUESTION: And have you pointed that out post this -- have there been
any contacts that you're aware of with the Turks about the fact that
they may have queered the pitch somewhat for the EU?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't know specifically. I think the meeting in The
Hague that the UN was present, we were present, but also I think the
guarantors were going to be present there as well. So I imagine there
has been quite a bit of discussion.
[...]
(The briefing was concluded at 2:05 p.m.)
(end excerpt)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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