U.S. Official Discusses Latest U.N. Efforts on Cyprus
20 July 2006
State Department's Bryza sees opening but also differences on core issues
Washington -- The U.S. official responsible for Cyprus issues at the State Department believes the recent visit to the region by U.N. Under Secretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari has “created an opening” for progress towards resolution of the 32-year conflict, but that the parties must move to take advantage of that opening quickly.
“I wind up my stay here I think not naively optimistic but certainly not coldly pessimistic either,” said Matthew Bryza, deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs. “I sense on both sides of the Green Line, and in all aspects of society, in the business community, and among NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] and government officials that while there is a real desire to move forward, there is also still a real difference on the core issues,” he said during a July 18 press briefing in Nicosia, Cyprus.
“I also sense a real, serious recognition that this opening that Under Secretary-General Gambari helped broker” with Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat and Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos “is real but is also perishable and needs to be worked out immediately,” Bryza added.
He said the purpose of his visit was to “find a way to advance a comprehensive, just and lasting Cyprus settlement that reunifies the island within a bizonal, bicommunal federation.”
While on a visit to Greece in April, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the de facto division of Cyprus “is something that has gone on far too long.” (See related article.)
But the United States is not trying to develop a plan of its own, Bryza said, adding that “we fully, absolutely 100 percent, support the Secretary General of the U.N. in his effort to advance a just and lasting settlement within a bizonal, bicommunal federation.”
In 2004, a plan by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to reunify the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities was rejected by Greek Cypriots. Turkish Cypriot voters approved the plan. Later that year the Republic of Cyprus joined the European Union without having control over Turkish Cypriot communities in the areas Turkish troops have controlled since Turkey’s 1974 invasion of Cyprus.
U.N.-brokered negotiations had been put on hold until Gambari’s visit to the region.
Bryza said his role is to support Annan’s efforts “once [Annan] is convinced that both sides have demonstrated their good will to resume the discussions in good faith.”
In conjunction with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul’s recent visit to Washington, the State Department released July 5 a joint U.S.-Turkey statement entitled “Shared Vision and Structured Dialogue to Advance the Turkish-American Strategic Partnership.” The statement pledges both countries to “supporting the achievement of a just and lasting, comprehensive and mutually-acceptable settlement of the Cyprus question under the auspices of the UN and in this context ending the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots.”
Bryza cited the joint statement during his press briefing in Nicosia and explained the “underlying logic” of trying to ease the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots. “We’re thoroughly convinced that it’s easier to reunify a country if the economic disparities are limited,” he said. “That’s what we believe and so that’s what we’re pursuing, with the goal of reunification always in mind.”
In October 2005, Turkey and the European Union formally began negotiations for Turkey’s possible entry into the EU if it meets democratic and economic conditions. The United States has supported Turkey’s EU candidacy. (See related article.)
Bryza extended his stay by one night in order to meet with Cypriot Foreign Minister George Lillikas on July 19.
A transcript of Bryza’s press conference is available on the State Department Web site, as is the U.S.-Turkey joint statement. The full text of a brief statement issued July 10 by the U.S. Embassy in Nicosia is available on the embassy’s Web site.
For additional information on U.S. policy, see Southeast Europe.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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