GREECE: Greece has said the UN peace plan for Cyprus is binding and must not be watered down. The move is a tacit rebuke to efforts by Greek and Turkish Cypriots to amend the blueprint in negotiations.
In his first public comments on the Cyprus issue, Greek Foreign Minister Mr Petros Molyviatis also stressed his newly elected government's commitment to reaching a peace deal within a tight UN timetable, despite the current deadlock in talks on the Mediterranean island.
Turkey similarly expressed impatience at the lack of progress in Cyprus, but concentrated its fire on the Greek Cypriots, accusing them of not really wanting a deal.
Greek and Turkish Cypriots are locked in high-pressure talks aimed at reuniting their island before it joins the European Union on May 1st. Failure would deepen the isolation of the poorer Turkish Cypriots and could harm Turkey's own bid to join the EU.
"Our first priority is obviously the Cyprus issue. This (UN) agreement is binding. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to subvert," Mr Molyviatis said yesterday in Athens.
"The course towards a solution to the Cyprus issue is already predetermined and agreed by all sides," said Mr Molyviatis, a veteran diplomat appointed as Foreign Minister on Tuesday in the conservative New Democracy government.
The UN-brokered talks which began on February 19th in Nicosia have been dogged by recriminations.
Diplomats say both sides now seem resigned to making little or no progress before the "motherlands", Greece and Turkey, join the negotiations on March 22nd, as outlined in the UN timetable.
Athens and Ankara would have a week to craft an accord and after that UN Secretary-General Mr Kofi Annan has a mandate to fill in any gaps on issues the sides cannot agree on. It will be submitted to a pan-Cyprus referendum on April 20th.
In Ankara, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Mr Namik Tan said the Greek Cypriots were deliberately dragging out the talks. "It has become clear the Greek Cypriot side does not have the political will and desire for a solution," he told reporters.
"They seem complacent because they are assured of EU membership as of May 1st." Even without a settlement, the Greek Cypriots will join the EU on May 1st, and would then be considered to represent the whole of the Mediterranean island.