Turkish, Greek Cypriot Leaders Accept UN Reunification Plan
Published:
14 February 2004 y., Saturday
Leaders of the Turkish and Greek Cypriot communities have accepted a U.N. blueprint for reunifying Cyprus by May. The deal was reached after three days of hard bargaining at U.N. headquarters.
The deal reached Friday clears the way for further talks aimed at ending 30 years of Cyprus' division. The goal is to put a final settlement to referenda on both sides of the island, in time for a united Cyprus to join the European Union May 1.
Agreement came on the fourth day of three-party talks involving Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, Greek Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
After three days of deadlock, Mr. Annan presented the rival leaders with a take-it-or-leave-it proposal Friday, and both sides immediately accepted.
A beaming Mr. Annan announced the result, calling it a very good day for Cyprus.
Mr. Annan said the talks will continue February 19 in Cyprus, with his representative, Alvaro de Soto, acting as mediator. If no agreement is reached there, the negotiators would be brought back to New York for a final session that would include the motherlands, Greece and Turkey. If there is still no result, Mr. Annan reserves the right to fill in the blanks on a final document that would be put to a public vote in April.
Šaltinis:
voanews.com
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
Lithuania took over the Chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe today, with a focus on internal and external threats in the OSCE area, fostering democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms, notably freedom of the media, promoting energy security in Europe and building upon synergies between regional organizations.
more »
President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė says the decision taken by the European Council to amend the EU Treaty to provide for the establishment of a permanent support mechanism for crisis–stricken eurozone countries is very important for Lithuania.
more »
At the OSCE Summit, President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė met with President of the Kyrgyz Republic Roza Otunbayeva for a bilateral discussion.
more »
President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė attending OSCE Summit in Astana had a conversation with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
more »
President Dalia Grybauskaitė positively assessed the European Commission's decision to include the integration of the Baltic Energy Market into the European market in the map of EU priorities.
more »
President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė left to Lisbon to attend NATO Summit that starts today.
more »
President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė congratulated President Valdis Zatlers of the Republic of Latvia and all Latvian people on Latvia's national holiday, the Independence Day.
more »
President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė received letters of credence from the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Samad Ali Lakizadeh.
more »
President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė received letters of credence from the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed Ahmed Al Mahmood.
more »
As a response to the address made by representatives of Lithuania's culture community and civic society concerning the future of Kristijonas Donelaitis museum in Chistye Prudy in the Kaliningrad Oblast, President of the Republic of Lithuania D. Grybauskaitė sent a letter to President D. Medvedev of the Russian Federation.
more »