CYPRUS: The UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, said yesterday that it was time to finalise agreement on the reunification of Cyprus, which has been divided between ethnic Greek and Turkish communities for almost three decades.
"If this opportunity is missed it is not clear whether another will occur any time soon," Mr Annan told reporters after arriving in Athens for talks on the future of the island. "It is therefore easy to understand that decision time has arrived."
After protracted and fruitless UN-monitored bilateral negotiations between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, Mr Annan will this week present revisions of his peace proposals to both sides.
"I provided all concerned this past Sunday with a preview of the elements of what I hope is the final revision of the draft," he said. "The revisions I have in mind will not come as a surprise to the parties."
While Greek and Greek Cypriot leaders voiced scepticism on whether a deal within the UN timetable was possible, Mr Tayyip Erdogan told his Turkish Justice and Development Party (AKP) yesterday that the latest Annan draft could win the backing of both communities.
"I believe we are closer than ever before to a resolution of the Cyprus issue," Mr Erdogan said. "From what we've heard so far, the latest plan appears to remove as much as possible the concerns brought forth by each side during earlier negotiations."
Mr Annan, on his first official visit to Greece, said that he was encouraged by talks he had on Monday with Turkish leaders. He hoped that an agreement could be finalised by early next month at the latest.
"Perhaps that goal [for a deal\] can slip a few days, but to go much beyond February 28th would probably doom the prospect of a reunited Cyprus signing the \ treaty of accession," Mr Annan said. "Postponing agreement beyond early March would amount to saying no to EU accession by a united Cyprus."
Under the UN timetable, the two communities on the island are scheduled to hold separate referendums on a reunification plan on March 30th.
Shortly before leaving Ankara yesterday morning Mr Annan told reporters that he was optimistic about the prospects for progress.
But the Greek prime minister, Mr Costas Simitis, and the newly-elected Cypriot president, Mr Tassos Papadopoulos, said on Monday that an agreement by the end of March was almost impossible because of what they described as a "lack of co-operation" from Turkish Cypriots.
The Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr Rauf Denktash, has called Mr Annan's plan a "crime against humanity" because it contains proposals which would include uprooting at least 100,000 people in exchanges of territory.
Mr Erdogan said that the new blueprint included a proposal to allow Greece and Turkey to each keep 6,000 troops on the island. The plan would also give Turkish Cypriots 29.2 per cent of the island's territory, slightly more than in the previous drafts, Mr Erdogan said.