Movement towards settlement of Cyprus problem may begin soon

PRESIDENT Glafkos Clerides has said movement towards a settlement of the Cyprus problem could "begin in 1997". But, he told The Irish Times in a wideranging interview, the multiplicity of international mediators must "co ordinate their efforts under the good offices of the UN secretary general". Separate UN, EU and US initiatives are a case of "too many cooks spoil the broth".

The main effort was being made by Britain and the US, he said, in consultation with the UN. Last week, Sir David Hannay, the British mediator, was in Washington for discussions with the new Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright. He elaborated on the 10 point plan put forward by the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Malcolm Rifkind, last December.

The promised US initiative - "the big push" - which was due to start in March should start towards the end of April, Mr Clerides said. He was not worried about the delay because he insisted this initiative must be done "correctly" to prepare the ground for serious talks and real progress.

The mediators have to talk to Ankara, he said, and set a frame within which the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr Rauf Denktash, can negotiate; and they have to talk to the Turkish military, which has maintained 35,000 troops in the north of the island since 1974 and therefore has a stake in the status quo - deemed unacceptable by the international community.

The US is beginning to question Turkish military importance, Mr Clerides continued, because of "fundamentalism, the Kurdish problem, low economic standards, poor conditions in terms of capita income, unrest due to the failure of democratic governments to solve [the country's] problems. It is prepared to mount a rescue operation but not certain it will succeed." Therefore, the US was looking for new allies in the eastern Mediterranean - Israel, Greece, Cyprus - on which it could base its regional policies.

Furthermore, "Ms Albright and the US are beginning to realise that Cyprus is not an extinct volcano. It may erupt, so they must lessen tension and military confrontation as a prerequisite of solving the problem". Previous efforts to do so attempted to "remove the symptoms but not cure the sickness" brought on by 22 years of occupation and de facto partition.

Asked about his government's decision to purchase the controversial Russian surface to air missile system, Mr Clerides said: "We've also bought the very newest T-80 tanks; the arms are purely defensive. We're not going to provoke a war with Turkey." He refused to state whether Greek military aircraft and naval vessels would be based at facilities now under construction near Paphos, although it is widely believed that this was the intention. Cyprus has no air force and a coastal patrol rather than a navy.

Mr Clerides agreed the present climate of tension brought on by the "missile crisis" was not conducive to dialogue, but said it was difficult to re established trust between Greek and Turkish Cypriots because "Mr Denktash only allows Turkish Cypriots to meet Greek Cypriots through an eyedropper".

Before being elected fourth president of Cyprus in 1993, Mr Clerides served as president of the House of Representatives for many years. In 1976 he formed the centre right Democratic Rally Party.

He took part in the struggle against British colonial rule, having served as a pilot and gunner in the British air force during the second World War. While flying a bomber over Hamburg he was shot down and confined in various prisoner of war camps, from which he escaped three times.

His first escape was the most colourful. A French network provided him with an overall, broom and bucket, enabling him to literally sweep his way from the military hospital in Bremen to Italy, where he was apprehended by the Germans.

Mr Malcolm Rifkind, said yesterday there was a serious possibility of Greece and Turkey going to war over Cyprus. Speaking on BBC, he accused Athens and Ankara of lacking the political will to find a solution.