Press Conference by the President of the Republic of Cyprus Mr Tassos Papadopoulos at UN Headquarters

June 3, 2004

Introduction by Mr. Shashi Tharoor, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public information:

Good morning everybody and I’ll really be very brief in my introduction. It’s wonderful to welcome again to the United Nations and to 226 the President of the Republic of Cyprus His Excellency Mr. Tassos Papadopoulos . As you know, we only have till 12:00 noon so I will skip the details of his background with which I am sure you are all very familiar except to say that he has been President till 2003 and this is not his first appearance before all of you. Mr. President would you like to say a few words before taking questions.

Introductory Remarks by President Papadopoulos:

I thank ladies and gentlemen for attending this meeting. I had a meeting with the Secretary General, which I found most useful, and in a very good atmosphere. We only received the Report of the Secretary General yesterday, so we could not and we did not concentrate on that report or any aspects of it. We assessed the situation as it now appears.  I reassured the Secretary General that we still very- very eagerly pursue a solution of the Cyprus problem; a solution which will be bizonal, bicommunal and federal in Cyprus . Furthermore we said that in the meantime there are certain steps that we are very willing to take, which will help the Turkish Cypriots to participate in our joint effort for reaping the benefits of the European Union and that we took the initiative for those measures and we are willing to show all kind of cooperation and be magnanimous and I want to say that it will be our genuine effort to see that they get as many benefits as they can from the accession to the European Union on condition that these benefits are permissible and possible within the context of the European Union, international law and the decisions of the Security Council resolutions of the United Nations. I’d be glad to try and answer your questions.

Tharoor: Thank you Mr. President, tradition here is to offer the first question to the representative of the United Nations Correspondents Association. I would request each of you when asking your question to please identify yourself for the President’s convenience. 

Reuters (Irwin Arieff): Good morning Mr. President, I’m Irwin Arief  from Reuters and I wanted to welcome you on the behalf of the UN Correspondents Association to the United Nations and for the first question I would like to ask you about the report of the Secretary General which seems to have accused you of misrepresenting his plan in trying to secure a no vote. I wonder how you comment on that and he also implies that you had told him a different version of your views and he sounds betrayed by that and I am wondering how you’d react to that.

President Papadopoulos: No he doesn’t imply that and certainly that was not done by me. I have deceived nobody ever.  Let me say however that the people of Cyprus are a highly literate populous and they are highly politicized and never before any political document received as much analysis through the media and debates in which both sides were represented and to say the least it would be unfair if not insulting to the people of Cyprus to say that they voted the way they voted because they were in any way misguided by anybody. Certainly I’m the elected President of the Republic but together with electing their President they also elect the leader of the Greek Cypriot community. It would be amiss of myself not to tell them my view, my own assessment of the plan. The people decided and the view, decision of the people as the Secretary General says himself in his report must be respected by all.

Aktina TV (Elena Maroulleti): Mr.  President, after reading the Secretary General’s Report it is obvious that he is counting on the Greek Cypriot side and in a way he suggests that the Greek Cypriots were filibustering during the negotiations. It does not seem that the SG is willing to renegotiate this particular plan. What are you planning to do because what you are talking about is renegotiating this plan and I don’t think that the SG would like to open discussion on this particular plan.

President Papadopoulos: Before I answer the second part let me say, I have a method of work which sometimes is annoying to people that I put everything in writing what I want to say and what they tell me, so whether we are filibustering or not, one can have records to the documents which we submitted not in Burgenstock but from Cyprus weeks earlier. So I reassert that we have been very constructive, very forthcoming during all the phases of the negotiation. I think it is common assessment between the SG and myself that we need time for reflection we need the dust to settle down before we consider some initiative. I personally believe that when the time is ripe the Turkish Cypriots will realize that having their own little world and getting the benefits that they are getting is only second best to real reunification of the country which is the only one which will give them all the benefits of Cyprus accession to the European Union and allow truly for their economic and financial viability. Many people say that they have different economic standard than ourselves; very few people realize that to a great extend the disparity in the economic levels is due to the fact that, for political reasons, Turkish Cypriots chose to introduce Turkish lira as their currency in their area. When you introduce the Turkish lira or a foreign currency you introduce at the same time all the weaknesses, all the financial and monetary problems that that currency may or may not have.

Hurriyet (Dogan Uluc): Mr. President the  island is still divided. According to the Secretary General, by opposing this plan you are challenging Makarios and Kyprianou agreements on Cyprus with Denktash,  your predecessors which were two very important statesmen. Number one how do you feel about it. Number two when do you think the reunification movement may start, on what conditions and what circumstances?

President Papadopoulos: I think on the second part of your question I already said we need time for reflection and both sides will realize that true bizonal, bicommunal federation which will truly reunify the country is the best solution for both; the present situation of the Turkish Cypriots must be deemed by them to be second best. As to the first question, with respect, I think you get your facts wrong. I am not in any way contradicting decisions that were made, on the contrary. We like these agreement which were reached to reach fruition through a viable functional solution which will incorporate the elements of those agreements; you would no doubt be aware that not only those agreements but several others which were made since then, after Kyprianou with Mr. Clerides and Mr. Vasiliou, they were discarded and ignored by Mr. Denktash, so we say that we want a reunified Cyprus within the framework of a bizonal bicommunal federation, but to say that this particular plan - only this particular plan - is the only way of achieving that aim I think is wrong and I think nobody can monopolize that this and only this plan meets all the concerns and the requirements of the two communities. The Greek Cypriot people rejected, not the solution, not the federation solution, they rejected this particular version of the Annan Plan.

Associated Press (Edith Lederer). The SG has said that while he’s called for an extension for six months of the UN peacekeeping Force in Cyprus he plans to review its size, its role, and its mandate within three months. Could you tell us whether you discussed this issue with the SG and what the Greek Cypriot position is? Do you want the force to be maintained as it is? What happens if he recommends that it be made a lot smaller or leave?

President Papadopoulos: We whole-heartedly share the view of the SG to review the force, the mandate, and the activities of UNIFICYP. We would like to cooperate in that respect. No, we did not discuss this, this morning with the SG. Our views had already been conveyed to those who ought to know when the SG submitted, one day before his report on the renewal of the mandate of the UNFICYP. Let me say this, UNFICYP has performed a marvelous job in keeping the peace. It is not a peace-making but a peace-keeping force and I think exactly at this time when there is no change in the security requirements of Cyprus, when one might think there may be some tension or disappointment on the account of the outcome of the referenda, this is exactly when UNFICYP is needed to continue its role and not to remove it and run the risk. There is not an improvement in the security situation in Cyprus , Turkish troops are not withdrawn and therefore I think although a review of its role, or numbers might be, I think it would be a mistake to withdraw the force.

ARD German TV(Debbie Krauss): In his report the SG says that he doesn’t see any basis for resuming his Good Offices. Did you give him any compelling arguments for which he should?

President Papadopoulos: I’d like to believe I did. Whether he will accept them or not I don’t know. Let me repeat that ever since many years ago the Cyprus problem started, our constant view is that the problem must be under the auspices of the SG, on a Good Services, Good Offices of the United Nations as a whole but in particular of the SG and we hope that the United Nations and this SG, I say this because I want to express my gratitude for the time and the personal attention that Mr. Annan has shown to this latest effort, we hope that he will realize that the best hope lies with the United Nations undertaking an initiative.

Al-Jazeera Satellite (Abderrahim Foukara): To what extend do you believe that the solution to the Cyprus Problem actually goes though Ankara and particularly through the Turkish Military and number two what is the main problem with Mr. Denktash as you see it as far as his approach to this issue?

President Papadopoulos: Definitely, not only the solution goes through Ankara , I would say that the main protagonist, the decision making body is Ankara , because of the dependence of the Turkish Cypriot community in every respect, financially and otherwise, on Ankara . Proof of that is that many of the points which were asked, demanded by the Turkish side – I say Turkish not Turkish Cypriot – they were points that to a great extend they serve the interests of Turkey not necessarily those of the Turkish Cypriots and I will take some time to enumerate them to you. Mr. Denktash has not been very constructive because he’s got a different vision than the one that we have. The vision of Mr. Denktash which he lost no time repeating time and time again was the establishment of two separate states in Cyprus , two separate sovereign states in Cyprus . I hope that this vision whish we, not only now but forever be unacceptable to the Greek Cypriots has receded and I hope that the new outlook shown by the Turkish side and the Turkish Cypriot side is not an illusion, it’s not only a play of words but genuinely, truly they will aim at the reunification of Cyprus which is the only viable solution and the best solution for both communities in Cyprus.

Cyprus News Agency(Apostolis Zoupaniotis): Mr. President let me ask the same question I asked you back in February when you were here. You have said in the beginning of February that some sides push us in order  to make us reject the plan, so that the Turkish side will have an easy way to the European Union in December. At this point do you think that was the case back in Burgenstock Switzerland ?

President Papadopoulos: I would be very very depressed if there was proof of that. I hope the events of the last few days would not lead the people of Cyprus to the understanding that you say, because that would be a great insult to the right of people to decide on a yes or no vote and the expressed wish of the Greek Cypriots to reunify the country for the interest of both Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots as the main aim and not the servicing of either interests or political aspirations of any other country be that Turkey, be that Greece or any other country.

Antenna TV (Tammi Ellis): Mr. President a lot of people have asked if the SG is upset or feel betrayed by you. Let me turn around the question and ask you do you feel upset or betrayed by the substance of his report and a second question, how do you interpret his point that the Security Council should be more involved directly with the Turkish Cypriots, help the Turkish Cypriots, is that something that moves in the right direction?

President Papadopoulos: Well, I certainly didn’t notice the SG to be upset with me or annoyed, but after all he is an exceptionally polite and understanding person, this is the impression I have, I hope I am right and I not mistaken. Secondly, I think that the report has a lot of inaccuracies and we are going to reply to them in writing and point them out. Both inaccuracies as to the sequence of events but also as to the assessment of the positions expressed by the two sides during the negotiations. I don’t believe it’s for me now to say whether the tactics followed, negotiating process if you like, was a proper one, whether it was followed bearing in mind the circumstances that existed. As to whether I feel betrayed or not I certainly don’t agree with many findings or parts of the Report and we were very- very disappointed that during the negotiations we, wanting to show our good will and constructive attitude, we limited all our claims within the parameters of the plan – that is not opening up core issues, not reopening important trade-offs which are being made and this was, if you like, the suggestion of the SG, when he initiated the talks whilst despite of our protests during the negotiating process the Turkish Cypriot side was allowed to introduce basic issues completely, utterly outside the parameters of the plan, and to cup up everything without even a procedure of give and take, it seems to me and I will not go into numbers, everything that Turkey has asked in writing, has been finally incorporated in to the final version of the plan which was given to us without prior negotiation on these particular points.

Tharoor: Mr. President I regret very much, we have now hit twelve noon . There’s  still a number of question that need to be asked, but I believe you have as usual done justice to a large number of questions with very short and crisp answers. I apologize to those of you that didn’t get your words in. It is twelve noon the Spokesman will be here in a second and we thank the President once again for being with us once again. Thank you.’

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