New York, 25 August 1997

After the failure of the UN-sponsored Cyprus talks held at Glion from 11 to 15 of August 1997, the S-G's Special Adviser Mr. Diego Cordovez came to New York and on August 20 briefed the Security Council on the details of the negotiations. The Security Council having examined the issue, authorized its President Sir John Weston to make a statement to the press.

The statement was as follows:
"We just concluded on Cyprus after hearing the S-G's Special Adviser brief on the recent talks at Glion in Switzerland.

We are all very pleased and grateful to Sr Diego Cordovez for coming so quickly here and for giving us a very good factual briefing on the last round of talks and there was a general sense around the table that he deserved our congratulations for the tremendous effort and energy and ingenuity he has put in that process which of course is a continuing process to which both parties remain committed.

There was a sense of disappointment that it had not been possible in the event, to make more progress at Glion. We are clear in our minds that in no way does the fault for that lie at the feet of the S-G's Special Adviser.

There was a sense that commendation was due to President Clerides for the flexibility and cooperation that he had showed at this round of talks and I need also to reflect to you that there was some concern and disappointment that further substantive progress at this time was impeded by the attempt to bring preconditions to the table by the other party and here of course I mean the Turkish Cypriots. But the important thing I think to hold in our minds at this point and that came out very clearly from what Sr Cordovez says, is that the two parties at the highest level, do remain committed to the future of this process and that is of course also the sense of the Security Council.

We strongly continue to endorse and support the future of the S-G's Good Offices Mission in which Sr Cordovez plays an absolutely central part. The present Status Quo is unacceptable. There has to be further pursuit of the comprehensive settlement we all seek, in accordance with Security Council Resolutions. Nobody ever thought that this process was going to be easy along the way and lets not forget that in these round of talks at Troutbeck and at Glion there has in fact been some progress registered particularly at a practical level affecting humanitarian issues on the island of Cyprus - I am thinking for example of the agreement on 31 July about missing persons which we particularly noted with approval.

Now it is the time to move on to get to the next stage of doing the hard work that will make it possible to resume the process of negotiations between the parties directly. We hope as soon as the situation is ripe probably, as soon as the presidential elections are over and it is very good news that it is the intention of Sr Cordovez himself to go to the region later this year. That was something that members of the Council also warmly supported.

In the meantime it seemed to us it was very important that nobody say or do things which were going to raise the level of tension further on the island or diminish the chances of making progress towards a peace settlement. We want to use the intervening weeks and months to see further progress made particularly on the humanitarian side.

I think I have really covered all the central points of our discussion following the briefing, for which again, I want to say a hearty thank you to Sr Cordovez who goes from here to the continuation of his task with the fullest possible support of all members of the Council along the lines I have just described to you."

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