United Nations                                                                

          

General Assembly                         Distr.: General     

Security Council                            1 August 2003                    

                                                                           Original: English

Letter dated 31 July 2003 from the Charge d'affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of Cyprus to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

I have the honour to enclose herewith a copy of a letter dated 18 July 2003 addressed to you by H.E. Tassos Papadopoulos, President of the Republic of Cyprus, a copy of which was sent to the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community, Mr. Rauf R. Denktaş (see annex).

          I would be grateful if the text of the present letter and its annex could be circulated as a document of the General Assembly, under agenda item 54, and of the Security Council.

(Signed) George Kasoulides
Chargé d’affaires

Annex to the letter dated 31 July 2003 from the Chargé d’affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of Cyprus to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

          I am writing this letter because I would like to communicate my views on the positions put forth by Mr. Denktash in his letter to you of 11 July 2003 , which he also copied to me.

          At the outset, I would like to point out that Mr. Denktash’s approach, as defined in his letter, follows the logic of his letter to me of 2 April 2003, by which he attributed the stalemate at the Hague to “the ‘socio-psychological’ dimension of the problem and especially the deep crisis of confidence between the two sides”, a view that is obviously unfounded.

          After the deadlock at the Hague , Mr. Denktash has consistently engaged in an effort to eliminate every prospect for the resumption of the talks on the basis of your plan and to disorient both international and Turkish Cypriot public opinion about who is to blame for the failure of the talks and the current stalemate. I consider it worthwhile to note that the discussions on confidence-building measures held in 1993-1994 resulted in a deadlock solely due to Mr. Denktash’s insistence on pursuing his objective to promote the acknowledgement of his secessionist entity.

          The interaction witnessed recently between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots following the partial lifting of restrictions on the freedom of movement, which have been imposed by the occupation regime over the last 29 years, has provided concrete and sound evidence that no lack of confidence exists among ordinary people and has unambiguously shown that what is really lacking is a comprehensive settlement to the Cyprus problem.

          I am certain that you share my position that the best hope for us to proceed forward is through the resumption of negotiations, aiming at reaching a viable and functional solution as soon as possible. I have repeatedly expressed my readiness to immediately engage in substantive negotiations on the basis of your plan of 26 February 2003 .

          Allow me to reiterate that (as I indicated in my letter of 2 April 2003 to Mr. Denktash, which I also copied to you) if any resumption of the talks is to be meaningful I believe that both communities should indicate at the outset that they accept your plan as the basis for a further negotiating process, within the framework of your good offices mission, in order to achieve a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem as provided for in relevant Security Council resolutions.

(Signed) Tassos Papadopoulos
President of the Republic of Cyprus  

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