President Clerides denies statements by
Mr. Denktash that the Greek Cypriot side
released his document to the press
Sunday, July 9, 2000
Geneva

The President of the Republic, Mr. Glafcos Clerides, on July 9th met in Geneva with the special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on Cyprus, Mr. Alvaro de Soto, in the framework of the proximity talks.

This morning Mr. Alvaro de Soto met with the Turkish Cypriot Leader Mr. Rauf Denktash.

Speaking to journalists after the meeting Mr. Denktash accused the Greek Cypriot side for the release of his document to the press and added: “They have not succeeded in killing our paper. Our paper is our case. Our paper supports what my people have died for in Cyprus”.

He also alleged that by releasing his document the Greek Cypriot side intended “to prevent Mr. de Soto from putting forward certain proposals”. Finally the Turkish Cypriot Leader repeated his known positions on the Cyprus problem.

Mr. Alvaro de Soto, on his part, made the following statement: “Public handling of issues that are under discussion in the UN led process is not helpful to that process at all. Having said this, the process goes on. There are meetings scheduled in the coming days and will not depart from that.”

President Clerides, on being informed about the statement of Mr. Denktash, said the following:

“I do not wish to reply to the statement of Mr. Denktash for the following reasons. First, because I respect the blackout requested by the Secretary - General, and secondly, because the accusation that we have released to the press his document is completely unfounded. We did not have the document, we do not have the document and beyond the journalistic information we know nothing about it.

I regret, however, that the tone of Mr. Denktash’s statement does not show that he has come to these talks having the political will to negotiate seriously”.

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