Nicosia - In an independence day broadcast, the President of Cyprus, Mr Glafkos Clerides, expressed frustration over the failure of contacts on the margins of the UN General Assembly to achieve a resumption of negotiations on a Cyprus settlement, writes Michael Jansen.
It had been predicted that talks between Mr Clerides and the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr Rauf Denktash, would resume at West Point in New York state on October 15th. But the US President, Mr Clinton, did not secure the expected breakthrough during his meeting with the Turkish Prime Minister, Mr Bulent Ecevit, on last Tuesday. Instead, Mr Ecevit conditioned the resumption of Cyprus negotiations on acceptance of Turkey's candidacy in the EU during the Helsinki summit in December.