THE British Foreign Secretary, Mr Malcolm Rifkind, yesterday urged the Greek and Turkish-Cypriot leaders on this divided island to seize the chance for an elusive Cyprus settlement in 1997 before EU accession talks.
But he warned against any further militarisation on Cyprus. "The amount of military hardware and military personnel is absurdly high ... dangerously high," said Mr Rifkind, who met President Glafcos Clerides, a Greek-Cypriot, and the Turkish-Cypriot leader, Mr Rauf Denktash.
The foreign secretary submitted a 10-point "assessment" based on his 24-hour mission in Cyprus.
"Before the end of the first half of 1997, there should be an open ended session of face-to-face negotiations under the aegis of the United Nations," said Mr Rifkind. The aim of the peace talks would be a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation in line with UN Security Council resolutions, with political equality of the two communities, he said.
Mr Rifkind was "hopeful but realistic" over the prospects for a settlement next year, when President Denktash and Mr Clerides are expected to hold direct talks.
Mr Rifkind cautioned that "at the end of the day, no solution can be imposed on the people of Cyprus", where the inter-communal rift dates back some 30 years, since shortly after getting independence from Britain in 1960.
Earlier, Mr Denktash said that settling the Cyprus problem must be the priority and not the Greek-Cypriot application for the island to join the European Union. "We have to give priority to the Cyprus problem and not to Cyprus's entry to the EU," he stressed. Mr Denktash insisted the Greek and Turkish-Cypriot communities hold separate referendums on EU membership after a settlement.
EU accession talks are due to start in late 1997 or early 1998. The run-up, and a flare-up of tension on the island, have prompted renewed international efforts to find a settlement.
Mr Denktash warned against outside pressure. "It is the two Cypriot communities who are going to settle it . . . We shall settle it by give and take," said the Turkish-Cypriot leader.
Cyprus has been divided since Turkish mainland troops invaded the northern third of the island in 1974 after a right-wing coup in Nicosia backed by the junta then ruling Greece.
Mr Rifkind was on the first official visit to Cyprus by a British foreign secretary since independence.