UN’s De Soto ‘Surprised’ by TRNC Freedom of Movement Decision

De Soto, who made important statements about the Cyprus problem to Zaman, said: "Denktas had put forward in all negotiations that people of the two sides could not live together and had tried to prove this. However, I cannot understand why he has made a contrary decision now." Stressing that the environment of peace and tolerance recently experienced in Cyprus was creating hope for a solution, de Soto said that Denktas’s decision was timely and the right step.

De Soto further indicated that a difference of opinion existed between the Turkish government and Denktas. Upon being asked if it were true that Turkey had accepted a plan put forward by Annan in The Hague last month but that Denktas had rejected it, de Soto answered: "It is difficult to say that Turkey gave a complete ‘yes’ in The Hague. But, they said it was not possible to sign the treaty without the consent of the Turkish Parliament by putting forward a reasonable constitutional justification. Denktas clearly did not accept the plan as a basis for a solution."

Abdulhamit Bilici / Istanbul / TURKEY