Denktas: Recognized or not, KKTC is a reality
"Stating that there will never be a two-state settlement, insisting on telling a people who have established their state that ‘I shall not recognize your state’ is a gross injustice. It’s a great shame for all those who have not recognized the KKTC," he said.
Denktas said it was the legitimate right of the Turkish Cypriot people to defend their state and struggle to achieve international recognition for it.
"The answer to Hannay’s remarks that ‘We shall not recognize the KKTC’ is ‘There is a KKTC irrespective of whether you recognize or not. Turkish Cypriots exist irrespective of whether you see them or not and will never accept to be patched up to the Greek Cypriot state as a minority, something that Hannay and others want from them."
Also answering a remark of de Soto blaming him for being responsible for the collapse of the Annan plan, Denktas said the U.N. envoy was "incapable of comprehending the realities of Cyprus" and was acting in anger that the plot he staged together with Hannay and Greek Cypriot former Attorney General Alekos Markides collapsed.
He said the Annan plan was written by de Soto in collaboration with Hannay and Markides in a manner serving the Greek Cypriots, considering the Turkish Cypriot people as a minority to be patched up to the Greek Cypriot state.
"History will show how erronous the plan was," Denktas stressed and ruled out any Cyprus settlement on the basis of the Annan plan.
Weston heads to Cyprus, vows to keep up pressure
Meanwhile, Thomas Weston, the U.S. special envoy on Cyprus, vowed to continue to pressure the Turkish Cypriots to reconsider their rejection of the U.N. peace plan and let the divided island enter the European Union reunited next year.
"(A settlement) requires a lot of work and contact between the United States, the European Union, EU member states and others," Weston told reporters after talks with senior EU officials in Brussels.
"We are still in a situation where we have to overcome a tremendous amount of distrust (between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots)… But I see a chance (for an agreement) and I think we all have to work for it," he said.
Weston is due to hold further talks on Cyprus in the coming days in Rome, Athens, Ankara and on the divided island itself with the leaders of both ethnic communities.
"A solution to the Cyprus problem can only help Turkey’s own relations with and advancement towards the EU," he said.
The European Union has offered the Turkish Cypriots an aid package and has eased trade restrictions in a bid to bring them on board. The Turkish Cypriot government immediately rejected the aid, stating that the package was written with the assumptions that there was a government of Cyprus ruling the entire island and as if Turkish Cypriots were a minority.
Asked whether Denktas was the biggest obstacle to a settlement, Weston said, "The main stumbling block is that there is too much history on the island of Cyprus."
He praised the Turkish Cypriot decision in April to relax restrictions on the movement of people across a ceasefire line, but added, "These measures are not a substitute for a settlement and don’t diminish the need for a settlement."
