‘Annan’s Cyprus Plan Can Have No Alternative’

He claimed, "the real choice is between negotiating the Annan plan and having no solution." Klosson stated that everyone will benefit from a solution and the U.S. Administration wants to go to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Istanbul this summer with a solved Cyprus issue.

The Ambassador anticipates that if no solution is reached by May 1, 2004, it will get harder and that will harm Turkish Cypriots. Klosson said the scope of the Annan plan is the most detailed one; however, the U.S. failed to see any will on either side to finding a solution.

Klosson said that in the case of a solution in Cyprus, the U.S. is ready to make financial contributions to Northern Cyprus. Emphasizing that Cyprus has strategic importance, he said: "It is not good to make any guess about the Cyprus matter. I do not say that 2004 will be the Cyprus year; but I say let not 2005 be the Cyprus year."