Greece’s Minister of Foreign Affairs George A. Papandreou held talks today with US President Clinton’s Special Envoy for Cyprus Mr. Alfred Moses and the State Department’s Special Representative Mr. Thomas Weston. The US Ambassador to Greece, Mr. Nicholas Burns, was also present.
 

Mr. Papandreou and Mr. Moses made the following statements after the meeting.
 

GEORGE A. PAPANDREOU : Today I met with Mr. Alfred Moses and Mr. Tom Weston. I have met Mr. Moses several times before, twice in the same capacity he has today, as a Special Envoy of the US Government for Cyprus, but also earlier when we collaborated together very closely and very successfully on a separate issue.

I can say that this collaboration continues today with a common objective: the resolution of the Cyprus issue. The Greek government believes that substantive negotiations must begin as soon as possible, under the auspices of the United Nations. Naturally, we hope that these negotiations will have a favourable outcome.

We sincerely hope that this new initiative begun by the G-8 countries and the UN Security Council, combined with the efforts of Mr. Moses on behalf of the US Government, will bring real progress on Cyprus this time, after repeated efforts over the past 25 years.

We have waited a long time, and suffered many disappointments. Let’s hope this latest initiative will be fruitful. We wish him every success, our goal is to bring stability to our region, and we will do our best to support his efforts through our close collaboration.

ALFRED MOSES : Thank you, Mr. Minister. Good morning. I agree totally with what you just heard from the Minister. We have had very good discussions with representatives of the Simitis government.  We have seen an openness and a willingness to move forward in an effort to carry out the resolutions of the Security Council and the G-8 statement for comprehensive talks leading to a solution of the Cyprus problem.

The present situation in Cyprus is not acceptable. It is important for the parties to move forward, towards a comprehensive solution. Our role is to be a friend to the parties in an effort to support their efforts, to the move towards the solution of the problem.

Ambassador Weston and I, were in Ankara for two days, where we met with President Demirel, with Prime Minister Ecevit and Foreign Minister Cem.  We are here to meet with Simitis government. This evening we go on to Cyprus.

We remain committed to the process. President Clinton has stated publicly, assured all the parties of his commitment to lend the support of our government to see if we can arrive at that day where the division on Cyprus ends and the communities there can live in peace and harmony under one government. Thank you so much.

JOURNALIST : As you referred to the President’s visit here, you see there are a lot of expectations concerning this visit. I would like you to tell us what the American side’s expectations are, for this visit.

ALFRED MOSES : For his visit in relation to Cyprus. I think the Ambassador, who is his personal representative in Greece, will respond to that question. My responsibility and assignment is Cyprus.

JOURNALIST : Based on the experience of the talks, of the unsuccessful talks on the …..  trouble, which practical ideas have you thought also that this time the talks come to end?

ALFRED MOSES : What I think is important is,  that the ideas come from the parties. We are not here to impose any plan or solution. We are here to listen and be supportive. We do not have an American plan.

  We think that this is the best time to move forward for a number of reasons. The improvement in relations between Greece and Turkey and that is reciprocal. The Simitis government has been quite forthcoming in that regard. And we commend the Simitis government for the steps he has already taken to improve relations.

  We have seen very tangle demonstrations of understanding both in Greece and in Turkey, with regard to the problems that resulted from the earthquake here and the earthquake in Turkey. That was a spontaneous outpouring which shows that the Greek community and the Turkish communtiy understand that the two communities live in the same part of the world and share some of the same problems. And should be cooperating in areas of mutual interest.

  I think that this is a positive development. We also think that Turkey’s aspirations to become a member of the EU is a positive development. We think it is in the interest of the region, of Turkey, of Greece and of Europe, to have Turkey moving forward, first with candidacy status and over time to a succession to the European Union.

  We think all of these factors are positive, and after a time, after 25 years, we believe to be unacceptable divisions on Cyprus. It is time to move forward. Every road has a beginning. We think, the road to the settlement on Cyprus should begin now. Thank you.

GEORGE A. PAPANDREOU : Thank you very much.