During his visit to Greece the former President of the United States, Mr. George Bush,
reiterated emphatically on 18 July that the present status quo in Cyprus is unacceptable and
pledged that the United States would do whatever it could to help settle the Cyprus problem
in 1991.
On 2 August, 1991, Mr. Bush announced that the Greek Prime Minister and the President
of Turkey, had informed him that Greece and Turkey had agreed to attend a meeting
concerning Cyprus. "This meeting" he continued, "will be well-prepared and both
convened and chaired by the United Nations Secretary-General under his Security Council
mandate. Greek and Turkish leaders will work in support of the Secretary-General's
efforts in advance of the meeting planned for September in the United States, provided that
adequate progress is made in narrowing differences before then". The Cyprus
Government welcomed the statement by the U.S. President.
Moreover, the U.N. Secretary-General welcomed the personal efforts by Mr. Bush in
support of his mission of good offices and expressed his encouragement that the Greek and
Turkish leaders had agreed to work in support of his efforts to make progress in advance of
a high-level international meeting, noting at the same time that "it is recognized by all that
the two sides in Cyprus must be brought within agreement range before such a meeting
takes place".
On 12 September, however, after a series of talks to promote the convening of an
international conference, the then Prime Minister of Turkey, Mr. Yilmaz, during a meeting
in Paris with the Prime Minister of Greece, publicly reneged on all commitments of his
government to the United Nations and others, concerning elements for progress towards a
solution of the Cyprus problem, announcing at the same time that the September
international meeting was no longer feasible.
Also on 12 September the European Parliament adopted a resolution by which the
European Council and the Council of Ministers were called upon to take the necessary steps
to ensure that "the European Community takes part in the (Cyprus) conference which is of
major importance for the whole of Europe".
