Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English, 02-11-07

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From: The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation at <http://www.cybc.com.cy/>

CONTENTS

[01] HEADLINES

[02] ANNAN

[03] ALVARO CONTACTS

[04] SIMITIS PARIS

[05] UN TOUR

[06] ERDOGAN

[07] RASMUSSEN TURKEY

[08] ERDOGAN TURKEY

[09] TURKEY USA

[10] IRAQ

[11] WEATHER THURSDAY 7 NOVEMBER 2002

[01] HEADLINES

-- UN Secretary-General's Special Advisor on Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto met Security Council President Wang Ying Fan and representatives of other permanent members of the Security Council where he informed them on the current phase of the Cyprus problem.

-- The winner of Sunday's elections in Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will pay an illegal visit to the Turkish occupied north of Cyprus on November 15 and then on November 18 will visit Athens.

And,

The Bush administration is considering the sale of attack helicopters to Turkey as part of a broader aid package aimed at shoring up support from key allies ahead of a possible U.S. strike on Iraq.

[02] ANNAN

Kofi Annan however "realises time is short", Mr. Eckhard added.

To a question by CNA, Mr. Eckhard said Mr. Annan "has received letters from the US, UK and the EU presidency concerning Cyprus".

According to well-informed sources, the UN Secretary-General has not taken a final decision on what his next move will be.

However, based on what was discussed during yesterday's meeting with his Special Advisor, Alvaro de Soto, and the new assurances he has received from the US that Turkish military officers will be helpful on the Cyprus problem, Mr. Annan is inclined to submit the plan for a Cyprus settlement next week, if the message from Ankara is confirmed by the UN too.

The plan will be given to the two sides in Cyprus together with a letter-invitation by the Secretary-General as a sign of good will and intensification of efforts, to sign an agreement by the Copenhagen European Council.

Diplomatic sources said the procedure would not stop due to Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash's health. He is recuperating in New York, following open-heart surgery on October 7.

[03] ALVARO CONTACTS

According to the CNA orrespondent in New York, Mr. De Soto is not revealing the contents of his contacts but is continuing meetings in an effort to secure broad support for the UN efforts and more pressure on the two sides.

According to CNA, Mr. De Soto considers positive a proposal by the Secretary-General and despite the fact that he is concerned about Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash's health, he believes conditions in Turkey favour a Cyprus settlement.

[04] SIMITIS PARIS

In statements after meeting in Paris yesterday, Mr Simitis said they discussed the EU enlargement with special reference to Cyprus.

According to Mr. Simitis, the French President said that after the Brussels European Council, Cyprus' european prospect is developing without any problems.

He also said Mr. Chirac agreed with the deadline to complete accession negotiations during Copenhagen and the signing of the relevant agreements during the Greek EU presidency on April 16, 2003.

[05] UN TOUR

According to the United Nations, the trip begins Nov. 17 with a series of official visits to Balkan states. Mr. Annan goes first to the Bosnian capital Sarajevo and then to the Yugoslav capital Belgrade and Croatia.

The secretary-general then travels Nov. 21 to the Netherlands, where he is to receive an honorary doctorate from Tilburg University.

He wraps up his trip with an official visit to France, returning to U.N. headquarters Nov. 26.

[06] ERDOGAN

According to the Athens news Agency, Mr. ERdogan announced his visits during a dinner which he hosted last night for the 15 ambassadors of the EU member states in Ankara.

His visit to the occupied areas comes on the day which marks the declaration of the illegal state in the Turkish occupied north.

Asked to clarify his statements on the Belgium model for a Cyprus settlement, Mr. Erdogan said the fundamental principle would be the creation of two sovereign states.

[07] RASMUSSEN TURKEY

Informing Euro MPs on the results of the Brussels European Council held 24-25 October, Mr. Rasmussen referred to the ten candidate countries, among them Cyprus, and assured that accession negotiations will be completed before or during the Copenhagen European Council of December 12-13.

Mr. Rasmussen said the EU has sent a clear message to Turkey that the European Council is satisfied with the progress made in accomplishing the political criteria and called on her to continue the reform procedure.

[08] ERDOGAN TURKEY

Justice and Development Party (AKP) leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters they did not go into that issue at all because that comes after the establishment of the parliament speaker and his office.

Mr. Erdogan is not able to serve as prime minister because he is banned from public office due to a conviction for Islamist sedition.

He said he had discussed Turkey's European Union membership bid during the half hour meeting with Mr. Sezer.

[09] TURKEY USA

The proposed military and economic aid package, which sources said was likely to total nearly 1 billion dollars and include 700 million to 800 million dollars for Turkey, could be sent to Congress for approval in the coming weeks. Other U.S. allies in the region could also benefit.

The White House declined to comment.

[10] IRAQ

The third and latest draft of the resolution, the result of eight weeks of negotiations on scrapping any weapons of mass destruction Iraq may have, was formally presented to council members yesterday and will be reviewed again today.

U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte told reporters he wanted a vote tomorrow. However Secretary of State Colin Powell, the key negotiator on the resolution, canceled a trip to South Korea next week so he could deal with any last minute hitch.

France and Russia held back their endorsement, despite several concessions in the revised U.S.-British text that would give the Security Council a limited role in determining whether whether war can be waged against Iraq.

A spokeswoman for President Jacques Chirac's spokeswoman said the French president and Russian President Vladimir Putin believed that "certain ambiguities needed to be cleared up" on the use of force.

Meanwhile, China said today the revised U.S. draft resolution on Iraq presented to the U.N. Security Council had eased some concerns of members states, but declined to say if it will support the measure.

China holds a veto as one of five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, along with the United States, Britain, France and Russia, and is this month's president of the 15-member body.

[11] WEATHER

Temperatures will reach 27 C inland, 26 C on the coasts and 17 C on the mountains.

Tonight, the weather will remain clear with some passing cloud.

Winds will be north-easterly light, two to three beaufort and the sea slight. Temperatures will fall to 12 C inland, 14 on the coasts and 8 over the mountains. The fire hazard remaisn very high in all forest areas.

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