Iacovou in US for talks on Cyprus
LARNACA (AFP) – Cypriot Foreign Minister George Iacovou left yesterday for the United States where he will urge UN chief Kofi Annan and senior US officials to pressure Turkey over ending the island’s division. «We want to stress the fact that attempts to achieve a Cyprus solution have failed because of Turkish intransigence,» Iacovou said, adding that efforts to pressure Turkey over Cyprus were made «difficult» because «there is a crisis between the military and political leadership» in Ankara. Also high on Iacovou’s agenda in the US will be plans for the period leading up to Cyprus becoming an EU member in May 2004. Following the failure in March of Greek and Turkish Cypriots to reach a deal on a UN blueprint for reunification, efforts to relaunch intercommunal talks have apparently been sidelined by the international players. Iacovou will meet with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and his special representative for Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto, before seeing US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Vice President Dick Cheney and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, Cypriot officials said.
