[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 46 (Monday, November 22, 1999)]
[Pages 2375-2376]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on the Announcement 
of Cyprus Peace Talks

November 14, 1999

    The Secretary-General of the United Nations has just informed me 
that President

[[Page 2376]]

Clerides of Cyprus and Turkish Cypriot leader Denktash have accepted an 
invitation to start proximity talks in New York on December 3. The goal 
of the talks is to prepare the ground for meaningful negotiations 
leading to a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem.
    The talks will be held under U.N. auspices. They will go forward 
without precondition. They will focus on the substantive issues that 
divide the parties. The United States will work closely with the 
Secretary-General to ensure that the talks are productive.
    This summer the United States took the lead in calling on the United 
Nations to convene Cyprus talks. Ever since, together with our European 
allies and the U.N., we have been intensively engaged in an effort to 
bring the parties back to the negotiating table after a stalemate of 
more than 2 years. I am pleased that these efforts--including my meeting 
with Turkish Prime Minister Ecevit at the White House, Secretary 
Albright's conversation with President Clerides, and a month of shuttle 
diplomacy by my Special Envoy, Al Moses--have helped to produce this 
result.
    These Cyprus talks can bring us one step closer to a lasting peace. 
A negotiated settlement is the best way to meet the fundamental 
interests of the parties--including real security for all Cypriots and 
an end to the island's division.
    The Cyprus problem has been with us for far too long. It will not be 
resolved overnight. But today we have new hope. I ask the parties to 
approach this opportunity with good faith--and the determination to 
build for all the people of Cyprus a future that is brighter than the 
past.