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UN / DOWNER
STORY: UN / DOWNER
SOURCE: UNTV
TRT: 2.12
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS
DATELINE: 10 JUNE 2010, NEW YORK CITY/ FILE
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior UN building
10 JUNE 2010, NEW YORK CITY
2. Zoom in, Apakan walks to the microphone
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
3. Close up, camera
10 JUNE 2010, NEW YORK CITY
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Ertuğrul Apakan, Permanent Representative of Turkey to the United Nations:
“On the part of Turkey it’s our view that we should have a timetable in order to encourage both parties to arrive at a comprehensive settlement. I think there is a good chance of progressing talks and that both leaders may build on this basis in order to finalize their work by the end of the year.”
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
5. Close up, reporter’s note pad
10 JUNE 2010, NEW YORK CITY
6. Tracking shot, Apakan walks away and Downer walks to the microphone
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
7. Close up, cameras
10 JUNE 2010, NEW YORK CITY
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Alexander Downer, UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus:
“They said that they hoped – words to this effect – they hoped that 2010 would be the year of solutions to the Cyprus problem. So, you know, both sides very much hope that will be the case. The Turkish Cypriots have been more explicit in expressing the view that they think that negotiations should be complete by the end of 2010. Greek Cypriots much less explicit about that and much less enthusiastic about having a particular date.”
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
9. Close up, reporter’s pad
10 JUNE 2010, NEW YORK CITY
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Alexander Downer, UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus:
“The process needs to maintain momentum. There needs to be continuous forward movement in the negotiations. The leaders need to be enthusiastic about meeting and having their officials meet from time to time, and particularly when issues become difficult – and it varies, some issues are easier to deal with than others – but when things become difficult to make sure that they redouble their efforts to find solutions to those difficult problems.”
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
11. Close up, reporter’s pad
10 JUNE 2010, NEW YORK CITY
12. Tracking shot, Downer walks away
The Security Council held consultations on Cyprus today (10 June) and heard from the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus, Alexander Downer.
Downer briefed the Council on the current state of talks between the two parties since the election of Dervis Eroglu as the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community. He also flagged the Secretary-General’s latest report on the good offices mission for Cyprus, which says that considerable progress was made in the UN-sponsored peace talks in Cyprus during the reporting period of late November last year to the end of April this year.
Outside the Council, Turkish Ambassador Ertuğrul Apakan told reporters that Turkey’s view is that a timetable should be established “in order to encourage both parties to arrive at a comprehensive settlement” and added that “there is a good chance” talks will continue to progress and that both Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders “may build on this basis in order to finalize their work by the end of the year.”
The peace talks – in particular the intensive rounds of early 2010 – have generated increasing international focus on reaching a lasting solution in Cyprus, according to the Secretary General’s report, which adds that there’s now a unique opportunity to make a decisive push forward on the talks.
Downer told reporters that he believes both sides “very much hope” that “2010 would be the year of solutions to the Cyprus problem”, acknowledging that Turkish Cypriots “have been more explicit in expressing the view” that negotiations should be complete by the end of the year than Greek Cypriots, who have been “much less enthusiastic about having a particular date.”
He stressed that the process “needs to maintain momentum” and leaders “need to be enthusiastic about meeting and having their officials meet from time to time” particularly when things become difficult to make sure that they redouble their efforts to find solutions.”
In his report, the Secretary-General said that setting up economic, social, cultural, sports and other ties between the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot communities can play a crucial role in promoting progress in the reunification talks under way on the Mediterranean island.
In 2008, the leaders of the two communities committed to establishing a federal government with a single international personality, along with a Turkish Cypriot Constituent State and a Greek Cypriot Constituent State, each of equal status.
Power-sharing negotiations, backed by the UN, began in September of that year, with the two communities having met dozens of times since then.
Cyprus is divided, since 1964 following the outbreak of violence between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities.
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