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| Europe |
| Cyprus May Withdraw Troops if Turkey Does (Cyprus Issue) |
| 2004-07-17 |
| NICOSIA, Cyprus -- Cyprus on Friday proposed pulling as many as 2,000 soldiers away from the cease-fire line splitting this island if Turkey does the same with its soldiers on the other side, but Turkish officials reacted coolly to the offer. Kypros Chrysostomides, spokesman for the Greek Cypriot-controlled government, said the proposal was part of a series of confidence-building measures designed to end the 30-year division of the island. Those measures include de-mining the U.N.-patrolled zone, called the "Green Line," that splits the island and the capital, Nicosia, and withdrawing troops from the old walled city, where rival forces man fortifications separated only by narrow streets. "It is the government's conviction that these measures create the necessary basis for the establishment of conditions of security and confidence between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots," Chrysostomides said. Turkish officials reacted coolly to the Greek Cypriot offers, which are seen as a bid by the government to improve its sullied image following Greek Cypriot voters' overwhelming rejection in April of a U.N. plan to reunify the island. "These are not things we can comment about in haste. Our (Turkish Cypriot) colleagues will make assessments," Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said in Ankara. |
| Posted by:Mark Espinola |