Turkey revives Cyprus peace hopes
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) -- Turkey is willing to entrust U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan with completing a peace plan for Cyprus provided the Greek Cypriots also agree, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday.
In what could be a major breakthrough in the decades-old dispute, Erdogan told a news conference after talks with Annan at the World Economic Forum that Ankara was prepared to allow the U.N. chief to "fill in the blanks" on unresolved issues in a blueprint for reuniting the divided island.
"If the Greek Cypriot administration in the south accepts the secretary-general to fill in the blanks, then we as a guarantee country, as far as Turkey is concerned, would accept him to do that," Erdogan told the news conference.
The issues include the exact apportionment of territory between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, the settlement of refugees, a Greek and Turkish military presence after reunification, mechanisms to resolve constitutional disputes and the status of Turkish settlers in northern Cyprus.
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