The following is a news item of CNN of 25 September 2000, by Reuters. Lobby strongly disagrees with the statement that Cyprus "should be reunited as a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation".

"Greek Cypriots reject UN talk of rotating presidency

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -- Greek Cypriots in talks to reunite Cyprus reject U.N. soundings on a settlement they say would favor their Turkish Cypriot rivals, sources close to the talks said on Monday.

Informal suggestions from the United Nations on issues of governance and which would include the prospect of rotating presidency between Greeks and Turks would create "a monstrosity," a Greek Cypriot source said.

Greek Cypriots, who are the majority on the eastern Mediterranean island, are set against rotating presidency in a settlement. But Turkish Cypriots have long been supportive of the idea.

"The ideas are not negotiable and are considered beyond the spirit of U.N. resolutions (on Cyprus)," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

President Glafcos Clerides, the Greek Cypriot leader, conveyed these views to U.N. envoy Alvaro de Soto during a meeting early on Monday, the source said.

Indirect proximity talks, in which de Soto is meeting separately with Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, are to be wrapped up on Tuesday. They started on September 12.

Another round of consultations are expected in Geneva in late October.

"We must not belittle the differences which exist. The Greek Cypriots are according to us on the wrong track and Greek Cypriots say we are on the wrong track," said Denktash.

"But I would not call this a wasted two weeks," he told reporters.

Focus on a future state

Diplomats close to the consultations said each side had been sounded out on four core issues -- security, territory, the return of refugees and governance.

In discussion on governance that occurred late last week, the two sides were asked to outline their views on the composition of a future state in Cyprus, divided along ethnic lines since 1974.

The U.N. proposals are not binding. They are designed to stimulate debate on core issues that could help mediators present a blueprint for an overall settlement.

"Basic rules of democracy in the modern world would have been violated with these suggestions, particularly with regard to rotating presidency," said the Greek Cypriot diplomat.

The informal constitution proposal has caused consternation among Greek Cypriot opposition figures, who have said it was proof the negotiating position of their side was deteriorating.

Some said it was inspired by "the Englishman," Sir David Hannay, Britain's envoy on the Cyprus problem.

But Clerides, who refrained from speaking specifically about the U.N. ideas in keeping with a media blackout on consultations, was dismissive of the uproar at home.

"We are not slipping up. I am defending our positions based on (Security Council) resolutions ... . There is the need to be careful and we are careful," he told journalists.

Greek Cypriots, who how single-handedly run the internationally recognized government of Cyprus, say the island should be reunited as a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation outlined in Security Council resolutions.

The Turkish Cypriots favor a two-state confederation, which they say would protect them from Greek Cypriot dominance.

A small army of mediators has struggled for decades on reuniting Cyprus. Turkish forces seized its north in 1974 after a brief coup engineered by the military then ruling Greece.

It followed years of sporadic inter-communal clashes between ethnic Greeks and Turks and which prompted the dispatch of a U.N. peacekeeping force in 1964."