THE government yesterday lashed out at Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash’s threats to pull out of the Cyprus proximity talks, which are scheduled to resume in Geneva late in January. It added that the Greek Cypriot side will attend the UN-sponsored talks.

On Friday Denktash said in Ankara he had reached the decision that “these talks are nothing but a waste of time as long as our parameters are not accepted”, and he implied -- without saying so directly -- that he would not be going to Geneva.

By yesterday afternoon, the Turkish Cypriot leader had still not made his intentions clear.

Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit echoed Denktash’s views on Friday, saying that in the light of the fact that there had been no resolution after almost a year of meetings, Turkey supported Denktash’s intention to leave the talks.

“We hope that Denktash revises his position and decides to attend the talks, but if he doesn’t then he will be held fully responsible by the UN, the European Union and the whole of the international community for the political consequences of such an action,” Government Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou told a news conference in Nicosia yesterday.

He said the UN and the international community should resist the temptation of considering Denktash’s demands for acknowledgment of his self-declared regime in the north in order to save the talks.

Papapetrou said Ankara was reinforcing Denktash’s efforts to destroy the peace process in Cyprus. He said that tomorrow the Foreign Ministry will begin examining practical ways of involving the international community in efforts to convince the Turkish Cypriots to stay in the talks.

UN spokeswoman Sarah Russell expressed the hope that Denktash will attend the sixth round, and noted that UN Secretary-general’s Special Adviser for Cyprus Alvaro De Soto will be on the island from December 3-6, when he would meet the Turkish Cypriot leader.

After a meeting yesterday with the EU rapporteur for Cyprus, Jacques Poos, opposition AKEL leader Demetris Christofias called on the international community “to make it abundantly clear to Denktash and Turkey that there can be no settlement without respect for UN resolutions” on Cyprus.

The US State Department believes that Denktash’s attitude was not doing any good to either Turkey or the Turkish Cypriots, a US official has told the Athens News Agency. The US backs UN efforts to solve the Cyprus problem and is in contact with all sides trying to convince Denktash to attend the talks, it said.

Meanwhile, the Turkish daily Hurriyet said yesterday that a decision by Denktash to abandon the talks would be “historic”. It also reported that Deputy Prime Minster Mesut Yilmaz, who is responsible for negotiations with the European Union which has granted Turkey candidate status, has called on the Turkish side to delay a decision on whether to leave the talks until after next month’s EU summit in Nice. But both Ecevit and Denktash oppose this view, the paper said.

The summit will define Turkey’s status as a candidate member for EU accession, at the same time setting ground rules, one of which could be related to progress in the Cyprus problem."