Downer
Says Cyprus
"Slower Than
Expected,"
Press Banned
from Toilets
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 4 --
So what was
accomplished
at this week's
meetings on
Cyprus held at
Greentree in
New York's
suburbs? It is
unclear.
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon was
out there, but
when he
returned to UN
headquarters
he merely read
out a
statement and
took
no questions.
His
envoy
Alexander
Downer briefed
the Security
Council and
took questions
on
Friday. Inner
City Press
asked about
criticism that
there might
come
a point in
which the UN's
involvement in
a process
without any
progress could
further
undermine the
credibility of
the UN and Ban
Ki-moon. Video
here,
from Minute
7:45.
Downer
said there
might be "a
point when we
have to
concede there
is deadlock...
The Secretary
General would
have to report
to the
Security
Council
[there is] a
deadline." He
said things
have been
"slower
that we had
expected three
years ago;" he
blamed this in
part on
a change in
the Turkish
Cypriot
leadership
"getting into
the
saddle."
Inner
City Press
asked if
disputes
between Turkey
and Cyprus,
about maritime
borders,
exploration
and other
matter have
impacted his
work. He said
they've
had "no impact
inside the
negotiations"
but they have
had
impact "on
public
opinion."
(c) MRLee
Christofias,
Ban, Eroglu,
Downer,
progress &
Banning from
toilets not
shown
Downer
referred to
the interest
in the
minutiae of
the process by
"the public,"
then amended
that to "the
press." But
the treatment
of the
journalists
who went out
to Greentree
to cover the
meetings was,
in
the word of
one,
"outrageous."
"We
got there
at 7:30," the
journalist
recounted,
saying that
there were "no
toilets."
After a time,
journalists
found two
toilets but
were
told "they are
old" and
couldn't be
used. There
was a
Greak Cypriot
media room
"ten minutes
away but the
Turks had to
go into
Manhattan. So
for hours,
they didn't
go," the
journalist
said.
The UN
Department of
Political
Affairs blamed
the treatment
on
the Greentree
estate "not
being media
friendly." But
to
deny the use
of toilets to
journalists
trying to
cover a
negotiation
DPA itself has
bragged about
hit a new low,
the journalist
concluded.
Even for the
UN. Watch this
site.
, 
