UN official for Cyprus in New York for deliberations

The UN Secretary General’s Special Representative in Cyprus Michael Moller is currently at UN headquarters in New York for consultations.
Moller is expected to brief UN Undersecretary General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe on the results of his talks in Cyprus and to discuss ways of breaking the current deadlock, which appears impossible in the light of the pre-election climate in Turkey.
Pascoe had the opportunity to receive a first hand briefing on the views of Rasit Pertev, representative the Turkish Cypriot leader, during a meeting last week in New York. Pertev appeared especially intransigent, raising the issue of lifting the so called isolation of the Turkish Cypriots.
Despite the negative stance of the Turkish side and its clear withdrawal from the principles of the July 8 agreement, the stance of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and his close associates is not clear.
A well informed UN diplomatic source said that the dominant view at UN headquarters is that the two sides in Cyprus are not showing flexibility, they are rigid and are firing accusations at one another.
The source noted that the United Nations do not see how there can be a breakthrough.
A Greek diplomatic source said that the UN were keeping equal distances in such a clear violation of the agreement on behalf of the Turkish side, noting however that the United Nations were trying to downgrade the importance of a letter sent by Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat to the UN chief, saying that he was not trying to withdraw from the process but was merely expressing some ”bitterness.”
The general view at the UN headquarters is that the Secretary General is not yet fully informed on international matters, even the most current ones, and thus has not formed a personal view.
Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos and Talat agreed on 8 July 2006, during a meeting in Nicosia in the presence of UN official Ibrahim Gambari, to begin a process of bicommunal discussions on issues that affect the day-to-day life of the people and concurrently those that concern substantive issues, both contributing to a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem.