The Cyprus Conflict Message to the Congress Reporting on Progress Toward a Negotiated Settlement.

To the Congress of the United States:

As required by Public Law 94404, this report describes our efforts over the past sixty days to bring about a negotiated settlement of the Cyprus problem.

My last report, submitted to the Congress on June 22, noted that talks between the two Cypriot communities during the preceding sixty days had accomplished little. Regrettably, there has been no substantial change in the general situation.

The efforts of U.N. Secretary General Kurt Waldheim's Special Representative to Cyprus, Ambassador Perez de Cuellar, to persuade the two communities to hold a new round of talks in Nicosia in July and early August have proven unsuccessful.

Despite the failure of these efforts, however, the Administration has persisted in its efforts to bring the parties together in an effort to promote a settlement. In meetings in Washington with Ambassador de Cuellar and with House of Representatives President Kyprianou (now Acting President of Cyprus), Administration officials continually reiterated our view that the intercommunal forum should serve as the basis for substantive talks, and that they should be resumed as quickly as circumstances warranted. Moreover, we took the position that no time should be lost in pursuing a settlement once a new Turkish Government was formally installed.

The death of President Makarios on August 3 was an unfortunate development. The precise implications of his death for the future of the intercommunal negotiations are, as of this writing, difficult to assess.

Nonetheless, we see no reason to change course. As Clark Clifford stressed in his press conference in Nicosia on August 9, this Administration is as dedicated today to helping find a solution to the problems of Cyprus as it was last January, when he was appointed as my Special Representative. We are prepared at any time to offer guidance and counsel to assist in the negotiating process, should the parties to the dispute so desire. It is my strong hope that constructive talks will be resumed and that the two Cypriot communities will again focus, with renewed energy, on the goal of achieving a just and lasting settlement which will enable everyone on the island to live in peace, harmony, and freedom.

JIMMY CARTER

The White House,

August 25, 1977.