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Letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Reporting on the Cyprus Conflict

April 14, 1986

Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. Chairman:)

In accordance with Public Law 95-384, I am submitting to you a bimonthly report on progress toward a negotiated settlement of the Cyprus question.

Since my last report, the United Nations Secretary General has taken a further important step in his initiative to achieve a Cyprus settlement. This initiative was launched in August 1984 and since that time has involved extensive discussions between UN officials and negotiators for the two Cypriot communities. On March 29, the Secretary General provided to Greek and Turkish Cypriot representatives in New York a draft agreement incorporating a framework for a future Federal Republic of Cyprus and establishing a negotiating process for working toward an overall settlement. If accepted by the parties, the agreement would lead to direct negotiations on such fundamental issues as troop withdrawals, international guarantees, and freedom of movement, freedom of settlement, and right to property; and to further elaboration of constitutional and territorial arrangements essential to a fair and final settlement.

Under the agreement's terms, the Secretary General would convene periodic summit meetings between the leaders of the two Cypriot communities and, under their guidance, working groups would address the issues in detail.

While the Secretary General's document would commit the two Cypriot sides to a process aimed at achieving an overall settlement within an accepted framework, it is our understanding that, under his "integrated-whole" approach, the positions taken by the parties at any stage in the course of negotiations would not be final until all issues were resolved, to their mutual satisfaction.

During his recent trip to Turkey and Greece, Secretary Shultz expressed the strong support of the United States for the current effort of the UN Secretary General and encouraged those governments to do the same.

The Secretary General's initiative presents the leaders of the two Cypriot communities with a historic opportunity to begin a process toward peace and reconciliation. The United States hopes the parties will embark on this path and that their leaders will work with the Secretary General in this effort to achieve a just and lasting Cyprus settlement.

Sincerely,

RONALD REAGAN

Note: Identical letters were sent to Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr., Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Richard G. Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Ronald Reagan, Letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Reporting on the Cyprus Conflict Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/258177

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