Cyprus President in Malta

The President of Cyprus, Tassos Papadopoulos, is in Malta for an official three day visit. This week the Turkish Cypriot foreign minister said that the intransigence of Greek Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos is damaging the prestige of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in his efforts to reach a settlement in Cyprus.

“Papadopoulos' uncompromising attitude must come to an end,” Foreign Minister Serdar Denkta told the Anatolia news agency. “Things cannot go on like this. Somebody must say ‘stop'.”Denkta was referring to the Greek Cypriot leader's rejection last week of a call from Annan to list his objections to a plan for reunification of Cyprus, which he opposed last year. The Greek Cypriot leader accused Annan of not being impartial in his approach towards the Cyprus issue as he had not requested the Turkish side to give a similar written list of its objections. Denkta said this was evidence that his inflexible attitude remained unchanged. “His irresponsible attitude pays no attention to what others say. It has placed Annan in a difficult situation and undermined his prestige. And it is not only the prestige of Annan that has been damaged but also that of the U.N. Security Council,” he said.

The President of the Republic, Tassos Papadopoulos wrote this letter to the U.N. Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, last year, which circulated as an official document of the U.N. Security Council. It was written in response to Kofi Annan's report on Cyprus

BBC profile of Papadopoulos

MaltaGirl was caught in the President's mobile entourage in Valletta