Letter to the Speaker of the House and the Chairman of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee Reporting on the Cyprus Conflict
September 23, 1981

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

In accordance with the provision of Public Law 95-384, I am submitting the following report on progress made during the past sixty days toward reaching a negotiated settlement of the Cyprus problem.

The intercommunal negotiations between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot representatives under the chairmanship of the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Representative on Cyprus, Ambassador Hugo Gobbi, are continuing to explore issues of mutual concern. Following an interrupted schedule earlier this year when both Greek and Turkish Cypriots prepared for and held elections, intercommunal negotiations have resumed on a more frequent schedule with weekly sessions since July 29. The negotiating atmosphere has remained congenial and constructive.

This period has been marked by substantive presentations in the negotiations by both sides. The Turkish Cypriot negotiator submitted proposals on August 5 and the Greek Cypriot representative on September 9. These proposals are comprehensive in scope addressing the basic constitutional and territorial questions that lie at the core of the disagreements dividing Cyprus.

We have welcomed developments of this nature as indicative of a continuing commitment by both communities to resolve their differences by peaceful negotiation and a spirit of compromise. We hope that during the period ahead the discussion under the aegis of United Nations Secretary General Waldheim will lead to a just, fair and lasting resolution of the Cyprus problem. The intercommunal negotiations have now passed the one-year mark, and it is time for the parties to reinvigorate their efforts to bring the hopes stimulated by their inception to fruition.
Sincerely,
RONALD REAGAN

Note: This is the text of identical letters addressed to Thomas P. O’Neill, Jr., Speaker of the House of Representatives, and to Charles H. Percy, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.