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President
Rauf Denktaş and the Greek Cypriot Leader Glafcos
Clerides held another meeting yesterday in their
series of direct talks aimed at achieving a lasting
solution to the Cyprus problem.
The
meeting, which should have started at ten o’clock,
got under way at eleven and lasted for 45 minutes.
Responding
to reporters’ questions at the end of the meeting,
the President said that at today’s meeting, the
Turkish Cypriot side replied to the views expressed in
the last meeting by the Greek Cypriot Leader Mr.
Clerides.
He said Mr.
Clerides had told him that he would be bringing other
issues to the negotiating table at tomorrow’s
session.
The
President, responding to a question, said he considers
the basic principles - on which Montenegro and Serbia
have agreed to form a new partnership – to be close
to the position of the Turkish Cypriot side as regards
the Cyprus problem.
He said no
agreement could be reached by ignoring one of the two
sides in Cyprus, and said the Turkish Cypriot side
will continue to resist the Greek Cypriots baseless
claim to be the government of the whole of the island.
He called
for the acceptance of the fact that there is a Turkish
Cypriot state in Cyprus with its own geography.
He said the
Turkish Cypriot side is so ready for a reunification
with the Greek Cypriot side, that it is not even
proposing a transitional period to test the
functionality of a possible new partnership– as the
one being envisaged between Serbia and Montenegro at
the moment.
We are not
pressing for such a transitional period because we are
convinced that by becoming part of the European Union
and maintaining the Turkish and Greek guarantees, any
new partnership between the two sides in Cyprus will
be a firm and a lasting one.
The
President also replied to remarks made recently by the
EU Commissioner responsible for Enlargement Mr.
Gunther Verheugen in Greece, that the EU will not
accept a confederal settlement to the Cyprus problem.
He accused
the European Union of telling the Greek Cypriot side
that it does not need a solution to the Cyprus
problem, and that it is free to proceed in its present
path.
He said
“although one cannot say anything about Mr.
Verheugen’s love of Greek Cypriots; it is
difficult to understand where justice is – of the
Greek Cypriots’ attempt to drag Turkish Cypriots
with them into the European Union”.
The next meeting between President Denktaş and the Greek
Cypriot leader Mr. Clerides will be today.
THE
TURKISH DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER BAHÇELİ “BEST
SOLUTION FOR CYPRUS IS A BIZONAL BICOMMUNAL MODEL AS A
PART OF THE EU SIMULTANEOUSLY”
The Turkish
deputy-Prime Minister Devlet Bahçeli has said that
the best solution for Cyprus is a bizonal, bicommunal
model, becoming part of the European Union
simultaneously with Turkey.
Addressing
his parliamentary group this morning, Mr. Bahçeli
said it is difficult to understand the stance adopted
by the European Union’s Commissioner in Charge of
Enlargement Gunter Verheugen on the Cyprus
problem.
Mr. Bahçeli
said the program adopted by Turkey while moving
towards EU membership on the one hand, and the
EU’s need to revise itself after a solution is
reached in Cyprus on the other, will inevitably
bring the two countries’ timetables for membership
closer.
He said
that in this way, solution of the problems between
Turkey and Greece would be made easier.
Mr. Bahçeli
said statements - made by the EU officials that the
Greek Cypriot Administration will become a member of
the union in any case- are the main obstacle in
the way of a lasting settlement in Cyprus.
He accused the EU of trying to justify its wrong stance on
Cyprus, for the sake of preserving its internal
balance and dynamics; and warned that such an
approach would create more serious problems within the
EU itself – not to mention the fact that –it would
also damage the Turco-EU relations.
TURKISH
FOREIGN MINISTER Mr.CEM “THE GREEK CYPRIOT
ADMINISTRATION MAKES NO EFFORT TO HELP REACH AN
AGREEMENT”
Turkish
Foreign Minister İsmail Cem has complained that the
Greek Cypriot Administration- assured of EU
membership- makes no effort to help reach an agreement
in Cyprus.
Speaking at
a conference in Brussels, under the title -
‘Turkey and the Future of Europe’- Mr. Cem also
criticized the European Commission’s unilateral
stance on Cyprus, which he said is preventing progress
at the continuing negotiations process.
Mr. Cem
stressed that no agreement can be reached at the talks
by exerting pressure only on the Turkish
Cypriot Side.
Later, Mr.
Cem also met with the EU Commissioner in Charge of
Expansion Gunter Verhaugen.
Speaking
after the meeting, Mr. Cem pointed to the importance
of the year 2002 for the relations between Turkey and
the European Union.
For his
part, Mr. Verheugen has said he briefed Mr. Cem on his
latest contacts in Cyprus and Greece.
He said
developments in Cyprus are justifying hopes, but he
added that substantial steps are still needed to help
bring about a solution to the Cyprus problem.
Mr. Verheugen repeated his wish that a settlement could be
reached by June to end the Cyprus problem.
The
four-day Cyprus Turkish Development Platform on
boosting the TRNC economy draws to an end shortly with
the issuing of a final report and a press release.
The
four-day event was attended by ministerial officials
from the TRNC and Turkey, as well as by political
parties and many non-governmental organizations; and
was designed to look into ways of encouraging the
private sector from Turkey to invest in the TRNC.
The
platform heard opening speeches on Saturday by the
leader of the Turkish Democracy Foundation – deputy
leader of the Motherland Party – Bülent Akarcalı,
as well as by the prime minister Mr. Derviş Eroğlu
and the Deputy Prime Minister Salih Coşar.
The Cyprus Turkish Development Platform was organized jointly
by the Turkish Cypriot Development Society and Turkish
Democracy Foundation under the joint auspices of
President Rauf Denktaş and his Turkish counterpart
Ahmet Necdet Sezer.
PRIME
MINSTER EROĞLU “THE BAKÜ-CEYHAN OIL PIPELINE
PROJECT WILL INCREASE THE ISLAND’S IMPORTANCE”
Prime
Minister Derviş Eroğlu has said Turkish Cypriot
people has already paid the cost of its freedom dearly
in the past, and that there is nothing left that it
should pay for.
Speaking at
a conference on the Cyprus issue in Balıkesir,
Turkey, Mr. Eroğlu said statements issued by the EU
officials that the Greek Cypriot Side will join the
union in any case, have removed the basis of an
agreement at the ongoing direct negotiations process
in Cyprus.
Pointing to
the geo-political importance of Cyprus, Mr. Eroğlu
stated that the island’s importance would be
increased if the Bakü-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline Project
gets underway.
Mr. Eroğlu
said it is impossible for the Turkish Cypriot and
Greek Cypriot communities to live together after what
they lived through in the past and said the United
Nations is making a mistake by ignoring the existence
of Turkish Cypriot Side.
A similar
mistake is now being committed by the European Union,
which is pressing for a Cyprus settlement as a
condition for progress in Turkey’s EU membership
bid.
He categorically denied the claim that the non-solution of
the Cyprus problem is an obstacle in the way of
Turkey’s accession to the EU.
The United
States President George Bush has said that the United
States has welcomed the resumption of direct talks in
Cyprus.
He was
speaking at a ceremony at the White House organized to
commemorate the anniversary of Greece’s Independence
Day.
President
Bush stressed that his country is ready to support and
encourage the ongoing rapprochement between Turkey and
Greece.
Referring to the Cyprus issue, Mr. Bush said he hoped the
talks would lead to a solution that would bring peace
and stability to the whole region.
THE
BRITISH GOVERNMENT CONDEMNED THE GREEK CYPRIOTS
ATTEMPT TO PURCHASE RUSSIAN ATTACK HELICOPTERS
The British government reacted to
the Greek Cypriots plan to purchase 12 MIL MI35
Russian attack helicopters. Answering the question
concerning the issue asked by the member of House of
Lords, Lord Kilclooney the British government declared
that they would try to prevent them to bring the
helicopters to the island.
Lord Kilclooney pointed out that the British government fully
supports the ongoing direct negotiations in Cyprus and
the government condemns the attempt of the Greek
Cypriots to purchase Russian attack helicopters and
they believe that this could be a damaging step that
could harm the peace process in the island. Lord
Kilclooney claimed “The Greek Cypriots could not
learn their lesson well that they should get from the
S-300 Russian missile crises.”
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