REPRESENTATIVES OF TURKISH AND GREEK CYPRIOT POLITICAL PARTIES MEET AT EUROPEAN COUNCIL

Leaders of political parties from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the representatives of Greek Cypriot Administration yesterday came together in Strasbourg at a special meeting on Cyprus at the European Council.

TRNC Prime Minister and Leader of the National Unity Party, Dervis Eroglu, Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the Democrat Party, Serdar Denktas, the Leader of the Communal Liberation Party, Huseyin Angolemli, the Leader of the Republican Turkish Party, Mehmet Ali Talat, and the Leader of the New Reformist Party, Ertugrul Hasipoglu, attended the meeting on behalf of the TRNC.

Following the completion of the meeting, which was also attended by the Secretary General of the European Council, Walter Schwimmer, in a written statement issued by the European Council, it was stated that the meeting took place in order to further develop dialogue and reconciliation between the two sides.

Greek Cypriot political parties attended the meeting by sending their representatives instead of their leaders.

Speaking before the meeting, Prime Minister Dervis Eroglu and Deputy Prime Minister Serdar Denktas, criticised the decision of the Greek Cypriot political parties to send their representatives instead of their leaders to the meeting.

Prime Minister Eroglu said they reacted strongly that the Greek Cypriot side attended the meeting at a representative level. Making the same criticism, Serdar Denktas stated that TRNC parliamentarians were not unjustly represented at the Parliamentarians Assembly of the European Council.

The TRNC delegation after meeting with the Greek Cypriots,  will also meet with officials from the European Court of Human Rights and  give information about the law which was recently passed by the Republic’s Assembly giving Greek Cypriots’ the opportunity to apply to the TRNC courts for their properties in the Turkish Cypriot side.

During the meetings in Strasbourg, the Turkish Cypriot politicians, will have meetings with Walter Schwimmer, the Secretary General of the European Council, and Luzius Wildhaber, the President of the European Court of Human Rights and administrators from the Parliamentarians Assembly of the European Council.

IF GREEK SINGER PANCAZIS HAD PERFORMED IN TRNC HE WOULD HAVE BEEN IMPRISONED FOR SIX MONTHS

According to the Greek Cypriot press, Greek singer Leftheris Pancazis, who was scheduled to perform at the Rocks Hotel in Girne on Saturday night (5 July) and had to cancel his concert at the last minute because of strong reactions from the Greek Cypriot side and Greece, was “ released from serving six months in prison for not singing in the TRNC.”

Devoting large coverage to the issue, the Greek Cypriot press reported that the Greek Ambassador in South Cyprus became personally involved in the issue, who via telephone had informed Pancazis on the stance of the Greek Cypriot administration and warned him that he should stay in a hotel in the Greek Cypriot side, which had already been reserved for him by the Embassy.

The Greek Cypriot daily “Simerini”, stated that following Pancazis’ arrival in the Greek Cypriot side, Greek Cypriot Security Forces engaged in efforts to prevent Pancazis from going on stage in Girne, and added that a high ranking Greek Cypriot police official had warned Pancazis at Larnaca Airport that “his action was unlawful, and that because of  this he would be arrested and sentenced according to the law.”