TRNC President Rauf Denktas, responding to
the recent remarks made by the Greek Prime Minister, Costas Simitis, in
which he evaluated Cyprus as "the sole European country where the wall
has not come down", said: "The sole country which is invading the
partnership for 40 years is in the South of Cyprus."
In his written statement to the Turkish
News Agency, President Denktas said: "Mr. Simitis forgets that the only
country in the world, which by putting the country’s constitution into the
dustbin, buried her co-founder partner into mass graves and by burning and
destroying 103 villages has been invading the partnership State for 40
years, is in the South of Cyprus".
Explaining that the Greek Cypriot
administration which was astonished after the decision on free crossings
between the two sides began to evaluate these the reality of the "two
peoples could live together", President Denktas said: "The facts
that the TRNC exists, the borders are being preserved by guarantor Turkey
against the illegitimate Greek Cypriot administration, and that these
contacts could help prepare the necessary ground for reconciliation by
building up good neighbourly relations, are being undermined."
Pointing out that it was wrong to
politicise the initiative of allowing free crossings which was taken in
goodwill, President Denktas said: "By discussing the global exchange of
property and compensation to preserve the sacred right to live, it is
possible to completely open the door for a political settlement."
ERTUGRULOGLU TO DELIVER SPEECH
AT FOREIGN MINISTERS MEETING OF THE ORGANISATION OF ISLAMIC CONFERENCE
The 30th Foreign Ministers
meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Conference, started yesterday with
the opening speech of the Iranian President Muhammed Hatemi at the Iranian
capital Tehran.
At the conference, the TRNC will be
represented by the TRNC Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence, Tahsin
Ertugruloglu, who participates in the meeting as an observer and who will
deliver a speech.
In his speech at the conference, the
Turkish Foreign Minister, Abdullah Gul, called upon the whole Islamic world
to engage in the renovation of contemporary values by saying: "We
should act with a new point of view".
Referring to the Cyprus issue, Gul said:
"We welcome the support of the Organisation of Islamic Conference for
the TRNC. One of the main obstacles towards reaching a permanent settlement,
is the lack of confidence between the two peoples. That is why the TRNC
government started implementing the package of measures for building
confidence. The Turkish Cypriots have been participating in the activities
of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference since 1990. In compliance with
ICO decisions and the spirit for calls for the recognition of the equal
status of the two parties on the island, we want to upgrade the observer
status of the TRNC to a full member. This would decrease the imbalance
created with the EU membership of the Greek Cypriot administration and
contribute to reach a settlement on the island."
