President Denktas yesterday (13 April) received a delegation from the University of Mersin, headed by its Rector Prof. Dr. Ugur Oral, who are in the TRNC to express their support for President Denktas. Speaking during the meeting, President Denktas, expressing his pleasure that the University Senate was supporting his efforts, said the Annan Plan envisaged artificial peace and its laws and constitution were imposed upon them and that laws included in the Annexes, such as the law related to the "Continental Shelf", aimed to remove Turkey from the island.

Pointing out that if the agreement to be reached was not made EU Primary Law, then the partial derogations foreseen in the Plan would have no meaning and after 19-years Greek Cypriots would be free to settle in the North, President Denktas said this would mean going back to the 1960 period and reliving the events of 1963 all over again and this time Turkey would no longer be in a position to intervene because Cyprus would be EU territory and Turkey’s rights would only be on paper.

Explaining that the Greek Cypriots were opposed to a settlement because of the comfort of being referred to as the "legitimate government" and soon becoming an EU member, the President said the Greek Cypriot Administration entered the EU with the aim of making Cyprus Hellenic and was using the EU as a tool to achieve this.

Prime Minister and Republican Turkish Party – United Forces Party (CTP – BG) leader, Mehmet Ali Talat, yesterday (13 April) visited Greek Cypriot political parties in the South to try and persuade them to vote ‘yes’ in the forthcoming 24 April referendum.

Within the framework of his contacts in South Cyprus, Prime Minister Talat met with AKEL and the Secretary General of the Greek Cypriot Assembly, Dimitris Hristofyas. Speaking after the meeting, the Prime Minister said during the meeting he conveyed to AKEL the Turkish Cypriot side’s insistence on having the referendum on 24 April, the need for a settlement on the island before 1 May, and the entry of a united Cyprus into the EU on 1 May.

The Prime Minister warned that if the referendum was postponed this could create serious problems in terms of the settlement timetable identified by the Turkish Cypriot side and the UN.

For his part, Dimitris Hristofyas said, at this stage, the Greek Cypriot peoples stance on the Annan Plan was to vote ‘no’ and if the two sides were to move towards a settlement together the referendum should be postponed for a few months.

Meanwhile, after his meeting with DISY, the main Greek Cypriot opposition party, Prime Minister Talat speaking during a joint press conference organised with DISY Leader, Nikos Anastasiades, pointing out that a consensus of views had been achieved with DISY said: "We understand the concerns of the Greek Cypriot people. We want to reassure them that there will be no problems in implementing the agreement from the Turkish Cypriot side’s point of view and naturally, we would request the same reassurance from the Greek Cypriot side".

For his part, DISY Leader, Nikos Anastasiades, said his party’s stance on the referendum would be announced in his party’s congress on 15 April.

In order to attend the Donors Conference at the European Parliament, Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat departed from the TRNC for Brussels yesterday (13 April).

Speaking at Gecitkale Airport before his departure and referring to the difficulties being experienced in the Greek Cypriot side regarding the referendum, Prime Minister Talat said: "Up until today, there has been negative propaganda in the Greek Cypriot side. The Greek Cypriots have finally realized that a settlement is actually reconciliation, that they will not get everything they want, and will now have to share the partnership, which they do not want to do. The negative atmosphere in the Greek Cypriot side stems from this. If the Greek Cypriots suddenly try to turn this negative propaganda into a positive one, unfortunately there is no organization that can manoeuvre this and I think this constitutes a problem for them".

Pointing out that today (14 April) he would attend a panel organized by the "Arý Movement” at the European Policy Centre in Brussels, the Prime Minister said, later on, he would organize a press conference at the European Parliament with the help of European Parliament Member Ozan Ceyhun. After the press conference the Prime Minister will attend a panel organized with the support of European Parliament Member Andrew Duff. In the evening, Prime Minister Talat will get together with high level diplomats at dinner.

He said he would also be speaking on behalf of the Turkish Cypriot people at the Donors Conference tomorrow (15 April).

Referring to his meeting on 13 April with the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative to Cyprus, Alvaro De Soto, Prime Minister Talat said during the meeting they discussed the preparations for the referendum and he had conveyed his views to De Soto on how a positive result could be achieved from the Greek Cypriot side in the referendum.