Co-chairman of the Turkey-EU Mixed Parliamentary Commission and an MP from the European Parliament's Greens Group, Joost Lagendijk, and a delegation of five people from the Group arrived in Cyprus on 8 April for contacts and investigations.

Within this framework, Lagendijk had separate meetings with Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Serdar Denktas, and also met with some political parties and NGO's.

Lagendijk stressed that in order to implement the direct trade and financial aid regulations for the Turkish Cypriot side, pressure had to be exerted on Greek Cypriot leader, Tassos Papadopoulos, and that he had openly expressed tj,s view to Greek Cypriot officials.

Blaming the EU for not implementing these regulations for over a year, Lagendijk said the EU could not defend any part of it's stance on this issue.

Lagendijk also stressed that the Greek Cypriot side should submit to the UN Secretary-General all the changes it wants to be made to the Annan Plan, as soon as possible, and give up playing games.

Explaining that it was a mistake to accept the Greek Cypriot side as an EU member without first resolving the Cyprus issue, Lagendijk said, responsibility for correcting this mistake rested with the EU, who made this mistake in 1999.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Talat, expressing his pleasure on seeing Lagendijk and his accompanying delegation, thanked them for their interest and support on the Cyprus issue.

Stressing that he shared, more or less, all of Lagendijk's views and that the difficulties being encountered in Cyprus could only be overcome through a comprehensive settlement, Prime Minister Talat underlined that relations with the EU and international community were at a sensitive point and that these relations should be continued with the determination of finding a Cyprus settlement.

For his part, speaking after his meeting with Lagendijk, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Serdar Denktas, stated that there were many steps that could be taken to overcome the current impasse in the Cyprus issue and portraying the removal of Turkish troops from the island before a settlement as being one of these steps was not possible. He said the first of these steps should be lifting the unjust isolation imposed upon the Turkish Cypriot side and EU member states, European NGO's and institutions had big responsibilities on this issue.

Indicating that the Turkish Cypriot side would continue to have intensive contacts with the EU in order to put an end to the Turkish Cypriot side's isolation as well as on other issues, Serdar Denktas said the Turkish Cypriot side would continue its contacts with Greek Cypriot politicians as this was important in enabling Turkish and Greek Cypriots to better understand each other.

Co-chairman of the United Democrats (EDI) Party and the former Spokesman of the Greek Cypriot Administration, Mihalis Papapetrou, has stated that in order to implement the Akritas Plan and massacre the Turkish Cypriots before 1963, he received weapon training by state and non-state elements.

In his statement, Papapetrou said: "In order to implement the Akritas Plan and massacre the Turkish Cypriots before 1963, state and non-state elements trained students, including me, on how to use weapons".

The Greek Cypriot daily 'Politis', reported that the issue of leftist Greek Cypriots killed by EOKA, was again brought to the agenda by communist AKEL party, upon the request of DISI, and that Greek Cypriot politicians were now beginning to give history lessons.

In a statement issued regarding the issue, EDI Co-chairman, Mihalis Papapetrou and MP from the Greek Cypriot Ecologists and Environmentalists Party, Yorgos Peridikis, said they had passed on the responsibility of investigating the issue to the Greek Cypriot Administration.

According to the daily, Yorgos Perdikis, said it was the responsibility of the Greek Cypriot Administration to not only investigate the EOKA murders against the leftist Greek Cypriots, but also the level of violence used against the Turkish Cypriots.