The Republican Turkish Party - United Forces and Democrat Party (CTP/BG-DP) coalition government has received a vote of confidence in the parliaments general council with 28 ‘yes’ votes and 19 ‘no’ votes. Speaking after the voting, Prime Minister Ferdi Sabit Soyer stated that the government would work in cooperation and thanked all the MPs.

The Deputy Undersecretary of the US State Department, Laura Kennedy, has had contacts in both the TRNC and South Cyprus. President Mehmet Ali Talat met with Laura Kennedy on 6 May 2005.

After her meeting with President Talat, who supports Cyprus’ reunification and the restart of negotiations, Laura Kennedy said the meeting had been constructive and they had discussed the steps that should be taken from now on and had underlined that the UN sponsored negotiations should start as soon as possible.

Drawing attention to the fact that the Turkish Cypriot leadership and people had clearly displayed their will for a settlement, Laura Kennedy said by protecting the good offices mission of the UN she hoped that the conditions would support and provide the necessary opportunities for the negotiations to resume.

Explaining that the USA would continue to take steps towards ending the Turkish Cypriot side’s isolation and eliminating the economic inequality that existed between the two communities, Laura Kennedy stressing that the USA was determined in this direction said the USA believed this would speed up reunification and the settlement efforts.

For his part, President Talat explaining that during the meeting he had conveyed to Laura Kennedy the Turkish Cypriot community’s settlement vision said he had asked the US Leadership to lift the isolations and take on a more active role in supporting this idea.

Indicating that a critical point had been reached, President Talat said he believed international efforts aimed at restarting the negotiations on the basis of the conditions envisaged by the UN Secretary General should be intensified.

Pointing out that the Turkish Cypriot side’s stance was very clear and that all the details of all the views had been explained to Laura Kennedy, the President said he believed that concrete initiatives would be taken by the USA as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, on the same day, Laura Kennedy also met with Prime Minister Ferdi Sabit Soyer and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Serdar Denktas.

Speaking after his meeting with Laura Kennedy, Serdar Denktas said he had conveyed to her that at the moment nothing had been done on the Direct Trade Regulation or on direct flights but he still hoped that there would be some movement on certain issues.

Serdar Denktas said: "I hope this has been understood; we clearly gave this message because being labeled intransigent does not disturb Mr. Papadopoulos and he still does not have the intention to reach a settlement that will recognize the rights of the Turkish Cypriots. And because the world accommodates him in this we stated that this was a stance punishing the Turkish Cypriots. I hope that the messages we gave will at least push Papadopoulos to take some action in pursuing the correct path in the right manner. However, at the moment there is nothing".

The UK’s Ambassador to Ankara Peter Westmacott, stated that the UK was disappointed that the EU had not spent enough efforts to lift the isolations in Cyprus.

In a meeting organized by the British Council and covered by the NTV’s News Director Murat Akgun within the framework of the UK’s recent general elections, Ambassador Westmacott responding to a question asked said the UK wanted a comprehensive settlement in Cyprus.