President Mehmet Ali Talat yesterday (21 February) received the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Rene Van der Linden. The meeting was followed by a working lunch and after the lunch Talat and Linden made statements to the press.

Before the meeting, the Union of Craftsmen and Artisans and the Committee for the Opening of Ledra Street presented a joint letter to Linden requesting the opening of Lokmacý Gate for reciprocal crossings.

Speaking to the press, Rene van der Linden stated that the aim of his visit was especially to build bridges between the two peoples and he had discussed several issues with President Talat.

Explaining that they had talked about the Bologna Process and the border gates, Linden said he had especially encouraged the Turkish Cypriot people to take bold steps regarding the Cyprus problem.

Linden pointed out that he had guaranteed to President Talat that the studies towards the unification of the island would speed up and said: “We are losing time, it’s been more than 6 months since the 8 July “agreement” was signed, but working committees are not working efficiently”, adding that he had encouraged President Talat for contributing to this process.

Noting that he was pleased to see that the opening of the border gates between the two sides was of great importance for the daily lives of the people, Linden said confidence building measures were very vital for the PACE.

Drawing attention to the fact that the most of the meetings within the framework of his program were joint meetings, Linden said he especially wanted and was very pleased to materialize this.

Linden underlining that PACE placed a great importance on joint meetings for showing its commitment towards bringing the two sides together, said the 8 July “agreement” was an important development towards bringing the two peoples together and should be implemented as soon as possible.

For his part, President Talat thanked to Linden for coming to Cyprus for making suggestions on some issues and for carrying out joint meetings on both sides of the island.

“As stated by Linden, we have discussed various issues such as the unification of the island, our commitment towards a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem, 8 July process and preparing the ground for starting the negotiation process”, President Talat said.

Noting that the PACE was an important international organization where the Turkish Cypriots were also represented, even though the representation was under the observer status, President Talat thanked to PACE and Linden for their positive approach towards ending the Turkish Cypriots’ isolation.

President Talat reiterated that the Turkish Cypriots were ready for a comprehensive solution and had a commitment in this direction, stressing that this should be their ultimate target.

President Talat saying that he approached positively to the suggestion of PACE President Linden who encouraged him towards taking interim steps, stated that the Turkish Cypriot side would do its best to create a better climate and better relations with the Greek Cypriot side.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Turgay Avcý who is currently in Ankara for series of contacts, yesterday appeared on a program at the Turkish television channel TRT 2 and made statements regarding the Cyprus issue.

Foreign Minister Avcý responded to questions regarding the latest developments in relation to the Cyprus issue, petrol crisis and the Direct Trade Regulation.

Explaining the new vision of the TRNC Deputy Prime Ministry and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Avcý said they placed high importance on foreign representations and would carry out serious studies regarding this issue.

Responding to a question regarding his meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, Avcý said him and Gul would evaluate the current situation and exchange views on various issues.

Following an interview with NTV, Foreign Minister Avcý and his delegation attended to a dinner hosted in his honour by TRNC’s Ambassador to Ankara Tamer Gaziođlu.

A working program covering the period of 2007-2008 regarding the issues of forestry and meteorology was signed between the TRNC Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and Turkish Ministry of Environment and Forestry.

The text was signed by the TRNC Minister for Environment and Natural Resources Asým Vehbi and Turkish Minister of Environment and Forestry Osman Pepe with a ceremony.

Stating that the TRNC had displayed a good economic performance in recent years, Minister Pepe stressed that the TRNC with a high national income of 20-25 thousand US Dollars and its developed sectors, should place great importance on investments which would protect the harmony with ecological balance.

For his part, Minister Vehbi pointed out that while the problems with global warming, infrastructure and natural resources were being discussed in the world, there were many environmental problems in the TRNC. Vehbi added that motherland Turkey had supported them on all issues including human resources for coping with these problems.

Pointing to the insufficient fertile forest lands in the TRNC, Asým Vehbi said because of fires breaking out every year, the TRNC had lost a big area of forests. Vehbi added that this cooperation would give them the opportunity to benefit from Turkey’s knowledge on the issues of environment, forestry and meteorology.

The Autonomous Missing Persons Committee is continuing excavation work in both sides of the island. It was reported that until now, no remains were discovered during the excavations in South Cyprus which started on Tuesday (20 February) and the excavation work would continue today.

The excavation was being carried out in Strovolos in South Nicosia with the aim of finding the remains of 40 Turkish Cypriots who were lost in 1963 in Kucuk Kaymaklý region.

According to the information given by the Committee’s Turkish Cypriot Vice-Member Ahmet Erdengiz, they were having some difficulties and delays with excavations because the place where the work was being carried out was next to a very busy street.

Explaining that some excavations were related to 5 wells in the region, Erdengiz said: “The current well which is being drilled is 10 meters deep. However, in order to reach the remains there might be a need to drill more. There are claims that 40 people are buried in 2 wells next to the street. The excavations will continue.”