President Mehmet Ali Talat stressed that it was unacceptable for the Greek Cypriot side to put preconditions for the opening of the Lokmacý (Ledra Street) border gate.

“The Lokmacý gate will be opened the way the others opened”, said President Talat.

President Talat stated that the Turkish Cypriot side recently submitted a new proposal to the Greek Cypriot side with the aim of bringing the two leaders together on 31^st of March and reaching a comprehensive solution in the Cyprus problem adding that after this stage, the proposals submitted by both sides would be reciprocally evaluated and integrated.

Pointing to the fact that the Greek Cypriot side’s latest proposal was very limited, President Talat said: “We found this proposal insufficient, thus made a more efficient proposal which covers all the aspects of the Cyprus problem”.

President Talat said that if these proposals were integrated the negotiations would start, otherwise the talks could collapse or the UN could bring up a different method.

President Talat attended the First Forum of the World Azerbaijani and Turkish Diaspora Organizations in Baku and within the framework of his contacts met with Azerbaijani President Ýlham Aliyev, Azerbaijani Prime Minister Artur Rasizade and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. President explained that these meetings were very fruitful. He also requested support from Azerbaijan that would serve for a solution in Cyprus and for lifting of the Turkish Cypriots’ isolation.

President Talat drew attention to the fact that besides the representatives of the organizations in Turkey who live abroad, the representatives of the Turkish Cypriot organizations living abroad were also invited to the Forum. President added that this was important in terms of the relations to be established between the representatives of the said organizations.

Stressing that in spite of its problems, Azerbaijan was giving support to the TRNC, President Talat expressed belief that when Azerbaijan solved its problems and improved its economy, it would increase its support to the TRNC and the relations between the two countries would become closer.

President Talat responding to a question regarding the preconditions put forward by the Greek Cypriot side for the opening of the Lokmacý border gate said this was unacceptable for the Turkish Cypriot side.

Pointing out that the soldiers at the Lokmacý were from the Cyprus Turkish Security Forces, the President said: “They have got their soldiers on their side and we have got our soldiers on our side in accordance with our laws”. He added that it was unacceptable for the Greek Cypriot side to raise preconditions on the issue as the Turkish Cypriot side is not raising preconditions about the presence of soldiers in the area.