President Mehmet Ali Talat yesterday (22 March) explained that he met with the TRNC government on Wednesday (21 March) and would meet again today (23 March) in order to discuss the recent call he made to meet with Greek Cypriot leader Papadopoulos and to make a political evaluation on the Cyprus issue, which was necessary at the point reached. “We will determine our stance after making evaluations for couple of days”, President Talat added.

Talat pointed out that Papadopoulos sent messages through the press but added that this was not a proper response to his call.

President Talat stated that he wanted the meeting to take place as soon as possible so that the Greek Cypriot leader could clarify as which of the issues were addressed positively and added that his offer was still valid.

Talat said that the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Cyprus- UNFICYP Chief of Mission Michael Moller visited him on Wednesday and that they made evaluations on the latest developments regarding the Cyprus issue.

A high-level delegation from the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) which consists of representatives from 12 organizations came to the TRNC upon the invitation of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Turgay Avcý. The delegation will carry out wide-ranged technical studies in the TRNC.

The OIC delegation under the chairmanship of Mahdi Fatallah, the Political Affairs Secretary of the OIC, includes Kemal Momani who is in charge of Cyprus affairs. The delegation will stay in the TRNC until Sunday (25^th of March).

The delegation firstly received by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Turgay Avcý.

Speaking before the meeting, Mahdi Fatallah underlined the OIC’s efforts to improve relations with the TRNC and said that was why the delegation consisted of high level representatives.

Adding that the legal basis for establishing cooperation between the OIC and the TRNC was found Mr. Fatallah said the OIC had taken several decisions in this direction.

Mr. Fatallah underlined that the reason for their visit was to initiate the necessary practical and technical steps in order to implement those decisions.

For his part, Foreign Minister Turgay Avcý said: “I hope that during your visit in the TRNC, you will better understand the situation here. When I was in Jeddah in February, many issues were discussed and I stated there that now it is the time to take action, to understand the Turkish Cypriots and what they had done until today and to acknowledge what we want from the OIC countries and the rest of the world. For this reason, your current visit to the TRNC is very important for us.”

Avcý added that the political and technical issues would be discussed during the meetings they would carry out with the delegation and that within this context 19 government projects would be presented to the Islamic Development Bank and the Islamic Solidarity Fund, which are the sub-organizations of the OIC.

Furthermore, the Foreign Minister stated that a conference project on “the Islamic Civilization in the Mediterranean and Cyprus” would also be discussed with the representatives of the Islamic Education, Science and Culture Organization and Islamic History, Arts and Culture Research Center. Avcý added that they would also overview the project of International Islamic Institute, which is planned to be established in the Near East University.

Avcý explained that the representative of the OIC Youth Forum who is also in the delegation would meet with the directors of the TRNC Youth and Sports Departments in order to discuss the cooperation opportunities. Avcý stressed that their aim was to include the Turkish Cypriot youth in the international sports activities and youth forums organized by the OIC member countries.

Moreover, Avcý pointed out that the representative of the Chambers of Islamic Commerce and Industry Federation in the delegation would carry out contacts with the TRNC Chambers of Commerce and Industry to take up the measures to be taken for increasing the TRNC’s volume of trade with the OIC countries.

Avcý added that the representative of Islamic Trade Development Center would also meet with TRNC Chambers of Commerce and Industry to discuss the issue of increasing the TRNC’s foreign trade.

Foreign Minister Avcý reminding that the Islamic Universities Federation last year took a decision recognizing all the TRNC universities, said the Federation’s representative who was also in this delegation, would meet with YODAK members and visit the universities in the TRNC.

Continuing Foreign Minister Avcý stated that the representatives of the Islamic Ship Owners Union would meet with the Turkish Cypriot ship owners and ship agencies.

Avcý said the International Islamic Red Crescent Committee’s representative would meet with North Cyprus Red Crescent.

Avcý added that the representatives of the Union of Call for Islam in the delegation would meet with the TRNC Director of Religious Affairs Ahmet Yonluer.