“FIRST
READING” ON THE TERRITORY CHAPTER TO BE COMPLETE
President Mehmet Ali Talat and Greek Cypriot Leader Dimitris
Hristofias held meeting yesterday and concluded the first
reading on the chapter of “Territory”. They also agreed on a
timetable of negotiations for the forthcoming 3-4 months
period.
Speaking to the reporters after the meeting the
UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Cyprus
Taye Brooke Zerihoun said the two leaders during the bilateral
meeting discussed the progress achieved after the opening of
the Yeþilýrmak crossing point. Zerihoun also said that the
leaders agreed on a timetable for meetings until October this
year.
Zerihoun stated that there will be only one meeting during the
month of August due holiday period. According to the
timetable, there will be 9 meetings between the two leaders
beginning form the following week till 2nd of
October. During this period the representatives of both sides
will also continue the works for the negotiations.
Zerihoun noted that the two leaders decided to conclude the
first reading of the “Territory” chapter and will start
discussions on the chapter of “Security and Guarantees” when
they meet next Thursday on the 9th of June.
The timetable of negotiations according to the statement of
Zerihoun is as follows;
9th of June, 17th of June, 23rd
of June, 30th of June, 6th of August, 3rd
of September, 10th September, 17th
September and 2nd of October.
Speaking to reporters after returning to the Presidential
Palace at the end of the meeting, President Mehmet Ali Talat
said probably they will start to the second stage of the
negotiations after the completion of the chapter on “Security
and Guarantees”.
Talat also expressed that while they are discussing the issue
of security and guarantees the a four party meeting with the
participation of Turkey and Greece or even a five party
meeting with the participation of Britain might take place.
“However there is no such decision taken this is only our
view” he added.
On the topic of territory Talat said “We only discussed the
fundamental principles over which differences between the two
sides exist. Naturally these differences will be more visible
when maps relating to the boundaries of the constituent states
emerge. However since our talks are not very concrete, the
true scale of our differences will emerge when we reach that
stage”.
Stating that they decided the timetable of the negotiations
until the month of October “if an
important difficulty doesn’t come up”, Talat said they also
exchanged views on the procedure of opening of the Yeþilýrmak
crossing point and nominated their representatives.
