President Mehmet Ali Talat has met with the leader of the Greek Cypriot Democratic Rally Party Nicos Anastasiadis at a working lunch.

The Cyprus negotiation process was the main topic discussed during the meeting, which was described as useful by both the President and the opposition party DISY leader.

Speaking to reporters at the end of the meeting, President Talat said “we had a very useful meeting during which we exchanged views on a wide range of issues. We also reiterated our commitment to the successful conclusion of the ongoing negotiations process.”

Responding to a question on the European Court of Human Rights’ ruling on the TRNC Immovable Property Commission, President Talat said that the ruling once again underlined the need to solve the property issue through negotiations.

The President also pointed out that the means of settlement included in the ECHR ruling; compensation, exchange or restitution, were the same as the proposals put forward by the Turkish Side’s to settle the property dispute.

For his part, the DISY Leader expressed his party’s support to the ongoing process and underlined the importance of making use of the current opportunity.

The presidential election will be held in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on April 18.

According to TRNC Supreme Electoral Board’s announced timetable for the upcoming election, political parties was given time till March 9 to name their candidates and the deadline for candidates to run in the election is set as March 12 (today). The Board will officially announce the list of candidates on March 22.

The presidential election will be held on April 18. If any candidate cannot reach the required threshold of 50 percent in the first round, the second round of the election will be held on April 25 between the two candidates who received the highest number of votes in the first round.