that's my President

Statement by the Presidential Spokesperson Mr. Hasan Ercakica

The Turkish Cypriot side has communicated a letter directly to the Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos concerning the position of the Turkish Cypriot side in terms of the meeting that is expected to take place in the near future between Mr.Talat and Mr.Papadopoulos.

In the letter, Mr. Talat has conveyed his ideas regarding the content of the probable meeting and expressed satisfaction that Mr. Papadopoulos have finally agreed that it is time to meet as a result of Mr. Talat prior calls.

However, it should be pointed out that the recent statements by the Greek Cypriot Minister of Foreign Affairs Ms. Markoulli might have negative consequences over the probable Talat-Papadopoulos meeting.

Ever since the date Ms. Markoulli has been appointed as the Greek Cypriot Minister of Foreign Affairs, she has been issuing provocative statements regarding the Turkish side and Turkey in particular.

Reiterating her ideas in her most recent statement to NTV that “the key to a solution in Cyprus lies with the Turkish army”, she has not refrained from stating that they “would prefer to discuss the issues regarding the Cyprus problem with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan or the Turkish army”.

We would like to reiterate once again that we consider such statements by Ms. Markoulli as unfortunate and meaningless. Claiming that President Talat is not authorized to negotiate the basic issues concerning the Cyprus problem at a time when efforts are being spent to hold a summit between the two leaders and all the related parties are expecting this summit to be substance oriented and effective, Ms. Markoulli should clarify not only the issues Mr. Papadopoulos is planning to discuss in the meeting but also the results he expects to achieve.

The stance and statements of Ms. Markoulli can be deemed as the strong indications of the possibility that the Greek Cypriot side plans to hold this meeting with their own concerns of domestic affairs as well as efforts to render the said meeting ineffective.

The Turkish Cypriot side is determined not to be an instrument to such a plan but to make use of such a meeting between Mr. Talat and Mr. Papadopoulos as an opportunity to overcome the deadlock before the efforts of reaching a comprehensive settlement for the Cyprus problem.