TRNC NEWS HEADLINES

TALAT MET WITH SWEDISH FOREIGN MINISTER

President Mehmet Ali Talat, who is on an official visit to Sweden , met with Carl Bildt, the Foreign Minister of Sweden. At one hour long meeting, President Talat asked the Swedish Minister, who will be next EU President, to motivate the Greek Cypriots for a solution.

Indicating that the negotiations continue well but progress was under expectations, Talat emphasized that Sweden , which will be taking over the EU Term Presidency in June, can play a major role in the coming months within this framework.

President Talat said that he had conveyed the Turkish Cypriot Side’s disappointment related to the EU’s failure to keep its promises and stated that this situation decreased and even dissolved the motivation of Greek Cypriots and affected negotiations in a negative manner. Talat also stated that Turkish Cypriot side was determined to solve the Cyprus issue in this year and they continued to do whatever they could do in order to reach this aim.

Sweden Foreign Minister said that the solution in Cyprus will be beneficial not only for the two sides on the island, but also for Turkey and EU. Saying that they were in high expectations related to the negotiations process, Bildt added that the conditions have never been more suitable for a solution. He underlined that this was a real opportunity and if it was thrown away, it may not be catch once again in the future.

Furthermore, Bildt said that negotiations were not permitted to go on forever, because this was a serious risk. Emphasizing that the momentum, which has been gained, should be maintained, Bildt reiterated the EU support to the negotiations.

“EU SHOULD BE ENCOURAGING AND STIMULANT”

TRNC President Mehmet Ali Talat stated that EU should be encouraging and if necessary stimulant for the Greek Cypriot side in order to motivate them for a solution.

President Talat pointed out that he believes that the leadership of Greek Cypriot Administration is desirous for a solution; however it has a weakness for spreading this desire to all of the establishments and the people.

Talat said “Swedish Foreign Minister is very important, because he is the foreign minister of a country which focuses on the Cyprus problem and also a foreign minister of a country which will have the Presidency of European Union.”

Talat added “the Greek Cypriot side cannot block Turkey unilaterally. As the other countries also use the card of Cyprus , the task of Sweden gains reasonable importance.”

Talat drew attention to the importance of the meeting with the UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon in Paris and said “expressing our opinion directly to the UN will be very beneficial”.

Underlining that the demand of Turkish Cypriot side from the UN is greatly obvious, Talat said “We want UN to take more active role. The Greek Cypriot side tries to decrease the effectiveness of international community with the slogans such as ‘Cypriot solution’ and ‘solution for the Cypriots by the Cypriots’. This negatively affects the solution.” Talat reiterated that there is a need from help abroad, because both sides cannot agree on every subject. Talat said “ Cyprus problem is a problem which lasts for many years and the sides determined at their positions. For this reason, it is difficult for them to agree on every subject.”

“LET’S PUT ENOSIS ON OUR AGENDA”

Greek Cypriot side congratulated the establishment of EOKA. In the speeches at the celebrations the most important speech was the Archbishop Hrisostomos’s speech. He briefly demanded to put the “ENOSIS” target on their agenda.

Archbishop stated that the “ENOSIS” target which started in 55-59 to unify Greece and Cyprus and couldn’t be successful because of the Zurich and London Agreements must be put on the agenda again and all society must work in cooperation for this target.