News from the TRNC

Statement by the Presidential Spokesperson Mr. Hasan Ercakica

The technical committee on Crime and Criminal Matters has formed a Sub-Committee that will operate out of a Joint Contact Room in the United Nations Protected Area (UNPA), as part of the technical committee works President Mr. Mehmet Ali Talat and the Greek Cypriot Leader Mr. Demetris Christofias have previously agreed on. The task of the Sub-Committee is to exchange information and intelligence on crime and crime related matters in order to prevent and deal with crime more effectively.

In this respect, the persons appointed by the Turkish Cypriot and the Greek Cypriot side have taken office as of today. The said committee will have meetings everyday between 08:30 and 13:00. Furthermore, technical requirements so as to enable 24-hour communication between the members of the committee have also been completed.

We sincerely welcomed that these works, which are of utmost importance in terms of facilitating tracking and discouraging trans-boundary crime activities, have actually started.

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The program of the new government formed by the National Unity Party (UBP) has been submitted to the National Assembly yesterday.

We welcomed that the objective of finding a comprehensive solution for the Cyprus problem has been included in the program of the government. It is also important that the items stated as the basic parameters of a settlement are generally in line with the policy we have been following until today. After this point, productivity of the negotiation process and working for a timely result should be essential.

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In the meeting held between President Mr. Mehmet Ali Talat and the Greek Cypriot leader Mr. Demetris Christofias to assess the effects of the Orams case decision of the ECJ over the negotiation process, it was decided to intensify the negotiations.

Since then, the representatives of the two leaders have met twice and maintained their works concerning the “economy” heading. Mr. Özdil Nami and Mr. Georges Iacovou will meet again today at 1700 hrs. The negotiations between the two leaders will continue on Thursday at 10:00 hrs.