TRNC NEWS HEADLINES

EU INFO POINT IN LEFKOSA

EU Info Point opened in TRNC with the participation of President Mehmet Ali Talat.

In addition to President Talat and his wife Minister of Finance Ersin Tatar, Minister of Transportation Hasan Taçoy, some EU Authorities and civil society representatives participated in the opening.

A speech was delivered by the Head of EU Programme Support Office Alain Bothorel who pointed out that the Info Point was opened in order to speed up the flow of information between the Turkish Cypriot Community and the European Union. He also added that the Info Point project aims to bring the Turkish Cypriot community closer to the European Union (EU), through information on the European Union's political and legal order, as well as its main policies and activities, and this will mean support to the efforts for a solution.

President Mehmet Ali Talat delivered a speech and said that Turkish Cypriots has spend effort to participate in the EU however only half of the island has been accepted to the union.

President Talat underlined that the final aim was to bring a comprehensive solution to the problem after referenda to be held at the beginning of 2010, and turning the current abnormal situation into a normal one and making it possible for the whole island to take its place within the European Union.

ERCAKICA: “WE EXPECT THIS STAGE OF TERRITORY ISSUE TO BE COMPLETED”

The Presidential Spokesperson Hasan Ercakica said that they were hopeful to hear from the leaders that they completed one stage of the Territory Chapter and came up with a final decision on the Yesilirmak Gate.

Stating that two leaders would come together again on Friday, Ercakica said that he was hopeful for receiving good news about the meeting.

At his weekly press briefing, upon a question of a journalist: “How can the leaders, who could not cope with (even) the Yesilirmak gate issue, solve the Cyprus problem?”, Ercakica made the following statement:

“Every matter in Cyprus is based on the status problems and the relations between Turkish and Greek Cypriot sides. While the Greek Cypriot side acknowledges themselves as the Cyprus Republic , they see North Cyprus as the land under invasion of Turkey . Because they handle every issue from this perspective, the point of confidence building measures is moving away.”