President Mehmet Ali Talat said the Greek Cypriot Leader Tassos Papadopoulos wanted to the Turkish Cypriots living on the island to become slaves.

On being interviewed by the German "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" daily, and being reminded that up until now the Greek Cypriot Leader had rejected all proposals to negotiate, President Talat said: "Papadopoulos is a radical and chauvin person. He believes in Greek superiority, wants total power and to assimilate us. Papadopoulos wants the Turkish Cypriots to become slaves in a minority".

Indicating that in the international area Papadopoulos was representing the whole of Cyprus and was being allowed to continue his political influence within the EU, the President said because he knew that the Greek Cypriot side would object to the aid envisaged to be made to the Turkish Cypriots, he wanted the EU to carry out the financial and commercial procedures separately on the island, but that so far no progress had been achieved on this issue.

Asked what his expectations were from the EU, the President replied:

"First of all I'm expecting 3 things. Firstly, it should be openly explained to Papadopoulos that he has the responsibility to unite the island. Secondly, he should be reminded of his promise that he would not exclude the northern part of the island. Thirdly, the start of direct flights from the TRNC should be ensured. Any EU country can do this independently from the joint decision taken in Brussels".

Meanwhile, on accepting the delegation from the Association for Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen (TUSIAD, the President said the EU should keep and implements the promises it made after the 24 April 2004 referendum and later on 26 April 2004.

Reminding that the Turkish Cypriot side supported Turkey's latest initiative on the Cyprus issue, President Talat said the fact that this opening was made by Turkey once more highlighted that both the Turkish Cypriot side and Turkey had always strived to achieve a comprehensive Cyprus settlement and were engaging in efforts to ensure that openings and steps were taken in this direction.

Also commenting on the Greek Cypriot side's reaction to remarks that were recently made by the UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, the President said: "The Greek Cypriot side should acknowledge this as a warning and I think they'll receive more warnings like this".

Speaking at the Eastern Mediterranean University's 2005-2006 graduation ceremony yesterday (13 February), Prime Minister Ferdi Sabit Soyer said: "We'll neither give up advancing towards a settlement, nor to bow to Greek Cypriot domination".

Indicating that there was no going back from the EU path that Turkey had been following for the last 80 years, nor the path followed by the Turkish Cypriot side for the past 40-years, the Prime Minister said doubts that there would be a return to the pre-1974 period were groundless.

He said the Turkish Cypriot people's communal unity would be preserved and improved and the main aim was to achieve a settlement based on political equality and as an EU member to support Turkey's EU relations.