PRESIDENT TALAT SENT A LETTER TO KOFI ANNAN

President Mehmet Ali Talat, sent a letter to Kofi Annan and asked him to personally involve in the formation of the technical committees without further delay.

Talat in his letter sent to Kofi Annan on 15 June, reiterated the Turkish Cypriot side’s determination regarding the formation of the technical committees and drew attention to the fact that the Greek Cypriot side was preventing the formation of these committees.

Presidency Spokesman Hasan Ercakica in his briefing yesterday (20 June), referring to the issue, pointed out that there wasn’t any concrete improvement towards the formation of the technical committees and added that the Turkish Cypriot side as it had many times revealed before, once more conveyed its positive stance on this issue in a written letter to Kofi Annan.

“Our stance is clear. Technical Committees should start working as soon as possible”, said Ercakica and added:

“Despite the constructive efforts of both the Turkish Cypriot side and the UN, the Greek Cypriot side has been preventing the formation of the technical committees since February, thus the President requested Annan to personally involve in the formation of the technical committees without further delay.”

Ercakica stated that President Talat’s letter was an initiative for finding a formula for a step-by-step settlement, which was also expressed by the Deputy UN Secretary General Ibrahim Gambari in his letter sent to President Talat on 20 March 2006.

Pointing out that in Gambari’s letter it was stated that during Annan-Papadopoulos meeting in Paris the step-by-step settlement approach was taken up, Ercakica quoted the following from Gambari’s letter:

“Suggested method is not a “partial” but “step by step” approach, which aims to re-establish confidence between the sides by working carefully and consciously in order to fill the existing gap between the two sides and to create the necessary atmosphere and trust for final negotiations leading towards a comprehensive settlement”.

 

TALAT-PAPADOPOULOS MEETING
PRESIDENT TALAT “WE ACCEPTED OFFERS FOR MEETING”

President Mehmet Ali Talat stated that he accepted the offers for meeting with Greek Cypriot Leader Tasos Papadopoulos on 3 and 8 July, but he did not know the response of Papadopoulos for the meeting on 8 July.

President Talat yesterday stated that he would meet with Papadopoulos on 3 July, within the framework of the appointment of Third Member of Autonomous Missing Persons Committee Christophe Girod.

President Talat pointed out that he also gave his consent to the meeting on 8 July proposed by İbrahim Gambari, the Deputy UN Secretary General Responsible for Political Affairs during his visit to Cyprus but did not know the Greek Cypriot response yet.

According to Turkish Cypriot news agency (TAK), İbrahim Gambari will come to the island on 6 July and the UN authorities asked appointment from President Talat for 6 July morning and 8 July evening.