On being interviewed by the Cyprus Turkish News Agency (TAK) correspondent, President Mehmet Ali Talat said the negotiations were on the agenda not because of the Greek Cypriot Leader Tassos Papadopoulos and the missing persons issue, but because of the reception that was to be given for the UN representative who would be appointed as the third member of the missing persons committee. He said the negotiation could take place at the residence of the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative on Cyprus, Michael Moller but that the date was not yet determined. The President said: "In order to discuss core issues the Greek Cypriot side must first submit its proposed changes to the Annan Plan".

The President evaluated the surprise call made by Greek Cypriot Leader Tassos Papadopoulos that he was willing to negotiate with him as "election propaganda".

President Talat said the idea to meet with Papadopoulos was proposed by Moller before the Paris meeting, who had proposed that the two leaders meet at the reception that would be organized in honour of the UN representative who would be appointed as the third member of the missing persons committee. Indicating that he had accepted Moller's proposal, President Talat said the Secretary-General also welcomed this meeting.

Indicating that he found it strange that Papadopoulos had recently made a statement to the effect that he could negotiate "humanitarian issues and the missing persons issue", President Talat said:

"The missing persons issue is the only issue in which there is progress and no problem. This is an issue where we reached a gentleman's agreement and agreed not to talk about so as not to politicise it. The meeting will be held not on the missing persons but via this occasion. I don't think Mr. Papadopoulos has misunderstood, he is doing this on purpose because of the elections. But it's impossible for us to run away from negotiating because having negotiations is our policy".

Reminding that soon after his appointment as President he had proposed to set up technical committees to deal with daily issues, President Talat said last month he had proposed to Moller to set up 10 committees and having accepted this, this proposal was later conveyed in writing to the UN Secretary-General.

Indicating that the Greek Cypriot Leadership's approach to the effect that "unless technical issues are discussed in the technical committees daily issues cannot be taken up", President Talat said: "We are not against discussing the core issues but first the Greek Cypriot side has to prepare its proposed changes to the Annan Plan and submit this to the UN and us. Then we can see what they want from us and then we can move on to core issues".

Stressing the importance of the TRNC's property law, which envisages compensation, reinstatement, and exchange for Greek Cypriot properties left in the North before 1974, President Talat said:

"It's been said that Turkey's obligations will either be reduced or postponed. However, what's more important is to protect the bizonality. In the conditions of non-settlement bizonality is our most important parameter that should be protected. It's the first time we had the opportunity to evaluate the property issue within the framework of the ECHR. For the first time, the non-settlement conditions will pave the way for very big changes in the property regime and we introduced a law that will have a positive effect on the settlement parameters".

Referring to the 139 million Euros in EU financial aid that has currently been on the agenda, President Talat said the implementation of the financial aid regulation was under the authority of the EU Commission and that discussions were still continuing on this issue and it was still unclear how it would be implemented. He said the EU Commission's relevant unit had been invited to the TRNC and a delegation would be arriving on the island in the forthcoming days. He said: "What's important is our rules. The EU cannot force us to accept something we don't agree with. We are going to discuss with our institutions the limits of our flexibility".

Indicating that during his contacts in Brussels he had conveyed to EU officials the Turkish Cypriot side's sensitivity on the financial aid and direct trade regulations, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Serdar Denktas said they expected support and understanding on this issue.

Serdar Denktas said, "It is clear that there is a difficulty on this issue. Meetings we had with the European parliamentarians were very useful and they understood our sensitivities."

Serdar Denktas said they had also taken up Turkey's action plan on Cyprus that was announced on 24 January 2006 during the meetings and parties represented in the European Parliament told the Turkish Cypriot side that they would carry out studies on Turkey's action plan.

Underlining that the unjust isolations imposed on the Turkish Cypriots should be lifted and for a possible settlement to be reached the economic gap between the two should be reduced, Serdar Denktas said in order for this to happen the Turkish Cypriot side's isolation should be lifted. He said the EU had a big responsibility on this issue and what the Turkish Cypriot side needed was permission to be granted for free trade, which would equalize the Turkish Cypriot side's economy with the South.

Serdar Denktas, who is in Brussels to participate in a panel organized jointly by the ARI Movement and the European Centre for Developing Intercultural Relations and to have meetings with various groups in the European Parliament, said he had the opportunity to discuss in detail the Cyprus issue and EU-TRNC relations with Cem Ozdemir, who is a member of the European Parliament's High Level Contact Group.

Within the framework of his contacts in Brussels, Serdar Denktas yesterday (30 March) met with the Leader of the European Liberal Party, Annemie Neyts-Uytterbroeck. After the meeting he visited the Belgium Federal Parliament and met with Belgium party leaders and deputies.

Serdar Denktas said: "In our meetings we discussed the latest developments in Cyprus, the financial aid and direct trade regulations, and how we could better improve EU-TRNC relations".

Meanwhile, speaking at the panel entitled "Reloading Cyprus", that was jointly organized by the ARI Movement and the European Centre for Developing Intercultural Relations, Serdar Denktas said the reason why the Cyprus problem had remained unsolved was because the two peoples never desired a common future.

He said: "…the current impasse in the Cyprus problem stems from the fact that the two peoples have never desired a common future but was forced to come together by international pressure. The biggest proof of this is that 76% of the Greek Cypriots rejected the Annan Plan".

The Greek Cypriot administration's proposal to impose a moratorium on the property issue in the TRNC and for Turkey to give information regarding the constructions taking place in the TRNC was rejected by the European Council's Delegates Committee. In a meeting in Strasbourg on 29 March the TRNC Presidency's Undersecretary Rasit Pertev gave information about the studies that were carried out on the property issue in the TRNC and the new property law that was introduced.

The European Council's Delegates Committee, which is responsible for monitoring the decisions of the ECHR, met in Strasbourg on 29 March in line with the fourth application made by the Greek Cypriot administration. In the meeting, in which Rasit Pertev was also present, proposals made by the Greek Cypriot representative to impose a moratorium on the property issue in the TRNC and for Turkey to give information regarding the constructions taking place in the TRNC was rejected without even being put onto the agenda.

Pertev said during the Strasbourg meeting, where the property issue in Cyprus was discussed, importance was drawn to the new changes made by the Turkish Cypriot side regarding the property issue, which was made in line with ECHR decisions, and studies to create an internal remedy for resolving the property issue.

Indicating that information was given on the new property law, which envisages compensation, exchange and reinstatement for former Greek Cypriot properties in the TRNC, and the property commission that was also set up, Pertev said in line with the decision taken by the ECHR on the Arestis case the commission that was set up would start to function within 3 months.