EU TERM PRESIDENCY STATED THAT FINNISH PROPOSAL FAILED

EU Term President Finland announced that the negotiations with the related parties on the Cyprus issue aimed at overcoming the difficulties faced in Turkey’s accession negotiations could not succeed.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister Yorgos Lillikas were in Tampere, Finland, in order to attend the Euro-Mediterranean Meeting of Foreign Ministers. Finland’s Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja after meeting with Gul and Lillikas separately, stated that the negotiations have failed.

Tuomioja in a press conference pointed out that the existing circumstances were not appropriate to continue with Finland’s initiative and although all the sides were constructive, an agreement could not be reached.

Explaining that Finland and the EU Commission would work together on the handling of the continuation of Turkey’s EU accession negotiations, Tuomioja said that the General Affairs Council would take the final decision on the matter in December.

Tuomioja yesterday (27 November) talked on the phone with President Mehmet Ali Talat and stated that Finland withdrawn its proposal.

According to the statement made by the Press Office of the TRNC Presidency, while Tuomioja announced that they could not continue with their initiative, President Talat reminded the weak points of the initiative and requested from Finland to support the efforts towards finding a comprehensive settlement to the Cyprus issue under the UN umbrella.

 

PRESIDENT TALAT: "THE EU AND THE UN HAVE DIFFERENT ROLES ON THE CYPRUS ISSUE"

President Mehmet Ali Talat completed his contacts in Gaziantep where he went upon the invitation of Gaziantep Chamber of Commerce and Gaziantep University and returned to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

Speaking before his departure from Gaziantep, the President said that the EU and the UN had different roles on the Cyprus issue and that the EU had no relation with the solution of the Cyprus problem.

"The EU’s role is to do its best for the lifting of the Turkish Cypriots’ isolation and to encourage and pressurize the Greek Cypriot side for a settlement within the framework of the UN." President Talat said.

The President pointed out that the EU could not be a mediator for the solution of the Cyprus problem, because it did not have sufficient knowledge on the issue. Stating that the UN should be the mediator in the process of settling the Cyprus issue, said this was inevitable.

Pointing to the fact that there wasn’t a deadlock yet in Turkey’s EU membership process because of the issue of ports, Talat stated that the lifting of the isolations were much more related with the Cyprus problem, than with the opening of Turkish ports to Greek Cypriot traffic.