President Mehmet Ali Talat, who is currently holding contacts with various foreign ministers of the EU member states in Brussels, in an interview with the Associated Press News Agency, said he is optimistic about reaching a settlement in Cyprus before the end of this year.

President said that he was still hopeful about starting full-fledged negotiations next month and to find a solution to the Cyprus problem before the end of 2008.

Expressing his optimism about overcoming any existing differences in positions which may stand as an obstacle in the way of starting comprehensive negotiations with Greek Cypriot leader Demetris Christofias, Talat said “I’m really optimistic because there is change on the Greek Cypriot side. It could be possible to find a settlement before the end of this year.”

Pointing out that there is an accumulation of technical work prepared from previous initiatives launched on the Cyprus problem, the President said the negotiations process, when started, will mainly focus on the thornier issues such as property rights, territorial arrangements and security.

Despite his optimism, the President also said that he didn’t believe the Greek Cypriot side was ready to start full-fledged negotiations next month, adding that this was a problem which the Greek Cypriot leadership should overcome.

President Talat also requested the EU leaders to exert pressure on the Greek Cypriot side for reaching a settlement in Cyprus.

Talat expressed expectation of the Turkish Cypriot side from Germany to take concrete steps towards implementing the Direct Trade Regulation.

Meanwhile, Talat met with Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimtrij Rupel within the framework of his contacts in Brussels.

During the meeting Talat and Rupel discussed the relations with the EU and the latest developments with regard to the Cyprus problem.

President Talat has been maintaining his contacts in Brussels. The first impression elicited from these contacts is that the EU countries have greatly been interested in the settlement of the Cyprus problem. The Foreign Affairs and the Europe Ministers of the EU member countries want the immediate settlement of the Cyprus problem. They have conveyed the message that they are ready to provide any kind of assistance.

As it is known, the negotiations regarding the settlement of the Cyprus problem are being maintained under the supervision of the United Nations. The Turkish Cypriot side is not for taking this process under the umbrella of the EU since the Greek Cypriot side spends efforts to exploit their unjust EU membership against the Turkish Cypriot side. Therefore, the contribution of the EU to the negotiation process has to be limited to a technical level.

In order to provide its political contributions to the process, the EU has to prioritize the lifting of the isolations imposed on the Turkish Cypriots and in this context, the implementation of the Financial Aid Regulation and the adoption of the Direct Trade Regulation.

While the EU has been acting enthusiastic to solve the Cyprus problem, it should also pay attention not to organize joint military exercises with the GC side violating the international agreements just like France who will take over the EU Term Presidency soon, did. It should not be forgotten that establishing such relations with the Greek Cypriot side not only encourages them to maintain the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots but also averts their contribution to the settlement process.

It should once again be stated that the meeting held on Friday between President Mr. Mehmet Ali Talat and the Greek Cypriot Leader Mr. Demetris Christofias has greatly been positive in terms of its results.

At the moment, Mr. Ozdil Nami and Mr. Georges Iacovou, as the representatives of the two leaders, are evaluating the results of the said meeting. Naturally, the works of the Working Groups and the Technical Committees are being reviewed as well.

Following the meeting between Mr. Talat and Mr. Christofias on Friday, numerous speculative news items have been published in the Greek Cypriot press. One of these news items puts forward that it was decided during the said meeting that the comprehensive settlement negotiations will start in September. During the meeting of the two leaders, the issue concerning the resumption of the comprehensive settlement negotiations has been discussed and President Mr. Talat has once again conveyed to Mr. Christofias that we, as the Turkish Cypriot side, are ready to start the negotiations. However, the Greek Cypriot side has insisted on the idea of evaluating the works of the Working Groups. As a result of this disagreement, the two leaders have decided to have another evaluation meeting in the second half of June. The Turkish Cypriot side maintains its position that it is possible to relaunch the negotiations in the second half of June. We will be inviting the Greek Cypriot side to put forward an encouraging position regarding the resumption of the comprehensive settlement negotiations as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, it should be stated that we would like to see that this discussion in the Greek Cypriot side is concluded as soon as possible and the Greek Cypriot side fully participates to the negotiation process.

A group of Syrian businessmen from tourism industry came to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus as guest of the TRNC Foreign Ministry. This visit is the result of the visit paid by Turkish Cypriot tourism sector representatives to Syria between 29 April and 2 May with the aim of improving trade between the TRNC and Syria and enabling the two countries to know each other’s tourism potentials.

Today, Turkish Cypriot and Syrian tourism sector representatives held a joint workshop with the aim of improving relations between the two countries in Kyrenia under the supervision of the TRNC Deputy Prime Ministry and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the organization of the TRNC Ministry of Economy and Tourism.

The workshop, which took place at Acapulco Convention Center, started with the inaugural speeches by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Turgay Avcý, Minister of Economy and Tourism Erdogan Sanlýdag, the Chairmen of Cyprus Turkish Travel Agencies Association (KITSAB) and Cyprus Turkish Hoteliers Association (KITOB) and the Director of Tabbaa Travel and Tourism.

Syrian delegation who visited historical and touristic places in Kyernia yesterday (27 May) will visit such places in Famagusta and Karpaz today.

Foreign Minister Avcý in his opening address at the workshop stated that although the TRNC and Syria were two close neighbors in the Eastern Mediterranean they couldn’t establish close relations for a long time until short time ago when economic, commercial, tourism, educational, cultural and sports relations have started between the two countries, adding that these relations would continue forever.

Pointing out that besides being under isolation, the two countries were amongst the “undesirable countries” category, Avcý said furthermore the existence of the TRNC and the Turkish Cypriots was not accepted in the international arena.

Explaining that foreign powers were using the method of “divide and rule” in order to capture the countries, Avcý said TRNC and Syria chose to struggle against division and establish cooperation for the future of their countries, people and children.

Foreign Minister Avcý described the unilateral membership of the Greek Cypriot side to the EU despite a nonsolution in the island while rejecting the existence of the Turkish Cypriot people as terrific.

Noting that the Turkish Cypriots do not want problems, wars and conflicts in the island, Avcý expressed sadness that many people continue to lose their lives at wars which take place in Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine.

Avcý saying that there hasn’t been bloodshed since the Happy Peace Operation in 1974 stressed that this was because Turkey was protecting the rights of the Turkish Cypriots.

Reminding that the attempts by the Greek Cypriot side to stop the ferryboat services between the TRNC and Syria failed as a result of the stance of the Syrian Chamber of Maritime Transportation Avcý thanked the Chairman of the Chamber for this.

Speaking on behalf of Syrian Arab Republic Tourism and Travel Agencies the Director of Tabbaa Travel and Tourism Zeina Tabbaa emphasized that the relations established between the TRNC and Syria were very important in terms of bringing the peoples of the two countries closer to each other and enabling commercial relations to develop between the two countries. Tabbaa expressed the readiness of Syrian tourism and travel agencies for establishing cooperation with Turkish Cypriot tourism sector representatives.