TOLERANCE TO BE SHOWN BY THE TRNC WILL BE MUCH MORE THAN THE TOLERANCE TO BE DISPLAYED BY THE GREEK CYPRIOT SIDE
DAVOS - Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) would show much more tolerance than the Greek Cypriot side.
Erdogan arrived in Davos, Switzerland early on Saturday and answered questions of reporters at the Victoria Hotel.
Replying a question about his scheduled meeting with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan in the afternoon, Erdogan said, ''there lies good will in the press statement by the National Security Council. We will maintain this good will till the end. The TRNC will show much more tolerance than the Greek Cypriot side.''
''Efforts in economic field, process about the EU...We attribute great importance to these. The matter of Turkey's winning a date for opening accession talks with the EU in December is on the agenda, and it is the most important event in 2004, of course. Besides, as the center of several international meetings, Turkey will host the NATO summit, OECD meeting and Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) meeting this year. Moreover, organization of a World Economic Forum meeting in Istanbul on European basis is on the agenda,'' he said.
ERDOGAN RECEIVED BY PRESIDENT DEISS OF SWITZERLAND
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was received by President Joseph Deiss of Switzerland in Davos on Saturday.
Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan and Swiss Foreign Minister Michelire Calmy-Rey also attended the meeting.
Sources said that the draft law on so-called Armenian genocide that had been approved firstly by the Swiss Canton Assembly and later by the National Assembly was discussed at the meeting.
At the meeting, Prime Minister Erdogan said that this law's destroying bilateral relations was wrong; both Turks and Armenians had died during events in that period and the issue should be left to historians.
Explaining how this decision aroused indignation among Turkish people and government, Erdogan stressed that evaluation of all those matters should be the job of historians and parliaments should not judge those matters as they would harm bilateral relations.
Swiss President Deiss said that the decision had been taken upon pressure of the Armenian minority in Switzerland and he agreed with Erdogan's opinion that the matter should be transferred to historians.
Deiss stressed that the matter should be left behind and they should focus on the future and they should not allow destruction of bilateral relations.
Prime Minister Erdogan said that 100 thousand Turks were living in Switzerland and 20 thousand of them had dual citizenship so the decision offended Turks living in Switzerland, stressing that the Swiss government should take their reaction into consideration and they should not lend themselves to fanatic Armenians.
When Swiss President Deiss asked a question about embargo imposed on Armenia by Turkey, Erdogan said that there was not any alternative against those who made Turkey's existence and borders be matters of discussion and also Armenians should take steps to correct the situation.
When Erdogan said that the Swiss government failed to take necessary measures against illegal PKK and its extension organization called KADEK and illegal DHKP-C organization and stressed that Turkey had suffered much from terrorism which claimed nearly 40 thousand people, Deiss said that activities of those organizations were monitored closely, but they could not do anything in accordance with laws as long as they remained within limits of freedom of expression.
When Swiss Foreign Minister Calmy-Rey said they could not understand cancellation of his visit to Switzerland after decision of Canton Assembly, Erdogan said that he could have easily understood it if he had seen the reactions in Turkey.
Also the Cyprus issue was discussed at the meeting. Prime Minister Erdogan informed the Swiss President on the decision on the Cyprus issue.
(MS-UK) 24.01.2004