LEFKOSA - Mehmet Ali Talat, Prime Minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), said on Tuesday that he did not consider as a right approach that Greek Cypriot side rejected all the proposals of the Turkish Cypriot side.
Talat said such an attitude would bind those who reject and put them into a difficult situation.
Speaking before his departure for Ankara to make evaluation about the recent stage reached in Cyprus talks, Talat said they would meet with Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul and his team. Talat said they would exchange views and information about the latest stage reached in Cyprus talks.
Stressing that studies continued and that sides put forward proposals, Talat said the Turkish Cypriot side put forward its views totally and conveyed them to the Greek Cypriot side. He said Greek Cypriot side also presented its proposals and the changes they wanted to the Turkish Cypriot side. Talat said the proposals would be evaluated.
Replying to a question asking about the attitude of Greek Cypriot side in rejecting proposals of the Turkish Cypriot side for amendments to Annan Plan, Talat said, ''Greek Cypriot side presented a paper to us and said they rejected our proposals as a whole. However, as the U.N. brings the issues onto agenda by dividing them to sections, both we and the Greek Cypriot side bring our issues to negotiation table. It is not a right approach to reject the proposals as a whole.''
Talat said, ''if you reject all the proposals and fail to consider them as issues that can not be discussed, you will meet with very serious difficulties as you are negotiating them. This will bind you more than the side you reject. I don't think that such a rejection will have much importance in negotiations.''
Talat said they continuously gave information to the political parties about the course of the talks, stressing that minutes of negotiations and all the papers given by the sides to each other were sent to the Parliament. Talat denied the news reports indicating that political parties were not given information.
Talat said he and Foreign Minister Serdar Denktas gave information to political parties, noting that, ''such an image is created as if the talks are carried out secretly and information is not given to anybody. This is not true.''
Talat and Serdar Denktas are expected to return to TRNC late on Tuesday.
(AY-AÖ) 02.03.2004