Talat: We Had Impression That Greek Cypriots Want To Leave Solution After May 1

ANKARA - Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat said on Tuesday that they had had the impression that Greek Cypriot side wanted to leave solution of Cyprus issue after May 1 and added that they, as the Turkish Cypriot side, considered it unacceptable.
Together with TRNC Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Serdar Denktas, Talat had a meeting with Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul and high-level Foreign Ministry bureaucrats.
Following the meeting which lasted nearly three and a half hours, Talat told reporters that the Turkish side wanted to the resolve the Cyprus issue until May 1 as it had promised in New York and stated that they clarified the stance that they would adopt together with Turkey during their meetings in Ankara the same day.
Asked whether or not they would reject 20-page document of proposals which had been presented to the Turkish Cypriot side by the Greek Cypriot side, Talat said that they did not reject any document all at once and they evaluated all documents in their aspects.
TALAT: WE ARE IN HARMONY AND COMPROMISE WITH TURKEY
Talat said, ''we think that we would reach a more lasting solution if we solve our problems by ourselves. And we have been exerting serious efforts to this end.''
Stressing that Turkey and they had a compromise on the issue and there were not any discord between them, Talat said, ''with a serious work, we have clarified a little our line. We have been maintaining our efforts and studies in compromise and harmony.''
Asked why they had come to Ankara two days before TRNC President Rauf Denktas, Talat said it should not mean a discord, adding, ''we did it in this way in order to walk while chewing gum.''
''We are the government and we work with our negotiating team as a whole. We hold meeting before each talk in Cyprus, we make evaluation, reach a common point, prepare documents and we go to talks with those documents. And we make similar evaluation after the each talk. Today, talk continued in Cyprus and we worked here. Maybe the President comes here tomorrow and we continue talk in Cyprus. We did it in this way in order to walk while chewing gum. It should not be understood as if there were any discord,'' he said.
Upon a question, Talat said that they had had the impression that the Greek Cypriot administration was willing to leave the solution of the Cyprus issue after May 1 and as the Turkish Cypriot side, they considered it unacceptable.
''They create such an impression by refusing every proposal we make. Actually they have not given their opinions completely so far. They have just given them the day before. We hope that they would change their attitude,'' Talat said.
Talat said that they conveyed this problem to the United Nations in every meeting, also the United Nations had been exerting efforts and asking the Greek Cypriot side to put forward its opinions.
Asked whether also the Turkish Cypriot side would reject the Greek Cypriot side's document, Talat said they never rejected any document all at once and they evaluated every document in their aspects.
''Even situations have happened during the talks process in which Greek Cypriots accepted our alternative opinions about some matters with concrete proposals. Our constructive attitude continues,'' he said.
Replying to another question, the TRNC Prime Minister said that there might be one-day deviation from the referendum date of April 21 but the date of April 21 should not be set as a ''date close to May 1'' as the Council of Europe would take action and other additional work would be done.

(MS) 02.03.2004