Turkish Prime Minister Meets With E.U. Foreign Policy And Defense Chief

BRUSSELS - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met on Thursday with European Union (EU) foreign policy and defense chief Javier Solana.
Turkish Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul also participated in the meeting.
Following the meeting, Erdogan told reporters that he would go to Switzerland on Monday to attend the quartet conference among Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Turkey, Greek Cypriot side and Greece.
Erdogan added, ''we will try to conclude negotiations before May 1.''
TRNC and Greek Cypriot side started Cyprus negotiations on February 19 in order to find a fair and lasting solution to Cyprus issue on the basis of United Nations (U.N.) Secretary General Kofi Annan's plan.
According to Cyprus negotiations schedule, two sides were expected to attend a quartet conference together with guarantor powers Turkey and Greece after March 22 to discuss issues on which they could not reach any compromise.
The quartet conference was expected to start in Buergenstock, Switzerland on Wednesday. However, the four-party meeting did not take place among delegations from TRNC, Greek Cypriot side, Turkey and Greece in Buergenstock on the first day of the quartet conference.
Delegations did not hold any bilateral meeting either.
Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Serdar Denktas of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) has said that the four-party Cyprus talks would start on Friday evening after the European Union (EU) spring-term summit in Brussels. Denktas added that they had done nothing, but wasted time in Buergenstock so far.
Meetings to be held as a part of the quartet Cyprus conference were limited only with the meeting between Turkish Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul and his Greek counterpart Petros Moliviatis, and separate meetings between United Nations (U.N.) Secretary General Kofi Annan's Special Envoy to Cyprus Alvaro de Soto with Gul and Moliviatis.
U.N. Secretary General Annan will fill in the blanks left in the plan if participants can't reach any compromise in quartet meetings, and the text to be formed at the end of all these initiatives will be voted in referenda to be held synchronously in the Turkish and Greek Cypriot sides on April 20.
(BRC-AÖ) 25.03.2004