''WE TARGET TO MAKE CYPRUS AN ISLAND OF PEACE WITH STEPS TO BE TAKEN TO HAVE INTERNATIONAL PEACE PREVAILED''
ANKARA - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that they targeted to make Cyprus an island of peace with steps to be taken with the aim of having international peace prevailed, adding, ''we have to find an answer to the question how humanity can reach peace.''
Erdogan said that they should save political structurings from ethnic and religious roots and get together around common values.
Sources said that during his meeting with Crown Prince Philippe of Belgium on Tuesday, Erdogan said that relations between Turkey and Belgium had reached a very good level and Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt's visit to Turkey on November 3-4, 2003 had contributed to bilateral relations.
Recalling that Verhofstadt and he had met in Dublin during last week's accession ceremony of new EU members, Erdogan said that Verhofstadt told him whenever he went to Brussels for EU summit that he wanted to see him in Belgium. ''He wants to see also us among liberals.''
Noting that Turkey had exerted efforts for approval of Annan's plan and Turkish Cypriots voted ''yes'' in the referendum, Erdogan said that Greek Cypriots voted against it.
Erdogan said that after those developments, policy of isolation of Turkish Cypriots should not be followed and embargoes on Turkish Cypriots should be lifted.
''We target to make Cyprus an island of peace with steps to be taken with the aim of having international peace prevail. I hope that we would reach this target,'' he said. Erdogan said that they expected Belgian businessmen to invest in Turkey and Turkish and Belgian businessmen could make investments in third countries.
Meanwhile, Prince Philippe said that they had come to Turkey with a crowded delegation, and their meetings, particularly the meeting with Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer were very important to them.
When Prince Philippe asked about Turkey's point of view towards the Middle East and Caucasus, Erdogan said that problems in Iraq were not pleasing and especially the pictures released by the press could not be defended, stressing that those who abused Iraqi prisoners should not be tolerated and they should absolutely be punished severely. Regarding problems in Caucasus, Erdogan said that there was tranquility in Kosovo at the time being but anything might erupt at any time.
''We have to find an answer to the question that how the humanity can reach peace. We have to save political structurings from ethnic and religious roots and we have to get together around common values,'' he noted.
(MS) 04.05.2004