LEFKOSA - Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas has said that he would definitely not stand for presidential election in the TRNC next year and the TRNC government would be the side to attend Cyprus talks.
Speaking on the Bayrak Television (BRT) channel, Denktas said that U.S. State Department Special Coordinator to Cyprus Thomas Weston had assessed the Turkish Cypriots' will in the referendum wrongly.
Noting that Weston claimed that Turkish Cypriots ''did not want separate state and recognition'', Denktas said that they should explain to the world that it was not true.
Stressing that results of the twin referenda should be assessed well, Denktas said that both sides had been granted self-determination right for the first time since 1956, adding, ''at this point, a result was reached, that is, sides in Cyprus can't do anything again together under a single umbrella. We can build our future on it.''
''We should insist on recognition. We should not sit at negotiation table before we are recognized,'' Denktas said.
Calling on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to consider that Greek Cypriots had voted ''no'' while writing his report, Denktas said that Annan should also ask the UN Security Council to change the mandate of reuniting Cyprus.
''If there are Cyprus talks, the TRNC government attends talks. I wonder if Papadopoulos accepts it, of course. The government attends as the TRNC government and Mr. Talat attends as the TRNC Prime Minister,'' he said.
Noting that words of Thomas Weston who had said, ''Talat is the new leader'' was a trick, Denktas said they should be careful about this trick, adding, ''the important thing is recognition of the TRNC. Mr. Talat should be called the TRNC Prime Minister not the leader of Turkish Cypriots. We should not be deceived by this trick.''
(MS) 25.05.2004