LEFKOSA - Commands of peace and security forces changed in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on Tuesday.
TRNC President Rauf Denktas, Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat, Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Serdar Denktas, Turkish Ambassador to TRNC Hayati Guven and other officials attended the ceremony during which commands were transferred from former commanders to newly appointed generals.
Isik Kosaner, who will be promoted to the rank of general on August 30, handed over his mission to Hasan Memisoglu.
Delivering a speech during the ceremony, TRNC President Denktas said, ''the Turkish Peace Forces in Cyprus does have the right to exist in Cyprus under the 1960 guarantee agreements.'' He added, ''Annan Plan which was rejected in referendum in southern Cyprus made this guarantee agreement permanent.''
Noting, ''we should be insistent on making Turkey's rights permanent in Cyprus,'' Denktas said, ''real target of the Greek Cypriot side and Greece is to remove Turkey from the island.''
Denktas said that they wanted lasting peace and that's why they wanted preservation of Turkey's guarantor state rights.
Meanwhile, Security Forces Commander Necmettin Baykul handed over his mission to Tevfik Ozkilic and 28th Division Commander Fikri Gonultas to Aydemir Curcioglu at a separate ceremony.
(GC-MS) 17.08.2004