EROGLU: “WE ARE IN CONSENSUS WITH TURKEY”

President Dervis Eroglu said that they were pleased with their recent contacts in Turkey due to not only receiving intense attention, but also having consensus with the Turkish authorities on the national Cyprus cause. Stating that they were in full consensus with Turkey on the Cyprus issue, Eroglu stressed that there hasn’t been any disagreement about the negotiations which he continued from the first day he was elected as president. Eroglu added that they also put forward many details on the issue, discussed and agreed on them for the forthcoming process.

President Eroglu returned to the TRNC with his accompanying delegation including Foreign Minister Huseyin Ozgurgun, Special Representative Kudret Ozersay, after completing his contacts in Turkey yesterday. In a press statement delivered at Ercan Airport, Eroglu said that the meetings on the negotiations and economic issues with Turkish President Abdullah Gul, PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Cyprus Affairs Besir Atalay, were extremely fruitful.

Pointing out that they went to Ankara for making contacts upon the invitation of President Gul, Eroglu said that they discussed the Cyprus negotiations in detail at the meeting with President Gul and Foreign Minister Davutoglu, the economic issues with PM Erdogan, as well as informing them about the Cyprus issue and got their views. Eroglu stated that after these meetings, they discussed the Cyprus issue in detail at the Foreign Ministry.

Eroglu continued: “I’m pleased to say that there hasn’t been any disagreement with Turkey about the negotiations which I continued from the first day I was elected as president. During these meetings in Ankara, we saw that we are in full consensus with Turkey on the negotiations. We also understood that we agree for the forthcoming process by putting forward many details on the issue.”

BAN: ‘TWO LEADERS SHOULD TAKE DETERMINED STEPS’

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon stated in his last report concerning Cyprus negotiations that two leaders should take determined steps to show that an agreement can be reached in Cyprus and added ‘leaders should find a way to overcome the deadlock on the issue of execution and should take determined steps on the issue of property and citizenship’.

Pre-copy of the report of UN Secretary General Ban was submitted to the UN Security Council following the tripartite Greentree summit held on 23-24 January.

In his report, Ban stated that both leaders met 33 times up to the end of February 2012, and special representatives of both leaders met 8 times separate from the leaders’ meeting. Indicating that Downer increased speed of the bilateral meetings by applying to the views of UN experts, Ban said that this process has been very fruitful.
Moreover, reminding that he wrote letters to both leaders before the 5th. Meeting arranged on 23-24 January in Greentree, Ban said that he demanded both leaders to remove all obstacles for opening ways for negotiations, multilateral meeting and final solution.
‘As an answer to my letter, both leaders renewed their promises for a solution. I expected a determined development on three main issues in Greentree. Meetings were very intensive in Greentree but only limited development was realized’ Ban added.

Stressing that currently, there is a deadlock on decision of execution; Ban said that there is a rapprochement on the issue of citizenship that a number of people decided by both sides will be the citizens of united Cyprus with the execution of a comprehensive agreement. In the report, it was also stressed that data sharing has been continuing on the issue of property. ‘Both sides know that full agreement on the issue of property depends on the solution of the territory issue. Both sides have decided to discuss the issues of map and numbers during the process which goes to a multilateral conference’ Ban said.

Stressing that still, there is an unsolved issue related to EU and it is related to how to include a solution agreement in Cyprus to EU Law, Ban said that both sides made proposals on this issue but neither side found the proposal of the other side satisfactory.
Indicating that both sides compromised on a large extent on the internal dimension of the issue of Security and Guarantees, Ban said that internal dimension of the Security issue can be solved by negotiations with the guarantor countries.

LEADERS TO MEET TOMORROW

It was stated that leaders will meet on Thursday within the framework of finding a solution for the Cyprus problem.

President Dervis Eroglu and Greek Cypriot leader Demetris Christofias are expected to meet at 10.00 am tomorrow and discuss the issue of property.

NATURAL GAS EXPLORATION IN CYPRUS

The Turkish Petroleum Corporation will commence drilling for oil or natural gas in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus by the end of this month.

The Chief Executive of the Turkish Petroleum Corporation Mehmet Uysal announced the developments to Reuters news agency and also said that the necessary equipment has already been shipped off to the area where drilling will commence.

He is also quoted as saying that ‘if here is a need to drill in areas where the license clash with South Cyprus, then all necessary measures will be taken’.

Uysal said ‘we’re hoping this will be a peace project as any company wishing to send gas to Europe will have to go through Turkey as Turkey is the main route’.

COHN-BENDIT TO SARKOZY: “YOU PROVOKE TURKEY BY MAKING NONSENSE LAWS”

Leader of the Greens Group in European Parliament Daniel Cohn-Bendit has taken a swipe at French President Nicolas Sarkozy concerning the law enacted in French Parliament and then cancelled in the Constitution Council related to the Armenian issues in 1915 envisaging refusal of the Armenian claims to be a crime.

In a press conference in the European Parliament, at first, Cohn-Bendit criticized Sarkozy’s policy to fight against illegal immigration and then the plan of French leader to bring Schengen into question. Leader of the Greens Group said “EU should cooperate with Turkey on fighting against illegal immigration instead of provoking this country”.

Cohn-Bendit stated that EU needs the cooperation of Turkey in fighting against illegal immigration at the border of Greece-Turkey and said “We should give up provoking Tukey by burdening Turkey and by handicapping the negotiations. We ought to make cooperation instead of making nonsense laws in French Parliament or in other parliaments. There is not any reason for Turkey to get along with the EU.”

MOODY’S DOWNGRADES SOUTH CYPRUS CREDIT RATING

International ratings agency Moody’s reduced its rating on Cyprus by one notch to Ba1 and assigned a negative outlook, meaning that further downgrades are possible.

In the statement by the agency, it was emphasized that downgrading of credit rating reflects the possible effects of situation in Greece which fights with debt crisis on Greek Cypriot banking system and the fragility in the investor trust towards the country.

On the other hand, Standard and Poor’s (S&P), another international rating agency, also reduced its rating on Cyprus by two notches to “BB”.

THEY DO NOT WANT TURKISH ELECTRICITY

Economy Committee of the Greek Cypriot Administration’s Assembly held a meeting yesterday and discussed the high electricity prices and renewing the agreement of buying electric power from Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. According to the news of the Greek Cypriot Newspaper Politis Greek Cypriot MP’s criticized Greek Cypriot Electricity Board and claimed that buying electric from TRNC is illegal. In the meeting Yorgos Perdikis, MP, and Secretary General of Ecologists Movement claimed that the agreement renewed with no reason, there was no need for it. As a response to the claims of the Perdikis Chairman of the Greek Cypriot Electricity Board Haris Thrasu underlined that the supply of electric power from TRNC is within the framework of the Green Line Regulation of the EU.

TCCC IS HAPPY WITH THE DECISION

Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce (TCCC) stated that decision of the Conference of Presidents-European Parliament on the changing of the term of mission and the composition of the High Level Contact Group is satisfactory. According to the statement of the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce this decision is a response to the letter send to European Parliament (EP) President Martin Schulz by the Chamber on 11 February 2012. In the letter it was mentioned that the High Contact Group, established under the auspices of the EP to hold talks with the Turkish Cypriots, was no more functional.

In the statement of the Chamber also it has been also underlined that the following step must be appointing people to the Group who have the point of view to work towards getting Turkish Cypriot People closer to Europe.