LEFKOSA, Jan 7 (A.A) - President Rauf Denktas of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and Greek Cypriot administration leader Glafcos Clerides will come together at 10 a.m. on Friday, January 11 to discuss matter of missing people prior to the direct talks that will start on January 16.
Denktas and Clerides will have a tete-a-tete meeting at U.N. Secretary General's Assistant Special Envoy to Cyprus Zbigniew Wlosowicz's house near the Lefkosa Airport.
At the end of their tete-a-tete meeting at the same place in July 1997, Denktas and Clerides had reached an agreement on determining the situation of missing people. Since that time, this agreement could not be put into practice due to the attitude of the Greek Cypriot side.
The agreement foresaw mutual exchange of information on the missing people and cooperation.
DENKTAS SAYS THEY ARE HOPING TO REACH AN AGREEMENT THAT OUR PEOPLE DESERVE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas has said ''We're hoping to reach an agreement which our people deserve, which would not make us go back to our past and which would not make more people die.''
Speaking at the meeting of Veterans' and Families of Martyrs Association on Monday, Denktas said ''I hope both sides would start seeing the realities and walk on this road together and resolve this situation.''
Commenting on the statements of Greek Cypriot Parliament Speaker and communist AKEL party Secretary General Dimitris Hristofyas and EU Commissioner for Enlargement Gunter Verheugen, Denktas said ''They should not create chaos by such statements in the new negotiation process.''
Denktas said 90 percent of people were in favour of a strong agreement or joining the EU with Turkey.
Responding to a question, Denktas said that he had a telephone conversation with Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides today and the two leaders would have a meeting about the missing people on Friday.
When asked if he would have a new proposal on this matter, he said ''No, I won't. We'll discuss what is causing the problem.''
Answering another question, Denktas said he had no official contacts with Turkey scheduled before Jan. 16.