KIBRIS

PRESIDENT  EROGLU BRIEFS POLITICAL PARTIES

President Dervis Eroglu has briefed leaders of political parties having seats at the TRNC parliament on course of the negotiation process. The President will also inform the Council of Ministers on the issue today.

Following the two hours long  meeting, the  leaders of the political parties  commented on the meeting to the press respectively.

Prime Minister Irsen Kucuk said the President gave information regarding his first meeting with the Greek Cypriot leader and also commented on the next meeting.

Main opposition party, Republican Turkish Party Leader  Ferdi Sabit Soyer speaking to the reporters draw importance to the recent decisions taken by the  European Court of Human Rights and said the ECHR   has confirmed the fact that  it is not only the former owner of  a particular property  that has rights but  those people  who are currently in possession of  that particular property  have rights as well.

The Leader of Democrat Party Serdar Denktas  said they warned President on a possible fait accompli and said give and take process should not start at the  negotiations  before agreeing on all issues.

The Leader of the Communal  Democracy Party Mehmet Cakıcı pointed out that   it was wrong to start the property chapter before completing  the chapter on governance and power sharing.

For his part,  the Leader of the  Freedom and Reform Party Turgay Avcı said  they were pleased to see that the negotiation process would continue from where it was left off.

EROGLU “I WILL PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF TURKISH CYPRIOTS AT THE NEGOTIATING TABLE”

President Eroglu – who will meet with Greek Cypriot Leader Christofias on Thursday – has repeated that he would be protecting the rights of the Cyprus Turkish People at the table.  He said everyone  should know that he  was not intending to give up  Turkish Cypriots’ rights  at the negotiating table.

Speaking during a visit paid to him yesterday, President Eroglu said that the Cyprus issue does not only concern the presidency but also all segments of society. The President also reiterated that he does not intend to leave the negotiations table.

Referring to his first meeting with the Greek Cypriot Leader last week, he said that there were attempts to play tricks.

What is binding on me is the letter I sent to the UN Secretary General. In this letter, the strategy and policies to be followed by me at the talks were explained in detail. The UN Chief or his representative may issue some statements. These are not binding on us” the President said, noting that there hasn’t been an agreement reached yet.