Ankara to Formulate new Cyprus Strategy

Foreign Affairs Minister Abdullah Gul said that there would not be any officials of TRNC in tonight’s meeting. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer is not expected to attend the meeting either, but Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Chief of General Staff Hilmi Ozkok will be in attendance.

Gul, who could not persuade Denktas to attend the four party talks in Switzerland, said: "We started together with Denktas and we want to finish with him. So we will try our best in order to achieve this; however, we are not in a position to force people to do something."

Diplomatic sources have pointed out it that it is more or less certain that the Cypriot Greek side will not accept the demands of the Turkish side; under these circumstances what is crucial is to appeal to the U.N., which is expected to ultimately fill in the blanks.

Gul emphasized that the Cyprus policy was prepared based upon the agreement of all sides in Ankara. Gul stressed that it was important not to create an atmosphere that portrayed Turkey and TRNC as having separate priorities in the Cyprus issue. Gul said that Turkey would show its political determination to the end during the four party talks in Switzerland.

Meanwhile, Cypriot Greek leader Tasos Papadopoulos decided to go to Switzerland yesterday and wanted the Turkish side to show the same attitude. On the other hand, Denktas announced that he would resign if any solutions that he did not agree with were approved in the referendum. He claims that the European Union (EU), like the Greeks, does not care for the Turks.