Erdogan: We have powerful team about Cyprus issue

ANKARA (AA) – Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said late on Tuesday that they had a powerful team about the Cyprus issue and they sometimes became interlocutor of the issue.

Speaking on the CNN-Turk television channel, Erdogan stressed that they had come to the point of resolving many problems with Greece, adding that talks had been continuing quite positively and there had been progress in several issues.

Noting that they would give water to the twelve islands of Greece in the Aegean in near future, Erdogan said that those developments proved how positively bilateral relations had been improving.

Replying to a question which said, "foreign press reported that you are a good poker player due to your approach towards the Cyprus issue. Do you play poker?" Erdogan said, "no, I don’t know playing poker, but I play chess and checkers."

Replying to another question which said, "what would happen if the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) says ‘yes’ while the Greek Cypriot side says ‘no’ in separate referendums. Does it satisfy you?" Erdogan said, "what such a result would bring is quite clear. First of all, the European Union will assume an attitude in favor of the TRNC. It is not true to comment on the level of this attitude, but it is told that the TRNC has fulfilled its duties. Turkey has taken the necessary steps at this point. I hope that embargoes imposed on the TRNC for forty years would be lifted."