euronews interviews president talat

ukturk



Joined: 01/09/2007
Posts: 1974

Message Posted:
29/05/2008 14:02

hi guys

i managed to find a interview conducted by euronews on president talat while he was in brussels yesterday

its a good interview where talat clears a few things on turkeys involvment and the army aswell as the turks from turkey who settled in turkey over 30 years ago and i must say he holds his own while being interviewed plus this is a good thing that foreign press are now actually asking talat and other people on their views of the turkish cypriot people and not just the reconised south side and the greek cypriot people

interview as follows



EuroNews: "President Talat, welcome to EuroNews. You look pretty optimistic about the negotiations on the future of the island, what is according to you the main obstacle?"



Mehmet Ali Talat: "The problem with the Greek-Cypriot side is the rejectionist forces position, the former (pdt) Papadopoulos and his party is still a coalition partner of Mr Kristofias. In the national council they are present; church is very, very powerful, extremely powerful and Mr Kristofias is obliged to listen to them also."



EuroNews: "Also your side must deal with pressures from outside, external pressures like the Turkish one, for instance."



Mehmet Ali Talat: "I’m very comfortable, I’m getting full support from Turkey, I don’t have any problem and I know that without any full support of Turkey I cannot be successful. So I don’t have any problem. If I’m on the negotiating table, this means that I’m getting the support of Turkey."



EuroNews: "One of the most important chapters is about settlers and settlers are coming from Turkey and this is a big problem apparently."



Mehmet Ali Talat: "It is not a big problem."



EuroNews: "Well, according to the other side, yes…"



Mehmet Ali Talat: "Settlers, which is not the good word, not the good term to describe those people, because they are living in the island more than 20 or 30 years and they are somehow cypriotized, this is a humanitarian issue and a humanitarian matter can be solved in line with the international practice; so we are ready to solve this problem in line with the international practice and international law."



EuroNews: "Haven’t you the impression that however some powers in Ankara are using the issue of this immigrants, say, if you don’t accept the term settlers?"



Mehmet Ali Talat:"How?"



EuroNews: "For other political purposes?"



Mehmet Ali Talat: "What other political purposes?"



EuroNews: "For instance the relation between the current government and the army."



Mehmet Ali Talat: "The settlers, the immigrants, how?"



EuroNews: "Well, a policy of occupation."



Mehmet Ali Talat: "Policy of occupation? The relationship between the government and the military?"



EuroNews: "It’s a policy of occupation, this is their point of view… I’m asking you the question."



Mehmet Ali Talat: "Really I don’t understand the question, if I can, I can answer."



EuroNews: "To reach an agreement like in the case of the Cypriot one it is also a matter of balance between the two communities."



Mehmet Ali Talat: "What type of balance?"



EuroNews: "A balance of population, a demographic balance."



Mehmet Ali Talat: "They are 700 thousands, 600 thousand, Turkish Cypriot 200 thousand, so what type of balance they are seeking… I don’t know. We shouldn’t differentiate and discriminate people according to where they are coming from, and this is very important, crucial."



EuroNews: "How about the property issue? because this is another important topic."



Mehmet Ali Talat: "Property issue will be solved in terms of either compensations, or exchange or restitution. There are three options. And an agreement will have provisions regarding this issue."



EuroNews: "Another important issue is the presence of Turkish troops in the Northern part of the island. Do you think that once an agreement is reached, these troops will leave?"

elko2



Joined: 24/07/2007
Posts: 4400

Message Posted:
29/05/2008 14:30

Thanks Erkan, good interview.

ismet

wynyardman



Joined: 15/12/2007
Posts: 4580

Message Posted:
29/05/2008 15:09

Hi ukturk,



Thanks for providing that transcript. Very interesting and positive.



wyn

Aussie


Joined: 17/06/2007
Posts: 657

Message Posted:
29/05/2008 15:20

Ukturk



A very good and interesting post.



So far Talat seems to be coming across well in the media regarding the reunification talks.



Aussie

ilovecyprus


Joined: 08/05/2007
Posts: 2880

Message Posted:
29/05/2008 15:29

Thanks Ercan



Things seem to be moving positively ahead.

Talat seems strong in his resolve as does Kristofias. Although Kristofias is getting some flack, I understand that it is from a minority of vociferous hard liners. Interestingly Kristofias points to the fact that the troubles started before 74. This is very positive as it makes the GC's take responsability and weakens the hard liners case.

Also GC's seem to be impressed that Kristofias is keeping people informed all through the negotiations. This is good leadership.



Looks like things are heading towards a solution

ilovecyprus


Joined: 08/05/2007
Posts: 2880

Message Posted:
29/05/2008 15:33

sorry Erkan, I keep getting you mixed up with the airport (Ercan) . Please put it down to my illiteracy in turkish and stupidity, not my wishing to cause you offence

ukturk



Joined: 01/09/2007
Posts: 1974

Message Posted:
29/05/2008 16:21

hi

kark or is it lark sorry its mark!!!!! lol

you would of guessed by the amount of times we email each other i owuld of thought you would have learned my name by now!!!!! LOL



thats the diffrence talat and all the politcians apart from a few here and their are behind in some sort of resolve either it unification or indepedance where kristofias has not got full backing from the south and greece's policians especially papadoplous who remember has eoka ties and there are still quite few civilians in the south who still follow him and his way of thinking and like you said kristofias reconises there was a major problem before 74 and this is where we all have ended up not when turkey inteviened to help the turkish cypriots aswell as the greek cypriots and lets hope some sort of resolve happens whatever the outcome either bi state and bi zonal or a virgin state this has gone on to long its time to get down to the nitty gritty and take some sort of action cos action speaks louder than words!!!!!

warm regards to you all

ukturk (ERKAN)

ilovecyprus


Joined: 08/05/2007
Posts: 2880

Message Posted:
29/05/2008 17:10

Hi Erkan, Thanks for forgiving me



It's hard to establish how much resistence to Kristofias there is. Papa had 30% of the vote at the election (i think), so there could be more resistence than being admitted by the South. Papa would probably love the talks to fail and then he could say 'I told you so'

Also as Talat has said the church could be a big problem.



In any case, the TRNC must now be perceived as being the good guys in the eyes of International community, being proactive and pushing for talks to take place on schedule. If talks do falter the international community has to now reward the TRNC.

newlad



Joined: 02/03/2008
Posts: 7819

Message Posted:
29/05/2008 21:20

Great post Ercan sorry Erkan,

youve got me doing it now Mark lol.Is it true that former president papadopolous is trying to stir the s**** between Talat and Kristofias i have read several articles that say so but with them being greek written wasnt sure if they where true.Talat seems so up front in the interview and seems to come accross very well.Seems to be his own man,were as Kristofias seems to be hanging back all the time having to report to other people before making a decision,

Regards,

Paul.

Turtle


Joined: 28/05/2007
Posts: 2669

Message Posted:
29/05/2008 21:36

Sounded like a very positive interview, any media like this brought to the worlds attention has to be good for TRNC and a settlement in general.



Thanks UK Turk...........on the ball again