Cyprus News Agency: News in English, 09-10-30

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From: The Cyprus News Agency at <http://www.cyna.org.cy>

CONTENTS

[01] PRESIDENT EU TURKEY

[02] INDIAN PRESIDENT CYPRUS VISIT

[03] REHN CYPRUS TALKS TURKEY

[04] UN - CYPRIOT REPRESENTATIVE - TURKEY

[01] PRESIDENT EU TURKEY

Referring to the UN led direct talks which began September 2008 between himself and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat with a view to reach a solution to the Cyprus problem, President Christofias noted that talks face problems.

``Unfortunately, my expectations have not been justified,`` he said in his interview, adding ``we have differences and divergences, deep, deep differences.``

President Christofias and Mehmet Ali Talat have been engaged in talks since September 2008 with a view to find a mutually acceptable solution that will reunite the country, divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded and occupied the islands northern third.

After Cyprus` accession to the EU Turkey refused to extent its Customs Union to Cyprus, a commitment known as the Ankara Protocol, to open its ports and airports to vessel and aircraft bearing the Cypriot flag and to normalise its relations with the Republic of Cyprus.

In 2006 the EU decided to freeze eight of the 35 EU Turkey negotiating chapters due to Ankara`s refusal to comply with its EU obligations. The rest of the chapters continue to go ahead, but the eight shall not be concluded until Turkey fulfills its obligations.

The EU will assess Turkey`s progress at the December EU Council.

[02] INDIAN PRESIDENT CYPRUS VISIT

The Indian President and her entourage were welcomed at the Larnaka airport by Under Secretary to the President Titos Christofides and Director of the Protocol Department of the Foreign Ministry Ioanna Malliotis.

After arriving to Cyprus, the Indian President who is accompanied by her husband and a delegation of businesspeople, made no statements.

The official welcoming ceremony of Pratibha Devisingh Patil and her entourage will take place Saturday morning at the Presidential Palace.

[03] REHN CYPRUS TALKS TURKEY

Rehn, who was replying to a written question by Cypriot MEP Takis Hadjigeorgiou, said that the coming months will be determinative for the achievement of a solution in Cyprus.

In his reply, Rehn said that the EU wishes to see the Cyprus issue solved, adding that the Commission supports the leaders of the two communities on the island and the efforts for achieving an overall settlement.

The EU Commissioner adds that in that framework, President of the European Commission Manuel Barrosso has appointed a personal EU representative to the UN Good Offices Mission to Cyprus.

[04] UN - CYPRIOT REPRESENTATIVE - TURKEY

Stavrou, who was exercising Cyprus right of reply to the statement delivered, as a right of reply, by the representative of Turkey, said that it is regrettable that the Turkish Representative for yet another year reacts to the statements made about Cyprus by using false accusations and distortions in an attempt to divert the attention from the essence of the problem for which his country is held fully responsible.

Isnt it a paradox that a country serving now as a non permanent member of the UN Security Council, occupies almost 37% of a UN member state and a member of the EU, in which that country wants to accede someday, undermining the unity and the territorial integrity of the Republic of Cyprus by promoting a secessionist entity in the island, and thus failing to comply with the resolutions of the UN Security Council related to the Republic of Cyprus? The answer is obviously yes, it is a paradox and illegal too, he stressed.

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