(DIP) TURKEY WILL CONTINUE TO PUT PRESSURE ON GREECE FOR SOLUTION OF CYPRUS PROBLEM.MADRID, Oct 5, 2009 (TUR tur: see ibex. ) -- Turkey's foreign minister has said that Turkey would continue to put pressure on Athens for resolution of Cyprus problem. In an interview with Spanish daily El Pais, Davutoglu said that the only problem regarding Cyprus issue appeared to be the ports issue, but he said it was not true. Turkey refuses to open its ports to Greek Cypriot ships until the EU establishes trade ties with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Davutoglu said the EU accepted Greek Cypriot to the Union in 2004 and violated its principle that no country could join the bloc without having resolved their internal problems and conflicts with neighbors. "Turkish Cypriots Ethnically Turkish inhabitants of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus are referred to as Turkish Cypriots. The term is sometimes used to refer explicitly to the indigenous Turkish Cypriots, as opposed to the Turkish migrants who have settled there since the Cyprus conflict of 1974. accepted peace plan prepared by (the then UN Secretary-General) Kofi Annan Kofi Atta Annan (born April 8, 1938) is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1 1997 to January 1 2007, serving two five-year terms. He was the co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001. in 2004. But Greek Cypriots Greek Cypriots are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus. They form the island's largest ethnic community, comprising nearly 80 percent of the population. The Greek Cypriots are mostly Eastern Orthodox Christians, members of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus, an autocephalous church rejected it and yet they were allowed into the EU. Why did not EU tell them to accept the peace plan? We will continue to put pressure on Greece to resolve the problem," Davutoglu said. Upon a question on Greek elections, Davutoglu said, "we have perfect relations with Greece." "It was unthinkable 10 years ago. We are sure that relations will continue to be good although we could have difficulties," he said. (T-MS) (THROUGH ASIA Asia (ā`zhə), the world's largest continent, 17,139,000 sq mi (44,390,000 sq km), with about 3.3 billion people, nearly three fifths of the world's total population. PULSE) |
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