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The chairman of the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Industry Tunar briefs Talat on meeting with the Russian President Putin
Ankara Anatolia news agency (14.01.05) reports that Mr Salih Tunar, the so-called chairman of the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Industry who accompanied the Turkish Prime Minister Mr Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his visit to Russia, had a meeting with the so-called prime minister of the occupation regime Mr Mehmet Ali Talat about the visit.

Commenting on the issue Mr Talat stated that the Turkish Cypriots "should continue to explain their 'just cause' to the entire world", and told Mr Tunar that he has made good use of a 'historic opportunity', as he called Tunar's visit to Russia.

Stressing the importance of Russian President Vladimir Putin's statement affirming that Russia could support the Annan plan, Talat said: "It is not possible to get any result in a few days. So, we should exert continuous efforts. We should clearly show that the policy charted regarding Cyprus is a permanent one and there is no return, so the international community must assess this new situation.''

On the other hand, Mr Tunar said that he was given the opportunity to make a statement "as the chairman of the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Industry" in a meeting of Putin and Erdogan with Turkish businessmen, and noted that this was a surprise for him.

"Even though very shortly, I said that the Turkish Cypriot side is still the underdog, although it expressed its willingness for a solution and the reunification of Cyprus on the 24 April referenda. And, I said that this situation hinder our economic development, and I stressed the necessity to lift the blockade. I also said that the EU has not taken any concrete steps so far. I noted that we expect that Russia, a strong country in its region and a member of the Security Council should take such steps.''

Qualifying the opportunity to make a speech in this meeting as a ''historic event'' for the Turkish Cypriots, Tunar said: ''I am pleased to fulfill this duty. After my speech, President Putin made very important statements regarding the Cyprus problem.''

In addition, as Turkish Cypriot daily KIBRIS newspaper (15.01.05) reports, Mr Tunar pointed out during his visit with Mr Talat the tourism potentials of the island and said that this can be evaluated in two ways: The occupied Cyprus is open for Russian investments while it is open for Russian tourists and that the Russian businessmen can be benefited from this.