Cyprus-Forum.com

[MR-from-NG]

If you believe the TRNC is avoiding sitting at the negotiation table then is the RoC doing the right thing by giving them the excuse to do so.

If I was a GC I would question the RoC administration's motive regarding this petty political move. To halt the negotiations for a simple friendly game is petty to say the least.


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Peace talks halted by football match
By Jean Christou

PEEVED over the cancellation of a football match, Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat yesterday abruptly pulled out of what would have been the first meeting in over a year with President Tassos Papadopoulos.

Rasit Pertev and Tasos Tzonis, respective aides to the leaders met yesterday for nearly two hours under the auspices of UNFICYP chief of Mission Michael Moller as part of the ongoing contacts under the July 8, 2006 agreement.

The meeting was due to fix a date and to prepare the ground for the talks between Papadopoulos and Talat, the first since July 8 last year. However the Turkish Cypriot side was angered on Wednesday when English club Luton Town cancelled a friendly match against Turkish Cypriot side Cetinkaya after protests from Cyprus FA officials. The match was to be played in the north.

"There is a crisis," Pertev told Reuters after yesterday’s meeting. "It is a very saddening affair to see that the Greek Cypriot administration could not even stand a friendly match between Turkish Cypriots and another team, and did their best at whatever level to stop this event. In this state of affairs, as the Turkish Cypriot side, we do not feel that it is appropriate to fix a date for a meeting of the two leaders at this stage

But the government said it had nothing to do with the match cancellation, spokesman Vassilis Palmas said.

“These comments do not help create a good climate. The Cyprus government had absolutely nothing to do with the cancellation of the game,” Palmas said ''We hope that Mr Talat will have second thoughts so that the meeting will take place and the 8 July agreement will begin.”

UNFICYP spokesman Brian Kelly told Cyprus Mail last night: “We continue to stand by the 8th July agreement having warmly welcomed the agreement between Mr Papadopoulos and Mr Talat to meet”.

”We remain ready to facilitate the process and the two sides and hope it will still be possible to hold the meeting in the near future in order to get the necessary impetus to move the overall process forward.”

It was not immediately clear what Tzonis and Pertev discussed during a two-hour meeting if the Turkish Cypriot side had already made up its mind to pull out of the meeting over the football match. Palmas said he was not in a position to comment on that.

Diplomatic sources said they were confident the meeting would be rescheduled. “All is not lost,” said the sources. They hinted that it was probably nothing more than one side seizing the perfect opportunity for one upmanship.

On Tuesday Talat gave a positive response to a letter sent by Papadopoulos last week suggesting a meeting within the framework of the July 8 agreement. Hopes were high that the meeting would take place inside the month.



Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2007

[Viewpoint]

Good on you Talat tell him where to stick his invite..its all a scam for votes. Surely the elecotare must questions his true intentions in being practive to find a solution if they do not then they deserve him and his 1960s Ekoa mentality.

[oranos64]

SO IF YOU ALL LOVE YOUR NORTH ...WHY DO YOU ALL COME OVER HERE FOR JOBS ....stay over there ..

also viewpoint ...you past is very selective ...remember it is you who invaded cyprus way back before english rule ...defeating the franco rulers and then began forcing greeks from the coasts inland so you could all have coast land homes ...also taxed our people to death ...

viewpoint ...feel free to speak about the past ..but know and accept that you are wrong what goes around comes around ..
GREY WOLVES THE WHITE TIGER IS COMING

[observer]

Do you think he has a drink problem?

[oranos64]

yes too much water .... you ? .. clean your eyes with it and your eyes and kidneys

[Simon]

Just another excuse for Talat to dodge talks.

[MR-from-NG]

Just another excuse for Talat to dodge talks.

That's exactly my point. Please tell me Simon who gave him this excuse.

[Pyrpolizer]

Good on you Talat tell him where to stick his invite..its all a scam for votes. Surely the elecotare must questions his true intentions in being practive to find a solution if they do not then they deserve him and his 1960s Ekoa mentality.

Perhaps you haven't heard that Talat ACCEPTED the invitation. And then he discovered an excuse to cancel the meeting!

If Talat was sincere and would follow your advice, he should have rejected the initation right from the start.

Anyway a few more tricks like that, and Talat will be walking like a shitman me thinks. Just atch the american reaction

[Simon]

[quote]That's exactly my point. Please tell me Simon who gave him this excuse.[/quote]


That is exactly my point. The TC leader should not be looking for excuses to halt negotiations.

[DT.]

Talat cancelled the meeting because of the bloody friendly match??????? Bit of a lame excuse is it not?