"'A new era for Turkish Cypriot politics'
By Simon Bahceli
MEHMET Ali Talat and Serdar Denktash, both candidates in Sunday's general election in the north, spelt out yesterday that a return to past Turkish Cypriot policies on the Cyprus problem would seriously set back efforts to reunite the island.
�This election will once again show Turkish Cypriots are following a new line � a great change in policy,� current �prime minister� Talat told the Cyprus Mail yesterday, adding:
�We have to prove we do not believe in continued division, but are trying to reunify the island, and that if there is an obstacle to reunification, it is not us�
Opinion polls suggest Talat�s Republican Turkish Party (CTP) will get the largest share of Sunday�s vote, but is likely to share power with current coalition ally Serdar Denktash�s Democrat Party (DP).
Talat said he could not rule out the possibility that his party may have lost some support as a result of the EU�s failure to stick to commitments to lift the Turkish Cypriots out of economic isolation, made after the community�s �yes� vote in the referendum on the Annan plan last April, but added his people were aware that the policies of former �prime minister� Dervish Eroglu were far less likely to achieve positive results. "
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