"Talat rebuffs Tassos Famagusta offer
By Simon Bahceli
TURKISH Cypriot �prime minister� Mehmet Ali Talat yesterday shrugged off President Tassos Papadopoulos� offer of running Famagusta port as a bicommunal project in return for the handing over to the Republic of the closed city of Varosha.
�It will never a possible to accept Greek Cypriot authority in the north� unless joint running applied to all ports on the island,� Talat told reporters yesterday.
Talat, a strong advocate of the UN-backed Annan plan for Cyprus, has repeatedly stated he is against a piecemeal approach to solving the Cyprus problem.
�We are ready to create a United Cyprus Republic [as envisaged in the Annan plan], but bringing Greek Cypriot authority into the north in this way is not acceptable,� Talat insisted.
He added that Western leaders had �laughed a little� at Papadopoulos� latest offer."
Talat rebuffs Tassos Famagusta offer
