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Thursday, January 27, 2005

Talat looks to EU for new ways to help the north

"Talat looks to EU for new ways to help the north
By Myria Antoniadou in Brussels

E.U. OFFICIALS yesterday offered support to Mehmet Ali Talat�s demand that Turkish Cypriots be helped out of their isolation, according to sources.

At the same time they publicly admitted there is nothing else the Commission can do on a package it had proposed to this end.

In an effort by the Commission to back the leader of the Republican Turkish Party in the upcoming election, Talat met here with Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, foreign relations supremo Xavier Solana and a deputy foreign minister of the Luxembourg presidency.

He was also the main speaker at a discussion organised by the Brussels think-tank European Policy Centre (EPC) and the Turkish ARI Movment.

Talat told the European officials and reiterated during the discussion that he is not in Brussels seeking recognition of the breakaway regime but the end of isolation and a settlement.

He said this can be achieved through the Commission�s stalled package, which would in effect force the Greek Cypriots into a solution."

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