Talat says he won't run for office again

Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat will not run for president next year if there is no solution to the Cyprus problem by the end of 2009, he said in an interview published in Turkish newspaper Sabah on Saturday. Talat, who was on a visit to Istanbul, said he was unhappy with the pace of the Cyprus negotiations. "If there's no hope for a resolution by (year-end), I will have completed my mission,” he said signalling that he would be done with his presidential ambitions when elections take place in April 2010.“We have to solve the Cyprus problem by the end of 2009 to go to the referendum, and hold elections for a unified state before the start of the Turkish Cypriot presidential elections,” Talat said.

His spokesman, Hasan Ercakica told the Sunday Mail yesterday it was not a question of whether or not Turkish Cypriots continued to want a solution but whether or not the current process could be successful. “If the process breaks down, President Talat sees no reason for him to be president any longer,” he said.Talat said "serious differences in view" remained between the two sides in the talks, the most difficult of which were property and territory.He last met President Demetris Christofias on Thursday, when they continued discussing property but decided to put it aside for the moment and focus on EU issues in their next meeting on Wednesday.Speaking to the press on his return from Ankara, Talat revealed that so far administration and power sharing had also been discussed and that there was serious convergence of views. He added that while in his view there was some progress in the negotiations they were progressing very slowly. "I expect the UN to get involved more actively”, he added.

Talat talked about the upcoming ‘parliamentary’ elections in the north on April 19, and the rise in popularity of the right-wing and hard-line National Unity Party (UBP), saying if a party unsupportive of the negotiations was elected it would result in “chaos”.

Recent polls gave the UBP 40 per cent of the vote, with Talat’s party the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) trailing at 28 per cent. Other polls in the north during the past week showed the majority of Turkish Cypriots now favoured a two-state solution following Greek Cypriot rejection of the Annan plan in 2004.

Commenting on the upcoming elections, Talat said: "I don't know what the result will be. However, the government to be formed has to support the negotiation process. This [negotiation process] is the product of a long process and is a position that has been maintained in coordination with Turkey. If the new government doesn't support it, chaos will ensue.”

There was no response from the Greek Cypriot side yesterday on Talat’s announcement. However the comment is likely to be seen as a form of time pressure, which is anathema to the Greek Cypriot side.2.Christofias won't accept any old solution

President Demitris Christofias said yesterday that he has no intention of accepting a solution for the sake of a solution. He said, however, that the Greek Cypriot side was ready to work hard for a solution the soonest possible based on the basic principles of international and European law though mutual understanding,

In a press conference the previous day on his first 100 days, Christofias said in defence of criticism against his education policy and attempts to change the history books that if we could not create conditions of co-existence with the Turkish Cypriots, then the next step would be to decide on partition. “We are destined to live with Turkish Cypriots for centuries unless we decide to live alone,” he said.


The Cyprus issue was an important part of the agenda of talks in Ankara between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan. Mr Babacan said that he had informed Mrs Clinton in detail on the process in Cyprus and added that 2009 is an important year for the solution process in Cyprus and added that everybody should contribute to the solution.