TURKISH Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Mehmet Ali Talat has officially announced that his Republican Turkish Party (CTP) will be campaigning for a yes vote in the upcoming referendum on the Annan plan scheduled for April 24.
Speaking to party faithful at general assembly of the CTP in occupied Nicosia on Tuesday night, Talat said: “The majority of the Turkish Cypriot people will vote yes to the agreement that will form the United Cyprus Republic and its constitution, the Turkish Cypriot Founder State and its constitution and EU membership. Therefore, our general assembly has decided to begin a campaign for a yes vote.
“Let’s say yes so that we can join the international community; let’s say yes that we may bring an end to emigration and alienation. Let’s say yes that the Turkish Cypriot community can grow in an atmosphere of political equality and EU membership,” he added.
Talat used the occasion to present a draft resolution in which his party addressed the issues of relocation for Turkish Cypriots, property issues and mainlander settlers.
The resolution pledged to relocate those Turkish Cypriots affected in as “humane and unproblematic” way as possible, making sure that provisions would be made to provide workplaces and social provision for them.
On property issues, the resolution promised to provide all those who will lose property in territorial exchanges, or through the reinstatement of Greek Cypriot ownership of individual properties, full compensation and assistance in order that those affected do not suffer as a result of the transition. The resolution also said part of the financial burden for this would be shouldered by Turkey and the international community.
Talat’s resolution also included a reassurance for Turkish settlers in the north that their presence on the island would be safeguarded under the Annan plan.
Speaking yesterday at a news conference in the north, Talat further reassured settlers that all those who had become ‘TRNC’ citizens since 1974 would be eligible to stay on the island after the plan’s implementation.
He added that there were only around 40,000 settlers legally registered in the north of the island and that the ‘interior ministry’ was currently putting together a list of those viewed as eligible to become citizens of the Turkish Constituent State.
The completed list will be presented to the UN in the near future.
Commenting more generally on the plan, Talat said: “The plan might not be exactly as we wanted; it might not have been written by us, but it was assembled with out interests taken into account.”
He added that he believed the plan to be “balanced and fair”.
