Cyprus talks last chance for reunification, Turkish FM says

Saturday, 18 July 2009 11:15

Turkey's foreign minister has made a warning over the fate of peace talks between Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders, saying negotiations would either end the division of the island or "we would all have to consider alternative ways."

Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat and Greek Cypriot leader Demetris Christofias re-launched peace talks in September 2008, aimed at finding a lasting solution to the division.

Any agreement between the Cyprus leaders to reunify the island would be submitted to vote in Turkish and Greek Cypriot communities. In 2004, a UN-sponsored peace plan was turned down by the Greek Cypriots in a double referendum which was accepted by Turkish Cypriots.

The promise made by EU foreign ministers before the referendums to end the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots and establish direct trade with northern Cyprus still remains unfulfilled.

"Unfair embargoes on the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus cannot continue. Either the status quo changes at the end of the talks and we build a peace and a security zone in the eastern Mediterranean or we would all have to consider alternative ways," Davutoğlu said.