KKTC President Mehmet Ali Talat, accompanied by KKTC Foreign Minister Hüseyin Özgürgün, arrived in Ankara at the invitation of Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. The Turkish and KKTC delegations led by Davutoğlu and Talat were scheduled to gather at a working dinner that would be held after Today’s Zaman went into print and would be closed to the press. Sources said the recent course of affairs regarding ongoing reunification talks between Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders would be discussed in detail at the dinner.
As of today, Talat and Özgürgün are scheduled to have talks with both President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Talat and Greek Cypriot leader Dimitris Christofias have been holding talks on reuniting the island since September 2008, but there has been little progress so far in resolving the main issues of dispute between the two sides.
Last week, Britain urged Turkey to honor a pledge to the European Union to open its ports and airports to Greek Cyprus, saying it would be an important step in Ankara’s talks to join the bloc. Turkey has no diplomatic relations with Greek Cyprus, an EU member since 2004, but is under pressure to make good on a promise to open its ports to Greek Cypriot traffic under a deal that enabled it to start accession talks in 2005.
