Turkse Cyprioten vormen een pro-Europese regering (en)

In an unexpected move Turkish Cypriot President Rauf Denktash on Monday (29 December) appointed the leader of the pro-EU party the Republican Turkish Party, Mehmet Ali Talat, to form the next government.

The elections on 14 December ended in a deadlock as the parliament was evenly split between parties favouring and opposing a UN proposed plan to reunify the divided island.

The pro-EU opposition parties gained just 2% more votes than the governing party, which opposes reunification of the island.

Due to the voting system, however, the seats in the Turkish Cypriot parliament were evenly split with 25 seats to both sites.

At stake is whether Turkish Cypriots will join their Greek Cypriot compatriots in the south when they enter the EU on 1 May 2004.

Turkey is under heavy pressure from Brussels to push the Turkish Cypriots toward a deal. Ankara hopes to get a date to start full EU membership negotiations for Turkey in 2004 and a solution to the Cyprus problem could help the efforts.

Turkish seven-point plan

According to Turkish mainland daily, Cumhuriyet, the Turkish Foreign Ministry has prepared a seven-point plan entitled "The Turkish Side's Stance" which is based on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's plan to solve the Cyprus problem.

Fifteen different new maps have been prepared by the Turks to tackle the territorial issue. The number of Turkish occupation troops following a settlement would be reduced to six thousand within forty months.

The fate of the international agreements that envisage Turkey's guarantorship have been left to EU legislation, reported Cumhuriyet.

But there appears to be opposition to the plan already. The daily Vatan reported, without saying how it got the information, that the Turkish army is against these concessions.

The army says a proposed reduction in the number of Turkish troops on the island will endanger Turkey's security, the paper said.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974.