Turkish Minister urges for Cyprus settlement by April

"There are leaders on the both sides who are eager for a solution, which had yet to come. I am hoping that they will come up with a settlement by April because that is when Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat's term ends. And it seems unlikely that he can get re-elected," Egemen Bagis told a seminar in Tallinn.

Bagis rejected the Cyprus issue as "a pre-condition" for Turkey's membership in the EU, saying that the EU should not have allowed the Greek Cypriot administration into the Union before it had solved its border disputes.

Bagis also criticized the Greek Cypriot administration for blocking the opening of further policy chapters in Turkey's accession talks.

The Turkish negotiator said the Justice and Development (AK) Party had been extending full support to the settlement of the Cyprus issue since it came to power in 2002.

/World Bulletin/