Brown meets Talat

PRIME Minister Gordon Brown met with Turkish Republic of North Cyprus President Mehmet Ali Talat on his recent whirlwind trip to London, a historic first for the TRNC President.
The meeting took place last Friday at the House of Lords even though President Talat was not formally recognised by the PM as President but as the leader of the Turkish Cypriots in North Cyprus.
The closed meeting with Mr Brown passed off well, Mr Talat revealed afterwards. He said Turkish Cypriots needed Britain to honour its guarantor status and to provide security for the Turkish Cypriots.
“I spoke to Mr Brown about the what the Turkish Cypriots need and their expectations and he said that Britain would continue to honour its guarantor status, agreeing that it was important to do so” said Mr Talat.
He added that Mr Brown is following the progress of the negotiations in Cyprus carefully and that he is aware of the effort the Turkish Cypriots are putting into the process.
“I am grateful for this chance to tell Mr Brown in person about our community’s needs and he said he was happy to meet with both myself and the Greek Cypriot president to hear for himself how things were progressing.”
Mr Talat said Mr Brown supported a fair, peaceful solution which would give both communities equal rights.
The meeting was criticised by some groups who believed that Gordon Brown should have shown impartiality and met President Talat at Downing Street as he had Greek Cypriot leader Christofyas recently.
Mr Talat was in London last week-end for a series of engagements including talks at the London School of Economics, Chatham House, a meeting hosted by the Cyprus Turkish Chamber of Commerce and the formal opening of the GAU campus in Canterbury.
 

LondraGazete

12.12.2009