TRNC News Today 16th May 2013
KÜÇÜK: ‘I HOPE ERDOĞAN AND OBAMA DISCUSS THE CYPRUS ISSUE’
Prime Minister Irsen Küçük said that he hopes the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is making an official visit in the USA, touches upon the Cyprus problem during his meeting with the President of the USA, Barack Obama.
In his statement to IHA, Küçük said ‘We have reached some agreements about a federal solution based on bi-zonality before. However the message we gave was that we especially 
want our brother countries to evaluate the year of 2013 in the best way, encourage the parties to spend much more time for Cyprus and make evaluations within this year.
Adding that the United Nations have made important studies towards the solution of the Cyprus problem, Küçük said: “especially, the UN Secretary General’s Special Advisor for Cyprus, Alexander Downer, held meetings with both leaders and with us in Cyprus. Downer also realized some contacts in Ankara and Athens. All these are preparations towards starting the negotiations as soon as possible and that’s why this year should be evaluated in the best way.”
In his statement, Küçük also said: “Both leaders always discuss the Cyprus problem during their meetings. We were informed that they will discuss the Cyprus problem again. During the meeting, they should especially discuss starting the negotiations as soon as possible. I hope, during their meeting, Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan and the President of the USA, Barack Obama, make a call to the parties to start the negotiations as soon as possible.”
KÜÇÜK-FELTMAN MEETING
Prime Minister Irsen Küçük had a meeting with the UN Secretary General’s Deputy Responsible for Political Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman, 
in the USA and gave the message that Turkish Cypriot side is ready to solve the Cyprus problem in 2013.
Küçük also underlined that South Cyprus was using their economic crisis as an excuse in order to postpone the negotiations and added that this is not acceptable.
Moreover, Küçük underlined during his meeting with Feltman that the political will of the Turkish Cypriot side towards a solution is continuing.
TRNC PRIME MINISTER CONTINUES HIS CONTACTS IN USA
TRNC Prime Minister Irsen Küçük calls Greek Cypriot side for peace from Washington.
According to the statement made by
the Prime Ministry Press and Public Relations Directorate, Prime Minister Küçük attended the working dinner of the Assembly of Turkish American Associations within the scope of his contacts in the USA. Speaking at the dinner İrsen Küçük called the international community to persuade the Greek Cypriot side to return to the negotiation table.
In his speech, the TRNC Prime Minister explained the recent developments in the Cyprus problem.
The Prime Minister said:
“As the TRNC Prime Minister, I extend a hand of peace to the Greek Cypriot side once again at this platform. We can reunite Cyprus under a federal base within the framework of the UN parameters accepted by the sides and we can contribute to peace in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Turkish-Greek relations, political and economic structure of the Western World and to the security within the framework of NATO.
Moreover Küçük called the Greek Cypriot side to stop unilateral initiatives on hydrocarbon resources. He said that such attempts should be made after a solution is achieved in Cyprus.
PRIME MINISTER MET WITH MEMBERS OF AMERICAN CONGRESS
Prime Minister Küçük also met with members of the American Congress.
Küçük met members Hank Johnson, Ed Whitfield, Howard Coble and Mark Meadows, separately and requested their help in making the voice of the Turkish Cypriots heard at the American Congress.
After completing his contacts in Washington, Prime Minister Küçük went to New York.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS ÖZGÜRGÜN: “GIVING SAME MESSAGES REGARDING THE CYPRUS ISSUE IS VERY INFLUENTIAL AND IMPORTANT”
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Hüseyin Özgürgün stated that giving the same messages regarding the Cyprus issue by the TRNC President, TRNC Government and Turkey is very influential and import
ant and added that it is very natural that Prime Minister İrsen Küçük stated that the negotiations for reaching a solution in the Cyprus problem should start without delay just as always it has been underlined by the TRNC President Derviş Eroğlu.
Minister Özgürgün pointed out that the TRNC President mentioned his desire for starting the negotiations as soon as possible to the UN Secretary General Ban-ki Moon and said that Turkish Republic has the same opinion and also as the Minister of Foreign Affairs he has the same opinion. Özgürgün also said: “it is good that the Prime Minister stated the same views too, so that the international community will observe that the TRNC President, TRNC Government and the Turkish Republic are all giving the same messages”.
Responding to the questions of the press members Özgürgün said: “although the TRNC is not a recognized country it has certain foreign relations and certain representations and at present there are 22 representative offices of the TRNC abroad however 10 years ago this number was only 3. In this sense our foreign policy works really hard and it is natural to have contacts in countries like Pakistan, USA, Qatar, Jordan, Bahrain and Sweden as the TRNC has representative offices in such countries at the moment.
300 THOUSAND POUNDS ALLOCATED FOR TRNC TOURISM PROMOTION IN UK
TRNC Tourism Office in the UK is making promotion, advertisement and image works by the approval of the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Culture in order to promote and improve TRNC tourism and increase the number of tourists coming from the UK. The needed amount, 300 thousand pounds, is being paid from the Ministry budget.
Also other tourism promotion offices will be opened in Baku, Amsterdam, Tehran, Stockholm, Brussels and Rome.
In the decision of the Council of Ministers on the issue it was stated that the Ministry’s applications to participate in some fairs organized in Finland, Sweden and Brussels in January and March were rejected due to the Greek Cypriots’ obstacle and indicated that these tourism promotion offices had to be opened in order to play a more active role.
Moreover, TRNC promotional films are being displayed on 56 digital screens at 6 metro stations in Istanbul as of 15th April and this will continue for two months.
EDUCATION INTERNATIONAL’ S FIRST CONFERENCE IN TRNC
Education International, which is one of the biggest global union federations, is going to organize a conference in the TRNC for the first time in order to contribute to the peace process.
Cyprus Turkish Teacher’s Union (CTTU), Cyprus Turkish Secondary Education Teacher’s Union (CTSETU) and Eastern Mediterranean Academic Personnel Union (EMU-APU) are the members of Education International and the subject of the conference organized by the ETUCE (European Trade Union Committee for Education) is ‘Peace Education’.
The conference, where tolerance and unbiased education will be shown as a model and examples will be given from the countries like Ireland, Israel, Bosnia-Herzegovina, is going to be held at Salamis Bay Hotel on 17th -18th May.
It has been stated that over a hundred participants are being expected to attend the conference, however, the Greek Cypriot Teacher Unions will not be able to attend the conference due to the obstacle of the Greek Cypriot Administration.
The CTTU, CTSETU and EMU-APU officials organized a press meeting about the conference at CTTU building.
In the meeting CTTU Secretary-General Sener Elcil said that the meeting had been planned to be held on 27th September 2012, but it was prevented by the Greek Cypriot Administration as it made lobby activities a
t the EU Commissariat for Education, the European Parliament and the French Government.
Stating that they would also like the Greek Cypriot Unions to attend, but the unions decided not to attend due to the pressure of their administration and conservative unions, Elcil said that: “Our main aim is to stress that the South and the North of the island are equal and the Turkish Cypriots also have rights on the island as well as the Greek Cypriots”.
Elcil expressed that the ETUCE should be represented by the President and the Secretary-General at the conference.
In the joint press statement read by the President of CTSETU, Tahir Gokcebel it was said that: “The dominant, status-quoits and uncompromising parties in the South which are against the organization of any international conference in the North, have tried their best to prevent the conference”.
This conference was made possible with the help of the unions and ETUCE’s determination which explained the wrong propaganda of the Greek Cypriot Administration to Brussels.
Source: TRNC Public Information Office
