The economic Isolation imposed on Turkish Cyprus must be lifted, the United Nations (UN) Secretary General Kofi Annan said after his meeting with Mehmet Ali Talat, the President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), in Geneva on Monday.
Annan, who will relinquish his post January 1st 2007, met with the Turkish Cypriot leader to discuss the decades-long problem.
The meeting came as the European Union warned the Turkish government that it had to speed up efforts to resolve the stalemate in Cyprus if it wanted to continue accession talks with the bloc.
"We want to see action from both sides that close the gap between words and deeds," Annan told reporters in Geneva following a half hour meeting.
Annan is on a final visit to the UN’s European headquarters in Geneva before he leaves office. Earlier today he addressed a conference on biological weapons.
Talat asked Annan to keep up his efforts in reaching a settlement for the divided island, even after leaving his post to the next UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
By Cihan News Agency
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
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