Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (10.12.14) reports that the Cyprus problem was on the agenda of the meetings which British Prime Minister, David Cameron held yesterday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. During Cameron’s visit to Turkey, Erdogan hosted a two-hour working lunch for him with the participation of Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
In statements at a press conference after holding a 1.5-hour meeting with Cameron, Davutoglu said that when the leaders of Turkey and Britain meet, Cyprus is definitely one of the issues which they discuss. Responding to questions, Davutoglu noted that he briefed Cameron on his recent visit to Athens and added:
“As two guarantor powers, and Greece as the third guarantor power, we have a common stance in the direction of the commencement of the peace talks on the island the soonest. The commencement of the peace talks the soonest and the settlement, through dialogue, of all problems of the island by the two sides, including the natural gas resources, as well as avoiding unilateral steps, constitutes our common point of view”.
The Turkish Prime Minister said that Turkey and Britain have a “very deep rooted historic past” and a “very sound cooperation”, arguing that within next years this cooperation will greatly contribute to regional peace and not only to the welfare of their two peoples. Davutoglu described ISIS as a threat to the peoples of the area and the international community and underlined the need for everybody’s cooperation on this issue.
In his statements, the British Prime Minister said that during their meeting they discussed Cyprus and the pressure which Turkey is experiencing on the issue of the [Syrian] refugees. He noted that Turkey is one of the biggest donors for these refugees and added that that they should do whatever they can on this issue.
