Moscow Supports Turkey For Cyprus

Zaman, Turkey
May 21 2004

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, currently in Moscow attending a
series of meetings as part of the Organization of Islamic Conference
(OIC) Troika, secured Russia’s full support of Turkey in the Cyprus
issue.

Gul met with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, and requested
that Russia, as a United Nations (UN) Security Council member, support
the lifting of the international sanctions imposed on Turkish Republic
of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). Gul, talking about the meeting afterwards,
conveyed that Lavrov said Russia supports the removal of TRNC sanctions
because establishing trade relations and ending the economic isolation
of TRNC is the right thing to do.

Gul added that Russian companies would not act as obstacles to ending
TRNC’s isolation. Russian companies have investments totaling over
US$40 billion in the Cypriot Greek side.

Gul, the first Turkish Foreign Minister to visit Moscow in eight
years, said that he and Lavrov discussed the Georgian issue and that
the both Turkey and Russia reached a consensus on the Adzharia issue.

Lavrov also thanked Gul for supporting Russian membership to OIC. The
Nagarno Karabag issue between Azerbaijan and Armenia was also
underlined during their talks.

05.21.2004
Mirza Cetinkaya