Turkish Troops Would Leave Cyprus with Solution - Talat

Turkish troops would withdraw from Cyprus if there were a solution, said Turkish-Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat speaking at the London School of Economics yesterday.

"It is clear that Turkish troops will withdraw together with a solution. If Annan plan had been accepted, it (withdrawal) would have taken place. But nothing has changed," he said.

Commenting on the ongoing face-to-face peace talks, Talat said that they were not an easy process, but that he believes that the problem will be solved through 'good intention and compromise.'

Meanwhile, former Turkish-Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, speaking at a conference in Turkey, stepped up the pressure on Talat, saying that 'the Cyprus Turkish people and the Turkish nation had not granted President Talat the authority to abandon the TRNC's statehood.'

Upcoming elections in April 2010 in the breakaway state of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) look set to be won by nationalist centre-right Turkish-Cypriot party UBP (National Unity Party), led by Serdar Denktash and founded by Rauf Denktash in 1975.