Challenge to Turkish PM over Cyprus

Cyprus: Turkish Cypriot leader Mr Rauf Denktash has taken his campaign against the UN plan for the reunification of Cyprus to…

Cyprus: Turkish Cypriot leader Mr Rauf Denktash has taken his campaign against the UN plan for the reunification of Cyprus to the Turkish mainland.

During an interview on Turkish television yesterday, he said the government in Ankara did not fully comprehend the plan and that the Turkish prime minister had been "misled".

Mr Denktash said on Saturday that the plan would remove Turkish influence and troops from Cyprus, endangering the existence of Turkish Cypriots.

Referenda will be held on April 24th on both sides of the dividing line imposed by Turkey's 1974 occupation of the north.

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Turkish Prime Minister Mr Recep Tayyip Erdogan denied Mr Denktash's charges and said he should "do whatever is necessary ... on the island ... I regret that \ comes to Turkey and holds meetings with marginal groups."

Mr Denktash's campaign on the island has been countered by an effort by Prime Minister Mr Mehmet Ali Talat which has convinced 59 to 63 per cent of Turkish Cypriots to vote yes.

Across the Green Line, the central committee of the Greek Cypriot left-wing Akel party called on the UN to postpone the referenda for a few months "in order to provide for objective presentation of the plan to the Cypriot people and for negotiations aimed at filling in the gaps existing in the plan". The party, the senior partner in government, said it would not support the plan if its conditions were not met.