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Istanbul: The German Chancellor says Turkey should open ports and airports traffic to Cyprus

Iran Materials 6 October 2006 17:30 (UTC +04:00)

(IHLAS) - The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, speaking at the Turkish-German Economic Forum in Istanbul, stated Turkey should open ports and airport traffic to the Greek Cypriot part of Cyprus.

Merkel met with the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at the forum organized by the Turkish businessmen's association. The German Chancellor affirmed the European Commission would issue the main report on Turkey on 8th November, and called for the Ankara protocol to be applied, reports Trend.

We tried to find resolutions. Please be realist. We aren't trying to make difficulties for Turkey on its way to the EU. I have a suggestion for Turkey; we should look at our advantages. Each country has its own power. I think Turkey would make a decision regarding their advantages. We won't cause difficulties for Turkey. Solutions are always available in politics, she added.

Speaking also about visa restrictions on business, Merkel said I will talk about the visa problem of transport companies to the officials in question. A solution should be found for this problem.

Erdogan spoke about Turkey's nuclear energy plans, saying, We have a program on nuclear energy. We have decided on some regions for this; the first step would be the province of Sinop. There are many companies abroad who are interested in the project; our Minister of Energy is in contact with them. The private sector in Turkey is also interested in the project and we are preparing to take steps with those companies. An auction will be set as soon as possible.

Answering a journalist's question about the decreasing numbers of German tourists in Turkey, Erdogan stressed the terrorism problem in Turkey; Antalya now has a perfect infrastructure. No other prime minister has traveled to Antalya as much as I have. Terrorism is threatening the whole world and we are in a constant struggle against it in Turkey. Sometimes bad things happen and as a result, there have been 100,000 cancellations a night at hotels in Antalya. Our income from the tourism sector has not decreased; it is only the number of tourists coming that has decreased. We have still time to compensate for this.

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