TURKISH Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat said yesterday he hoped to meet President Papadopoulos "in the coming days," possibly at a reception.

The occasion would be the appointment of a new UN representative to the Committee on Missing Persons, but the venue and date of the reception had yet to be decided, he said. But there seems to be confusion as to what the two men will discuss.

Government Spokesman Giorgos Lillikas welcomed Talat’s "acceptance of the suggestion for a meeting with the President of the Republic" that would deal with the humanitarian issue of missing persons.

But in his statement, Talat said the proposed meeting "will not focus on humanitarian issues as suggested". He also rejected Papadopoulos’ statement that technical issues could not be taken up without touching upon the essence of the Cyprus problem.

He said UN envoy Michael Moller had proposed the setting up of ten different technical committees and this was accepted by the Turkish Cypriot side.

List of objections

Talat also said the Greek Cypriot side should present a list of is objections to the Annan Plan before full-scale negotiations could resume between the two sides.

The Turkish Cypriot leader announced he would resume his official duties on Monday, when he will start visiting his office for limited periods of time. Today he is due to meet British High Commissioner Peter Millet.

Lillikas deplored Talat’s attempt to distort the purpose and usefulness of the proposed meeting.

He also said the government would continue to back UN efforts to implement what was agreed at the Paris meeting between Secretary-General Kofi Annan and President Papadopoulos, for technical level discussions on day-to-day issues but also of matters of substance aimed at paving the way for full-fledged talks.

Earlier, Presidential Under-secretary Christodoulos Pashiardis commented on remarks by Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Namik Tam that the proposed technical level talks would not deal with core issues of the Cyprus problem.

"This is an arbitrary and selective interpretation of what was agreed in Paris. There is no point in discussing only day-to-day matters.

"Such a limited discussion would only create impressions that would facilitate the Turkish side, without helping the search for a Cyprus settlement. What the Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman said is not what we agreed in Paris and certainly the issues he mentioned are not the issues we expect to discuss. In any event, we are ready to participate in such talks when invited by the United Nations, based on what was agreed upon". AH