Ihsanoglu: "The embargo on the TRNC is illegitimate"

Visiting the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Secretary General and Turkish scholar Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu yesterday met with President Mehmet Ali Talat, and reiterated the OIC's firm support for the Turkish Cypriots. Stressing that the OIC is opposed to the illegitimate and unfair embargo on the TRNC, he said, "There is no set of values under which punishing a people like this is acceptable. I hope the process of confidence-building measures and peace negotiations which were recently initiated by Talat and Greek Cypriot leader Demetris Christofias, under the auspices of the UN, will come to a successful conclusion." Ihsanoglu said that the OIC would continue to cooperate with the TRNC government to counter the unjust sanctions on Turkish Cypriots. Ihsanoglu was also awarded an honorary degree by Near Eastern University. To avoid more uncertainty among investors as global credit dries up, Ankara should make a speedy decision on its future relations with the International Monetary Fund after the conclusion of its standby arrangement, said Lorenzo Giorgianni, chief of the IMF's Turkey desk, in an interview with Britain's Financial Times yesterday. "There was a lot of hard work, a lot of it behind the scenes, by government and Central Bank officials, to make this work," he said, adding whatever program replaces the $10 billion standby should be "home grown." Urging a speedy decision, he said, "To the extent that it (no decision) increases the uncertainty among investors, a decision would be better sooner than later."