Unifier asked to be N. Cyprus PM
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It is not clear whether Talat can win a vote of confidence in parliament.
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NICOSIA, Cyprus (Reuters) -- Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash has given a mandate to form a government to the leader of a party which backs a U.N. plan to reunify Cyprus.
This month's general election left parliament in the Turkish-Cypriot controlled north evenly split between supporters and opponents of the U.N. plan.
"We have been given the duty to form the government within the next 15 days which will then be expected to receive a vote of confidence," Mehmet Ali Talat told reporters.
His Republican People's Party garnered most seats after the polls, but it was far from clear whether he could win a vote of confidence in parliament.
Veteran leader Denktash, president of the breakaway enclave only recognized by Turkey, is strongly opposed to the U.N. blueprint, arguing it would enable the richer and more numerous Greek Cypriots to dominate a reunited Cyprus.
The internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government is due to join the EU on May 1, 2004.
"We need to form a government as quickly as possible because May 2004 is a very real date by which time a solution to the Cyprus problem needs to be found," Talat said.
Turkey is pressuring Denktash to return to the negotiating table knowing that deadlock on Cyprus could harm its own European Union ambitions.
Foreign Ministry officials were scheduled Tuesday to give Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan a briefing on Turkey's strategy for working toward a solution of the Cyprus problem in the framework of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's plan.
A report in the Cumhuriyet newspaper Monday said the ministry had prepared a document envisaging a solution based on the Annan plan but with several adjustments.
The document included a series of proposed maps offering alternatives for redistributing land on the island. It accepts lowering the number of Turkish soldiers in northern Cyprus to 6,000 from around 30,000 within 40 months.
It also envisages Turkey and Greece maintaining their guarantor status on the island and specifies that the number of residents from Turkey and Greece should not exceed five percent on each side.
The Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the report.
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