The United States Ambassador to Turkey, Mr. William Maccomber, had a forty-five minute meeting with the Turkish Prime Minister, Mr. Bulent Ecevit as the Foreigners Palace in Ankara on Sunday (18 August).

After the meeting Mr. Ecevit told reporters that they had reviewed the prospects for resuming the deadlocked Geneva negotiations on the future of Cyprus. "We talked about whether the negotiations could start or not and if so, when and how", he said.

The second stage of the Geneva peace talks collapsed in the small hours of last Wednesday (14 August). Shortly afterwards, Turkey launched the second phase of its military intervention in Cyprus, expanding the area seized after the landings on 20 July.

Later the same day Mr. Ecevit had a meeting with the Turkish-Cypriot leader, Mr. Rauf Danktash. No information was immediately available about the nature of their discussions, but on Monday (19 August) the Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey, Mr. Necmettin Erbakan, released the news that Turkey is going ahead with the economic development of an autonomous Turkish-Cypriot state - with or without fresh negotiations at Geneva.

SYNOPSIS: Turkish leaders have stressed their willingness to hold further peace talks on Cyprus in Geneva and on Sunday the United States Ambassador to Turkey, Mr. William Maccomber, had a forty-five minute meeting in Ankara with Turkish Premier Mr. Bulent Ecevit.

After the meeting Mr. Ecevit told reporters that they had reviewed the prospects for resuming the deadlocked Geneva negotiations on the future of Cyprus: "We talked about whether the negotiations could start or not and if so, when and how", he said.

The second stage of the Geneva peace talks collapsed last Wednesday. Shortly afterwards, Turkey launched the second phase of its military intervention on the island, expanding the area seized after the initial landings on the twentieth of July.

Later the same day Mr. Ecevit had a meeting with the Turkish-Cypriot leader, Mr. Rauf Denktash. On Monday the Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Necmettin Erbaken, said that Turkey is going ahead with economic development of an autonomous Turkish-Cypriot state - with or without fresh negotiations at Geneva.