by the time that the second geneva conference met on 14 august 1974, international sympathy (which had been with the turks in their first attack) was swinging back towards greece now that she had restored democracy. at the second round of peace talks, turkey demanded that the cypriot government accept its plan for a federal state, and population transfer. when the cypriot acting president clerides asked for 36 to 48 hours in order to consult with athens and with greek cypriot leaders, the turkish foreign minister denied clerides that opportunity on the grounds that makarios and others would use it to play for more time.