Call for reunified Cyprus by 2012

TURKEY'S foreign minister yesterday called for a deal reunifying ethnically divided Cyprus before the island assumes the European Union's presidency in the middle of next year.

Ahmet Davutoglu said a "new state" bringing together Greek and Turkish Cypriots would make a Cyprus EU presidency legitimate because it would represent the whole island.

Cyprus was divided into a Turkish Cypriot north and a Greek Cypriot south in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup by supporters of union with Greece.

The island joined the EU in 2004, but only the internationally-recognised south enjoys membership benefits.

Numerous UN-mediated attempts at reunification have failed. The dispute has also hampered Turkey's bid to join the EU.

"My message to the EU is the European vision necessitates a solution before the presidency next year," Davutoglu said after talks with Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu in the northern half of the divided capital, Nicosia.

He added: "It will be against European values if one side is being isolated and the other side will be seen as the representative of all the island during this presidency. This will be another mistake."

Almost three years of UN-mediated talks, the latest peace drive has produced limited progress, taxing the UN's patience with people on both sides of the divide growing increasingly weary.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said this week that he expects Eroglu and Greek Cypriot president Dimitris Christofias to ramp up talks and to reach agreement by October on all core issues.

The two sides have made some progress on how they might govern themselves in an envisioned federation, but other core issues have yet to be discussed, including how to settle territorial adjustments and claims on private property lost after the 1974 war. Any settlement would need approval from both sides in separate referendums.

Davutoglu said an accord should be concluded by the end of the year followed by referendums in the first months of 2012 that would enable a reunified island to assume a "legitimate (EU] presidency to represent all the island".

Davutoglu said "there would be no ethical ground or justification" to keep the north internationally isolated if the talks collapse "despite all this good will of the Turkish Cypriot side".