Cyprus unification talks resume at U.N.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -- After a two-day boycott, Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides returned on Friday to U.N. proximity talks aimed at ending the division of his partitioned island.

Clerides, who abstained from the talks amid anger at a U.N. statement he felt was tilted toward his Turkish Cypriot rivals, had an impromptu meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan before talks with U.N. special envoy Alvaro de Soto.

There was no word on what was discussed at Clerides' meeting with Annan, but it was believed to reflect Greek Cypriot irritation at a comment by Annan on Tuesday in which he spoke of an "equal status of the parties" at the talks.

Annan's description of each side as the "political equal of the other" was interpreted by Greek Cypriots as diminishing the government's status and elevating that of the breakaway state in northern Cyprus led by Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash.

Cypriot government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou told journalists earlier Friday the Greek Cypriots had "verbal and written assurances" that the United Nations was operating strictly on the basis of U.N. resolutions.

The resolutions call for a settlement on the basis of one federal state, not a union of two independent states as favored by the Turkish Cypriots.

"Everything which could have been exploited by the Turkish Cypriot side has been neutralized," Papapetrou said.

The status issue runs to the heart of the Cyprus dispute, and is a key reason why mediators have been unable to bring the two sides to face-to-face talks since 1997.

Although his authority in practice ends at the ceasefire line splitting the island, Clerides is internationally recognized as president of all of Cyprus.

Denktash is president of the unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and wants that status recognized before attending direct talks.

Both men, sparring partners for more than half a century, are attending the talks in their capacity as leaders of their respective communities.

Clerides held exhaustive meetings with Greek Cypriot party leaders, members of the National Council advisory body, before agreeing to return to talks on Friday.

Three of the five party leaders in New York opposed his return to the talks, Greek Cypriot sources said.

The proximity talks, where each side holds separate contacts with U.N. mediators, is the latest attempt to end the partition of the eastern Mediterranean island. It has been divided since Turkish forces seized its north in 1974 in response to a Greek Cypriot coup engineered by the military then ruling Greece.

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