Cyprus leader set for historic trip

NICOSIA, Cyprus -- The Greek Cypriot president is to visit northern Cyprus for the first time in decades in a move which has surprised observers.

An aide to President Glafcos Clerides said he had accepted a dinner invitation from Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash as a means to ending the stalemate on the war-divided Mediterranean island.

The two leaders met earlier on Tuesday and announced that they would resume face-to-face talks in mid-January to try end the deadlock over reconciliation of the divided island.

"The president of the republic has accepted an invitation from Mr Denktash for dinner at his residence in honour of U.N. envoy Alvaro de Soto," Cypriot government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou told surprised reporters at a news conference later.

The trip on Wednesday will be the first time in decades that a serving president of the Cyprus Republic will travel to northern Cyprus, a breakaway Turkish Cypriot state.

Clerides and Denktash met for about an hour on Tuesday in the U.N. buffer zone splitting the island, with de Soto in attendance.

Afterwards, they stood smiling before reporters as de Soto, the special adviser on Cyprus of the U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, read a brief statement saying they had accepted an invitation from Annan to continue face-to-face talks in Cyprus in January.

Denktash, who had previously boycotted U.N.-sponsored talks on reunification, agreed to return to the negotiating table and not abandon it before "a comprehensive settlement is achieved."

Clerides and Denktash then shook hands before leaving separately.

The talks have been given increased significance because Cyprus is expected to join the European Union by 2003, but Turkey, the only country that recognises Denktash's government, opposes the move.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded its northern part after a short-lived coup engineered by the military junta then ruling Greece. Turkey maintains 35,000 troops in northern Cyprus.

In Turkey, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said on Tuesday he was pleased Clerides and Denktash had "met face to face, in their own country, as two neighbours."

"A dialogue like this has the potential to open certain doors," Ecevit said.

Denktash wants a loose federation of two states, with separate representation in the EU, and with the two communities living separately. Clerides sees two fairly independent entities joined under one federal administration.

Denktash walked out of U.N.-sponsored indirect talks with Clerides last year after demanding recognition of his statelet and said he would only attend more talks if there was an end to Cyprus' negotiations about joining the EU .

But last month he invited Clerides to a "heart-to-heart" meeting to agree on a new approach to the talks. Clerides accepted on condition the procedure remained under U.N. auspices through the presence of de Soto.

Clerides "is ready to face any scenario presented by Denktash, provided the settlement sought is based on the relevant Security Council resolutions," his spokesman, Michalis Papapetrou, said on Monday.

The resolutions, which are rejected by the Turkish side, call for the reunification of the island as a bizonal federation, the withdrawal of the 35,000 Turkish troops and estimated 100,000 Turkish settlers from the mainland and the return to the north of 185,000 Greek Cypriot refugees.

Denktash said earlier the EU question is a key to a breakthrough. "Anything can be settled, anything can be arranged," provided the Greek Cypriots "accept they are not representing us at the EU."

Michael Triantafyllides, Cyprus' former chief justice, said on Monday that a settlement "cannot contravene the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights."

Turkey has refused to implement the judgments, which found it guilty of ethnic cleansing and other human rights violations in northern Cyprus, branded the breakaway state illegal and support the right of the refugees to return.

Triantafyllides said that the Council of Europe "will have no option but to expel Turkey if it continues to reject the judgment of its Court."

Northern Cyprus's economy is weak, and many in that part of the island worry about being increasingly isolated -- economically and politically -- if a reunification settlement is not reached.

A group of some 200 Turkish Cypriots, representing a movement which opposes Denktash's policies and favours a swift solution, held a protest meeting on Tuesday outside Nicosia near the Green Line that divides the island.

"From now on... the Turkish Cypriots want to be a part of the peace process and the EU accession," the group said in a statement.