Cyprus leaders agree fresh talks

President Clerides, right, meets Denktash in a new bid for reunifying Cyprus

NICOSIA, Cyprus -- The leaders of divided Cyprus have ended their first face-to-face talks in four years with a pledge to meet again in the New Year.

There was no word, though, on whether President Glafcos Clerides, president of internationally recognised Cyprus, and Rauf Denktash, the leader of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in the Turkish-occupied north of the island, had made any progress in reconciling their differences.

Clerides and Denktash met for about an hour on Tuesday in the U.N. buffer zone splitting the island.

Afterwards, they stood smiling before reporters as Alvaro 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.

Clerides and Denktash then shook hands before leaving separately.

The talks have been given increased significant 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.

Clerides was first to arrive for the meeting as he was driven up in a presidential limousine at 10 a.m. (0800 GMT). Denktash came four minutes later in his own presidential limousine.

De Soto also attended the meeting, though he told reporters: "My role here is very limited."

In New York, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said the meeting was "an opportunity which the secretary-general hopes will be seized."

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 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 north 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."