Turkish Cypriot leader urges UN to end Cyprus division

Turkish Cypriot President Mehmed Ali Talat called on the United Nations Tuesday to help end the division of Cyprus, warning that unless an solution is found soon, the current state would become irreparable.

Talat met with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at UN headquarters to press his demand, saying that he proposed confidence-building measures, including a military solution and cross-border visits, to facilitate negotiations with the Greek Cypriot community. He would not give details of the measures.

'We reiterate and emphasize our position that Turkish Cypriots are ready for a comprehensive and urgent solution,' Talat told reporters after the meeting with Ban.

'An urgent solution is a fact and reality because time is running out and the division is becoming more and more permanent,' he said. 'So we asked for the secretary general's involvement and asked him to take an initiative for starting full-fledged negotiations aiming at a solution before the end of 2008.'

Talat reiterated support for a series of discussions over the past two years, mostly led by then UN political adviser Ibrahim Gambari, to prepare for a fresh attempt at final negotiations to end the division. Gambari is now leading UN efforts to bring democracy to Myanmar.

The Turkish Cypriot community in northern Cyprus is not recognized by the United Nations and is supported solely by Turkey, which has stationed military troops there since 1974.

A 2004 plan to reunite the island, proposed by then-Secretary General Kofi Annan, was defeated by Greek Cypriots in a referendum. Turkish Cypriots in the north approved the plan.

The Greek Cypriot part in the south, known as the Republic of Cyprus is a member of the UN and European Union. Its president, Tassos Papadopoulos, told the UN General Assembly in September that he supports a federation to end the division, but insisted on Turkey withdrawing its military contingents from northern Cyprus.

A UN peacekeeping operation has been manning a so-called ceasefire line separating the two communities. But in recent years, the borders between the two sides opened to allow tens of thousands of people to visit the other side even though there are no formal diplomatic relationship between them.