Moscow rules out recognizing Turkish Cypriot state

Speaking following talks with Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister Markos Kyprianou, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alekseev said Moscow's policy toward Cyprus had not changed, adding that Moscow was "forced" to recognize the provinces in response to Georgian military aggression.

The Cyprus problem erupted after the eastern Mediterranean island was granted independence from Britain in 1960, soon followed by an outbreak of inter-communal clashes in 1963. The island was ethnically divided between a Greek south and a Turkish north when the Turkish military intervened in 1974 under the terms of the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee after diplomacy failed to end unrest on the island.

Ankara does not recognize the Greek Cypriot government, which entered the European Union in May 2004 as the official representative of the entire island. In 1983 the KKTC unilaterally declared its independence, though it remains recognized only by Ankara.

Former president and current Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin raised eyebrows in February by scolding Europe for having double standards on Turkish Cyprus and Kosovo. Putin had said it was shameful for Europe to recognize Kosovo but not the KKTC, which declared its independence in the early 1980s. Greek Cypriot leader Dimitris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat met last Wednesday and said afterward that they hoped for a deal aimed at reuniting the island soon.

Past efforts to reach a settlement have been scuttled by disagreement on issues including power sharing, property rights for Greek Cypriot refugees and the nature of a future federation.

In 2004 Turkish Cypriots backed a UN settlement plan that Greek Cypriot voters rejected. But prospects of progress were raised by repeated commitments made by Christofias and Talat toward finding a solution. Greek Cyprus joined the European Union in 2004 as a divided island, with Turkish Cypriots being denied the bloc's membership benefits.

As of Monday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon personally congratulated Christofias and Talat for agreeing to full-fledged negotiations aimed at reuniting the divided Mediterranean island.

Ban spoke separately to Christofias and Talat by telephone ahead of their first round of negotiations scheduled for Thursday, UN spokeswoman Michele Montas said.

The secretary-general also spoke to his special adviser on Cyprus, Alexander Downer, who was in Athens at the time, where he met with top government officials, including Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis earlier on Monday, she said.

Downer will fly to Ankara on Wednesday for meetings with Turkish leaders, including President Abdullah Gül. He will return to Cyprus early on Thursday to attend the first substantive meeting between Christofias and Talat in the negotiations, Montas said. Ban spoke to the two leaders Monday morning "to congratulate them personally on the formal launch last week of full-fledged negotiations aimed at a comprehensive settlement to the Cyprus problem," she said.