ANKARA, Jan 13 (AFP) - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he wants to meet with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the shortest possible time to discuss ways of resolving the Cyprus conflict.
"We want to meet with him at first opportunity," Erdogan was quoting as saying late Wednesday by Anatolia news agency.
Cyprus' division between its Greek and Turkish communities remains a major obstacle for Turkey's bid to join the European Union, with Ankara refusing to endorse the internationally-recognized Greek Cypriot government of the island, which became an EU member in May.
Ankara sees the settlement of the 30-year conflict as a way out of the diplomatic conundrum it faces.
A reunification plan drawn up by Annan failed last April when the Greek Cypriots voted it down, even though the Turkish Cypriots gave it overwhelming support.
The UN initiative was an 11th-hour effort to reunite the island before its accession to the EU on May 1.
The failure of the plan ensured that the Greek Cypriot side alone joined the EU, leaving the breakaway Turkish Cypriots out in the cold.
Erdogan said Ankara would support a new settlement plan "from which both sides will win and which will bring lasting peace to the island," Anatolia reported.
In December, the EU gave Turkey the green light for accession talks on October 3, 2005, on the condition that it makes a diplomatic gesture to the Greek Cypriot government.
Turkey grudgingly promised to sign a protocol by the time accession talks begin to update an association agreement with the EU to cover the 10 new members which joined in May, but stressed that the move would not amount to a formal recognition of the Greek Cypriot government.
Turkey is the only country to recognize the breakaway Turkish Cypriot statelet in the north of Cyprus, where it maintains some 30,000 troops.
The island has been divided since 1974 when Turkey seized the north in response to an Athens-engineered coup in Nicosia aimed at uniting Cyprus with Greece.
01/13/2005 09:24 GMT - AFP