ATHENS - Greece Monday welcomed the election of Turkish Cypriot prime minister Mehmet Ali Talat as president in the "occupied northern part" of Cyprus, hoping it might lead to a new push for reunification.
"We hope that the result of the vote in the northern part of Cyprus is going to mark the start of a new era with the adoption of a new policy by the Turkish-Cypriot leadership," a Greek foreign ministry statement said.
It said "it hoped for a policy in favour of a constructive dialogue and a new effort for the reunification of Cyrpus."
Talat, 53, won Sunday's vote as pro-reunification candidate and immediately expressed his readiness to meet the Greek Cypriot president of Cyprus for negotiations on bringing the island's two communities back together.
Reunification talks have languished during the final years of the rule of the staunchly nationalist outgoing president Rauf Denktash.
Denktash, 81, dominated politics in the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), recognised only by Turkey since it declared independence in 1983, for over four decades, ultimately losing support for his opposition to a UN-backed reunification plan.
The ministry also said that the negotiations for reunification must be founded on the plan presented by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and "the values and principles of the European Union."
The southern, Greek part of Cyprus joined the EU last May. Greece hopes that the two communities can come together so a united Cyprus can participate in the EU, the statement said.
04/18/2005 19:53 GMT