ATHENS - Republic of Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos will send an envoy to the United Nations for "exploratory contacts" in view of ultimately restarting talks to reunify the divided island, the Greek foreign ministry said Thursday.
Papadopoulos will be sending his representative "by the end of May" for discussions with the UN as part of "exploratory contacts" with the organisation's secretariat, foreign ministry spokesman George Koumoutsakos told a scheduled press briefing.
The contacts will be held to prepare a possible relaunching of negotiations for a Cyprus settlement, following the rejection in April last year by the internationally-recognised Greek-Cypriot state of a UN plan to reunify the island, he said.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when a Greek-Cypriot coup aiming at unity with Greece prompted a Turkish invasion of the northern part of the island. Northern Cyprus has been occupied by Turkish troops ever since.
Papadopoulos on Tuesday shrugged off Turkish declarations on a potential revival of UN talks on Cyprus, noting that there was "no deal" to send a representative to New York.
But on the same day, Athens indicated that "preliminary exploratory contacts" were "expected" between the Republic of Cyprus and the UN.
Ankara and the island's Turkish-Cypriots, who approved the UN's April 2004 plan, are favourable to renewing unification talks.
05/12/2005 15:01 GMT