Turkey refuses visit by U.N. Cyprus envoy

ANKARA, Mar 15 (Reuters) A request by a UN special envoy for Cyprus to visit Ankara has been turned down by Turkey, which believes he is biased in favour of the Greek Cypriots, a Turkish official said today.

The official, who asked not to be identified, said Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative Michael Moller, a Dane, appeared to support the Greek Cypriots' view that the European Union, of which Cyprus is a member, should play a bigger role in the peace process on the island.

''Through all his statements and the attitudes he has shown, the envoy is trying to give more importance to EU mechanisms in the secretary-general's mission. But we say the UN is the only place to solve this problem,'' the official told reporters.

''We feel uneasy about Moller because he has created doubts about his impartiality,'' the official said, adding that Moller's request to visit Turkey had been turned down.

Cyprus is split into an internationally recognised Greek Cypriot south, which represents the whole island in the EU, and a smaller, poorer breakaway Turkish Cypriot enclave in the north backed only by Turkey.

Ankara was irritated by a joint statement made by Annan and Greek Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos on February 28 which effectively called for the demilitarisation of the island.

Turkey keeps about 30,000 troops in northern Cyprus.

It also believes Papadopoulos put forward as Greek Cypriot ideas which it says were originally proposed by the Turkish Cypriot side.

''Issues such as the number of soldiers...should be discussed within the framework of a comprehensive peace settlement,'' the Turkish official said.

The Cyprus dispute, which has for decades eluded UN efforts to reach a settlement, has become a serious hurdle to Turkey's hopes of joining the EU. Papadopoulos has said he might veto Ankara's EU talks if it does not move towards recognising his government.

Cyprus has been partitioned along ethnic lines since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded the north after a Greek Cypriot coup backed by the military junta then ruling Greece.

REUTERS SHR BS2304