UN's Ban urges Cypriot sides to start talks

UNITED NATIONS, June 6 (Reuters) UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Greek and Turkish Cypriots to stop bickering over details and start negotiations to end the 33-year division of their island, in a report made public today.

''It is essential that the parties demonstrate their readiness to match words with deeds, through sincere efforts to reach a comprehensive settlement,'' Ban said in his report for the UN Security Council.

The United Nations has unsuccessfully been trying since July to bring the Cypriot sides to low-level negotiations, in its latest peace bid aimed at ultimately getting full talks on unification going.

Cyprus has been ethnically divided since a Turkish invasion prompted by a Greek-inspired coup in 1974, and its continued division is a major hurdle in Turkey's European Union accession negotiations.

Latest peace efforts have been bogged down in disputes over the agenda and the mandate of expert panels which were supposed to be formed under a UN agreement brokered on July 8, 2006.

''The time has come ... to move from talks about procedure to substance,'' Ban said.

''It is high time that the considerable convergence of positions be translated into action ... I urge both leaders to honor their written commitment and bring to an end the ongoing mutual recriminations, which only serve to undermine the process.'' During the last six months, Ban noted, the two sides had come close several times to agreeing to start peace talks. They have long agreed on the principle of a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation on Cyprus, but have never made it a reality.

A UN peacekeeping force, currently 1,000-strong, has been in Cyprus since well before the Mediterranean island was divided, having first arrived there in 1964. It monitors the 110-mile (180-km) buffer zone between the two communities.

In his report, Ban recommended that the mandate of the force, known as UNFICYP, be extended for another six months until Dececember 15. No objections are expected when the Security Council discusses the issue on Friday.

Cyprus is represented in the United Nations and other bodies by its internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government. A Turkish Cypriot breakaway state in the north of the island is recognized only by Ankara.

REUTERS JK BST0331