Athens/Nicosia - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in Athens for a two-day UN global meeting on migration and development, said on Wednesday he had "high hopes" a solution would be found to reunify the divided Mediterranean island of Cyprus. "I believe that there is progress. The international community has high hopes from these talks which must continue and the UN special envoy for Cyprus, Alexander Downer, will continue to work with the leaders of the two communities," Ban said following talks with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou.
Greek and Turkish Cypriots launched renewed peace talks last September, but the pace has been slow after dozens of meetings at an abandoned airport inside the UN-controlled buffer zone.
Cyprus has been divided since a Turkish invasion in 1974, sparked by a brief Greek-inspired coup.
Greek Cypriots have lived in the south of Cyprus and Turkish Cypriots in the north, split by a United Nations-supervised buffer zone which runs through the heart of the island's capital.
Observers insist a window of opportunity for a bi-communal, bizonal settlement will close by April 2010, the date of the next Turkish Cypriot elections, when the pro-settlement leader risks losing his office to a more hardline candidate.
In 2004, Greek Cypriots rejected a UN settlement blueprint which would have turned Cyprus into a loose federation a week before the island joined the EU as a divided state.
In Cyprus, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the two sides should be left on their own to broker a deal during a visit to the island Wednesday.
"The sides must be left free to find ... a settlement themselves which will benefit the Greek Cypriots and Turkish."
Lavrov also warned against the implementation of "artificial deadlines" which could put pressure on both sides.
Both ethnic communities agree, on paper, to reunite the island's two halves in the latest round of UN-led peace talks, but disagree on how it will work. Other disputes include the complex issue of property lost during the invasion.
Cypriot leaders have agreed to put any peace deal to a simultaneous referendum in both communities.
EU officials have said that progress in the Cyprus reunification talks will be essential to move Turkey's slow-moving EU accession process forward.
Ankara's EU membership talks, which began in October 2005, have been partially frozen because of the situation on the island.
Turkey does not recognise the Greek Cypriot government and supports the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in northern Cyprus where it has stationed more than 40,000 troops.
Greek Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias has said that the withdrawal of Turkish troops from the island was one of his key goals.
Greek Cypriots say they will not agree to Turkey joining the bloc as long as the island is partitioned. Ankara's progress in membership talks will be assessed next month during a Brussels summit.
