A new Turkish Cypriot government took office Saturday as Turkey called for the replacement of the UN mediator on Cyprus.
On the Greek speaking side of the island, the Cypriot foreign minister welcomed Turkey's latest push for resumed negotiations with his government, but said it appeared to be a tactical move.
Cyprus has been split since 1974, when Turkey invaded after a coup by supporters of union with Greece. Turkey, which stations 40,000 troops in the northern third of the island, is under pressure to promote a settlement by May 1, when the government on the rest of the island is due to join the EU.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters he did not believe Cyprus could remain divided, that peace negotiations should resume, but not under the chairmanship of UN envoy Alvaro de Soto.
Relating the gist of his talks with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Erdogan said "because of errors committed by the person he [Annan] had appointed, we expressed the need for a new appointment," according to Turkey's Anatolia News Agency.
Erdogan met Annan on the margins of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash has questioned the neutrality of de Soto in the past and hinted he did not trust him.
Annan said he was "very encouraged" by his talks with Erdogan and would "study carefully what he has put before me."
Hours earlier, the 50-member Turkish Cypriot parliament voted 26-18 in favor of a new coalition government, with six abstentions, the Turkish Cypriot news agency TAK reported.
The government is led by Mehmet Ali Talat, who campaigned for the resumption of reunification talks with Greek Cypriots under a peace plan proposed by Annan. However, his coalition partner is Serdar Denktash, the son of Rauf Denktash and leader of a party opposed to the Annan plan. Serdar is deputy premier and foreign minister.
"We're on the eve of very important days to come," Talat said Saturday, according to TAK. "It is more or less apparent that this will be a period of intense negotiations."
Both Rauf and Serdar Denktash have recently softened their opposition to the Annan plan as it became clear that Turkey, which finances the Turkish Cypriot administration, was impatient to reach a settlement in Cyprus.
Top EU leaders have stressed that Turkey's continued occupation of northern Cyprus is an obstacle to its wish to join the EU.
On Friday, Turkey's National Security Council, which groups its political and military leaders, issued a statement that essentially told Turkish Cypriots to resume negotiations.
"Turkey continues to support the UN secretary-general's goodwill mission and renews its political determination to rapidly reach a solution that takes the Annan plan as a reference and is based on the realities of the island," the statement said.
The Annan plan provides for reunification as a single state with one Greek and one Turkish Cypriot federal region linked through a weak central government.
Cypriot Foreign Minister George Iacovou said he saw pluses and minuses in the statement.
"It is a small step forward compared to the position of Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash who maintained that 'the plan is dead,'" Iacovou told Cypriot radio. But the statement was "nothing but a tactical move which, while offering nothing, provides an alibi for Turkey that it is not alone responsible for the stalemate."
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