‘EU is committed to end KKTC’s isolation’

Talat said EU-term president Netherlands sent him a written note reiterating the EU’s commitment and said resolving the long-running Cyprus dispute is a task for the United Nations, not for the 25-nation bloc.

"The EU-tern presidency informed us that the union was committed to a resolution aimimg to end isolation (of the KKTC)," Anatolia news agency quoted Talat as saying.

Cyprus has been divided between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots since 1974 and efforts to reunite the island under a federal umbrella have failed. The Greek Cypriots rejected the latest U.N. plan for the reunification of the island in a referanda in April but Turkish Cypriots voted for it.

Cyprus’ internationally recognized Greek Cypriot administration joined the European Union in May and the union sought to reward the KKTC whose people supported the U.N. efforts.

"The note by the EU says efforts by the EU term presidency will not interfere with the duties of the U.N., the secretary-general or the Security Council and confirms that resolving the Cyprus question is a task for the United Nations," Talat was quoted by the agency as saying.

He said the term presidency made it clear that the EU did not accept a role in finding a solution to the division of the island, a thesis pressed by the EU-member Greek Cypriot administration.