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Cyprus peace talks end in failure
THE HAGUE, The Netherlands (Reuters) -- The United Nations has announced that peace talks between the Greek and Turkish leaders of divided Cyprus had ended in failure and there would be no more negotiations. "Regrettably these (peace) efforts were not a success. We have reached the end of the road," said a statement by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. Annan's special Cyprus envoy, Alvara de Soto, read out the statement at a news conference after marathon talks held by Annan with Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash. Cyprus has been partitioned since Turkish troops invaded in 1974, seizing more than one-third of the Mediterranean island in response to a coup by Greek Cypriot militants seeking union with Greece. Annan had asked the two leaders to meet him in The Hague in a last-ditch effort to get agreement on a U.N. peace plan to reunite the island. He had hoped to persuade them to hold referendums on the plan on March 30 so that a united Cyprus could sign a mid-April accession treaty to join the European Union. Papadopoulos and Denktash signaled when they arrived in The Hague on Monday morning that they were unhappy with the U.N. power-sharing plan, partly because it would involve handovers of territory and population movements. Denktash believes the handover of some Turkish Cypriot territory would create refugees and throw many Turkish Cypriots out of their homes. Many Greek Cypriots oppose the plan because it commits them to sharing power with a minority and restricts the number of Greek Cypriot refugees who would be able to return to their former homes. Annan's was the latest of numerous diplomatic efforts to reunite the island and the Monday deadline he set the two leaders for reaching agreement was the second in the current series of negotiations. Former colonial power Britain and the United States had thrown their weight behind Annan's efforts, building on the impetus of Cyprus's impending accession to the European Union. Turkey backed the Turkish Cypriot opposition to the U.N. peace plan, although a peace deal is crucial for Turkey's hopes of joining the European Union and the failure of the talks leaves Turkey at odds with Brussels. The internationally recognized Cyprus government, the Greek Cypriot part of the island, is due to sign the EU accession treaty on April 16 and to join the bloc in May 2004. Copyright 2003 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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