Cyprus leaders to launch peace talks September 3

By Simon Bahceli and Michele Kambas

NICOSIA (Reuters) - Greek and Turkish Cypriots agreed on Friday to launch talks in September to re-unite their island, whose continuing division is damaging Turkey's chances of joining the EU.

Cyprus' President Demetris Christofias, the Greek Cypriot leader, and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat will start talks on September 3, ending a four-year impasse in efforts to bring the two communities together after decades of separation.

"The aim of the full-fledged negotiations is to find a mutually acceptable solution to the Cyprus problem which will safeguard the interests of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots," said Taye-Brook Zerihoun, head of the U.N. mission on Cyprus.

He said any agreement would be put to separate, simultaneous referendums in both communities.

Peace talks collapsed in 2004 when Greek Cypriots voted in a referendum to reject a U.N. blueprint for reunification that Turkey-backed Turkish Cypriots had accepted.

The deal to start talks was welcomed by Britain, Turkey and the European Union, which the Greek Cypriots joined in 2004.

"A unified and integrated Cyprus would benefit not only Cypriots themselves but the whole of the European Union," said EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

The political climate has changed since February, when moderate Christofias replaced Tassos Papadopoulos, a hardliner who led Greek Cypriot rejection of the earlier plan.