Cyprus dinner date heralds talks

New negotiations are set for January

Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash has crossed into the Greek part of Cyprus for the first time since the Turkish invasion of 1974.

Amid tight security, he met President Glafcos Clerides at his residence in Nicosia for a dinner of fish and traditional Cypriot sweets.

His visit follows a similar trip by Mr Clerides earlier this month to the Turkish-controlled north of the island.

Officials say the encounters are primarily symbolic, allowing the two men to meet informally ahead of the resumptions on 16 January of negotiations on ending the division of the island.

Hundreds of police cordoned off President Clerides' home for the dinner.

There was also tight security for Mr Denktash's motorcade as it crossed through the United Nations base at Nicosia's former international airport, thus avoiding the handful of demonstrators waiting at the UN checkpoint in the centre of the capital.

Opposition

Earlier, a group of about 100 elderly Greek Cypriot women dressed in mourning black and carrying large photographs of missing sons and husbands held a small protest rally.

The missing will not be forgotten

"The Denktash visit is a betrayal while 200,000 Greek Cypriot refugees are not allowed to return to their occupied homes in the north and Turkey refuses to account for 1,600 Greek Cypriots who went missing," Aris Hajipanayiotou, the leader of the Cyprus Anti-Occupation Movement, told the rally.

President Clerides' dinner at Mr Denktash's residence earlier in December followed their first face-to-face meeting for four years, when the two men unexpectedly agreed to begin a new round of UN-sponsored negotiations.

The BBC's Tabitha Morgan in Cyprus says the talks themselves are likely to be difficult, with Mr Denktash still apparently seeking some kind of formal recognition for his breakaway state.

But with Cyprus due to join the European Union in 2004, our correspondent says the pressure to find a solution has never been greater.