Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos and Turkish-Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat are to have talks on September 5 for the first time in more than a year in a bid to revive a stalled peace process on the island, United Nations officials said yesterday.

The two men are to meet at the office of UN special envoy Michael Moller, UN spokesman Brian Kelly said.

Papadopoulos and Talat have not met since July 2006 when they agreed to launch two-level talks, with technical committees working to tackle everyday concerns. Those talks failed to progress.

Papadopoulos did not comment on the news yesterday but Cyprus government spokesman Vassilis Palmas said Nicosia would retain moderate expectations while seeking to create the necessary conditions for implementing last year’s July agreement.

Meanwhile, in an interview published yesterday’s in Britain’s Daily Telegraph, Talat warned that the division of Cyprus was deepening. “Opinion polls indicate that the majority of Turkish Cypriots are in favor of the two-state solution: permanent partition,” Talat said.