ANKARA, March 14, 2007 (AFP) - Turkey rebuffed on Wednesday Greek Cypriot demands that Turkish soldiers withdraw from the north of the island's divided capital before fully opening a crossing point in the centre of Nicosia.

Last week, in a highly symbolic move, the internationally recognised government in Cyprus demolised part of a wall separating the two halves of Nicosia.

But it demanded Turkish troops pull out of the northern sector of the city before allowing people to use the crossing point in Ledra Street, a pedestrian shopping area in the heart of Nicosia.

Turkey's foreign ministry spokesman Levent Bilman rejected the pre-condition on Wednesday.

"We think that certain preconditions should not be attached to the opening of this crossing just as none were attached to to the opening of other gates" between the island's rival communities, Bilman told a news conference here.

Turkey's position echoes that of the Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat who has already rejected the pre-condition for fully opening the Ledra Street crossing.

Bilman also criticized Greek Cypriots plan to open a new crossing along the island's UN-patrolled ceasefire line at Pyrgos-Limnitis, west of Nicosia before the Ledra crossing issue is resolved.

"We agree with TRNC (Turkish Cyrpriot) authorities who underlined that Ledra Street should be opened first before evaluating whether there is a need for another opening," Bilman said.

Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974, when Turkey seized its northern third in response to an Athens-engineered Greek Cypriot coup in Nicosia aimed at uniting the island with Greece.

A UN bid to reunite the island failed in 2004 when the Greek Cypriots voted against the plan in a referendum, despite the Turkish Cypriot community voting overwhelmingly in favour.

If Ledra Street and Limnitis do open it would make seven crossing points across the divide since April 2003, when the Turkish Cypriots lifted entry restrictions to Greek Cypriots, allowing unprecedented movement across the ceasefire line.

han/awb

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