"As the British say, it takes two to tango," De Hoop Scheffer told reporters in the Turkish capital of Ankara after talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"So the solution is not only to be found in Ankara, but in Nicosia and ... in Brussels."

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded the northern third in response to an Athens-backed Greek Cypriot coup aimed at linking the island with Greece.

While Turkish Cypriots voted "yes" to a United Nations plan to reunify the island in an April 2004 referendum, Greek Cypriots voted overwhelmingly against the measure that would have created a loose confederation called the United Cyprus Republic.

When Cyprus joined the European Union with nine other countries the following month, the Turkish Cypriot state to the north of the UN-patrolled Green Line was left out of the bloc.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a report to the Security Council this month that only "negligible" progress had been made in efforts for a settlement.

Turkey, which is also seeking to join the EU, accuses the Greek Cypriots of hampering its bid to extract concessions on Cyprus.

De Hoop Scheffer said he also discussed NATO's peacekeeping operation in Afghanistan, Kosovo and the fight against terrorism with Turkish leaders including Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul.

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