ANKARA, Sept 1, 2007 (AFP) - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat will meet in October for talks on the future of the divided island of Cyprus, a Turkish Cypriot official said Saturday.

The meeting was requested by Talat, the leader of the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), in a letter he sent to UN chief in early August, spokesman Hasan Ercakica told Turkey's Anatolia news agency

LONDON, Aug 21, 2007 (AFP) - Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat warned in an interview published on Tuesday that Cyprus was facing 'permanent partition,' even as the two sides agreed to a new round of talks.

'The division is deepening. There are opinion polls which indicate that the majority of Turkish Cypriots are in favour of the two-state solution: permanent partition,' Talat told Britain's Daily Telegraph.

'This shows that Turkish Cypriots are diverting from their former position.'