Cyprus government spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides said Thursday that UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's letter to Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos was "self-explanatory".

Papadopoulos sent a letter to Annan earlier this month after the latter delivered a report to the UN Security Council on Cyprus.

He accused Annan of exceeding his good offices mission and contravening international law by calling on the Security Council to open bilateral relations with the Turkish Cypriots. In his reply to Papadopoulos's letter, Annan stressed that he takes a different view from him on most of the ground covered in Papadopoulos' recent letter to him and its annex.

"I do stand fully by my report, including the narrative and the analysis contained therein, the appeals I have formulated and the recommendations I have put forward, to which I hope the Greek Cypriot side will respond positively," Annan said.

In a comment on Annan's letter, Chrysostomides, the government spokesman, noted that "it seems that he (Annan) stands by his position. But we also stand by our views as regards the comments on the Secretary General's report."

He noted that both Annan's report and Papadopoulos' letter have been presented before the UN Security Council and circulated as documents of the UN General Assembly to all UN member states.

Local media reports held that Papadopoulos' letter is designed not only to answer Annan's criticism of the Greek Cypriot side, but also as a means to stave off a British and US-backed Security Council resolution calling for eliminating restrictions and barriers that have the effect of isolating the Turkish Cypriots and impeding their development.

Cyprus, an east Mediterranean island, has been divided into the Turkish-Cypriot north and the Greek-Cypriot south since 1974 when Turkish troops entered the north of the island after a failed Greek-Cypriot coup seeking union with Greece.

The Cyprus government is recognized internationally, while the breakaway state of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is recognized only by Turkey.