BRUSSELS (AFP) -- The EU's Finnish presidency has set up meetings with Turkish and Cypriot officials next weekend, seeking to unblock their political impasse before a key report on Turkey's progress towards EU membership, EU officials in Brussels said Monday.

Both Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot officials have been invited for talks on Sunday and Monday, expected to be held in or around Helsinki, as have Turkish government representatives, the sources said.

A Finnish EU presidency spokesman confirmed that meetings were being planned, but did not say who would attend or where they would take place.

The Turkish television station NTV reported that the Turkish and Cypriot foreign ministers had been invited for closed-door sessions ahead of the publication, on November 8, of an EU progress report on Turkey.

Greece's ambassador to the EU, Vassilios Kaskarellis, said there was no need for his country to be represented at the meetings.

"It is a good move, because we have to clear up this dispute," he said.

He explained that the talks had been set up by the Finnish presidency to discuss specific points; for trading to be resumed at the Turkish Cypriot port of Famagusta and on the future of the fenced-off area of Varosha.

The Greek ambassador said that the EU presidency would meet separately with the Turkish and Cypriot officials, and confirmed that Cyprus Foreign Minister George Lillikas had been invited to Helsinki.

A Turkish Cypriot source said that Turgay Avci, the foreign minister of the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), would participate in the talks.

Sources said that Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul had also been invited.

To fulfill its commitments to the EU, Turkey must open its ports and airports to vessels and aircraft flying the flag of Cyprus, which it does not recognize, under a 2005 protocol extending its customs union agreement to new EU countries, including Cyprus.

Ankara refuses to do so unless the EU makes good on its promises to end the international isolation of the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, recognized only by Ankara.

The EU has warned Turkey that failure to honor its obligations under the customs union agreement could result in a suspension of Turkey-EU membership talks that began last year.

Finland, which holds the six-month rotating presidency of the EU, has been working on a blueprint to break the deadlock between Ankara and Brussels over free access to Turkish ports by the internationally-recognized Greek Cypriot administration of EU-member Cyprus.