ANKARA -- Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash is to call a special session of the Parliament of his breakaway state on today to brief it on talks to resolve the island's 28-year division, the Turkish Cypriot Tak news agency reported Wednesday.

Denktash said after meeting Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides that the opposite side had rejected his proposals and that he wanted to bring Parliament up to date on the negotiations, Tak said.

Denktash and Clerides have been negotiating since last month on the basis of a UN plan, in a bid to reach a settlement by February 28 to ensure that a United island joins the European Union in May 2004.

Both sides have raised objections to the UN blueprint, which envisages a loose federation of two component states with a single voice internationally, and have said it was doubtful they will meet the deadline.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey occupied its northern third in response to an Athens-engineered coup seeking to unite the island with Greece.

Denktash declared his Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), which is recognized only by Ankara, in 1983.

The TRNC is separated by a UN-manned buffer zone from the internationally-recognized Greek Cypriot Republic of Cyprus headed by Clerides.