NICOSIA -- Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos has replied in writing to his Turkish Cypriot counterpart Rauf Denktash's proposal to reopen the long-abandoned airport in the divided capital, officials said Saturday.

Papadopoulos, who heads the island's internationally recognized government, sent a letter to UN Chief Kofi Annan, on Friday, as an official reply to the proposal.

However, government spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides would not reveal the contents until there was official confirmation that Annan had received it.

"I can't reveal the contents of the letter until the recipient, the UN secretary general, takes cognizance of the letter," he told AFP.

Denktash, backed by Ankara, called for the reopening of Nicosia's defunct airport in a fresh attempt to regain the initiative after he was blamed for the failure of a UN reunification plan.

Papadopoulos has already suggested the airport idea is as a nonstarter, calling for talks to resume on Annan's reunification blueprint. Senior members of the Papadopoulos administration indicated the letter reflected this view.

"We are ready to start negotiation on substance on the basis of the Annan plan," said Chrysostomides.

Denktash asked Annan, in a letter, to revive confidence-building measures first proposed to the Greek Cypriots a decade ago, which also include the reopening of the coastal resort of Varosha, which has become a ghost town.

The measures failed to get off the ground at the time after the veteran Turkish Cypriot leader blocked them.

Greek Cypriots believe Denktash is using such long-forgotten ideas as a deliberate diversion from resuming talks on the UN reunification plan which he rejected at The Hague in March.

The island has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops occupied its northern third in response to an Athens-engineered coup seeking union with Greece.

The international community is now pressing the two sides to reach a settlement by May 2004 when the island joins the European Union.

Papadopoulos has said a resumption of UN-sponsored talks is unlikely before Turkish Cypriot parliamentary elections in December.