Clinton said the longstanding dispute was making both countries pay "a price not worth paying. And I think it's a very sad thing." He said there was "actually some chance we can make a little progress before I leave office. If we don't, it's something I'll keep an interest in and would be willing to keep working for even after I'm gone from here." He spoke about Cyprus in a brief exchange with reporters in the Rose Garden after talking about budget disputes with Congress. "It makes no sense in the larger context of the future of Greece, the future of Turkey and the future of the Cypriots themselves to maintain this present impasse with all the bad feelings and conflicts and estrangements that it has brought us." A year ago, Clinton visited both Turkey and Greece in hopes of promoting reconciliation, saying it was one of the major pieces of unfinished business in Europe. His trip resulted in the resumption of long-stalled talked aimed at reunifying Cyprus. Tensions flared anew Wednesday, prompting Greece to quit NATO military exercises in Turkey. Cyprus has been divided between Greek- and Turkish-Cypriots ever since Turkey invaded the Mediterranean island in 1974 after a coup by supporters of union with Greece. The northern Turkish-Cypriot enclave is recognized only by Ankara, which has 35,000 soldiers there. Clinton said he could not comment on the latest dispute because he has been preoccupied with the Middle East recently.

"But I can say that one of the relatively small number of real disappointments I have, after eight years of working in the foreign policy field, is that I have not made more progress in helping to resolve the Cyprus issue because I have always felt that Turkey should be integrated into Europe; I have always felt that Turkey and Greece should be natural allies, because they're allies in NATO." He said the whole world was moved by the way the two nations helped each other last year after devastating earthquakes. "And basically to see entrenched and unmovable positions in Cyprus, in what really ought to be a fairly straightforward problem to solve, keep them apart and keep Turkey more at arm's length from Europe, I think it's a price not worth paying," the president said. "And I think it's a very sad thing ...I still hope it can be resolved."

(AP)