The island's internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government regards the deal struck between British and Turkish leaders in London on Tuesday as an attempt to dissuade Ankara from unilateral military action in northern Iraq in return for upgraded ties with the breakaway north.

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) declared by Turkish Cypriot leaders in 1983 is recognised only by Ankara, which has been threatening a military incursion into northern Iraq to eradicate rear-bases of the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), to the consternation of London and Washington.

A "strong protest" was issued to Britain's envoy to the island, Peter Millett, when he visited Cyprus Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis on Wednesday.

"The government considers this as a negative development which requires proportionate handling," government spokesman Vasilis Palmas told reporters.

"A feeling is created that once again Cyprus is sacrificed for the sake of foreign interests," he added.

Palmas said that as the former colonial power Britain should play a more responsible role in efforts to reunify the island and should respect UN resolutions calling on member states "not to recognise the TRNC or to upgrade or facilitate it in any way".

The British embassy denied that the agreement reached between Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday spelt any change in policy towards Cyprus.

"Our policy on the non-recognition of the so-called 'TRNC' is unchanged. We do not and will not recognise a separate entity in the northern part of Cyprus," a short statement said.

The embassy said there was nothing in the partnership deal to suggest an attempt to "upgrade the status of the north or promote partition".

One article of the agreement pledged that Britain would work with its European Union partners to "promote direct commercial, economic, political and cultural contacts" with the Turkish Cypriots.

The EU executive arm, the European Commission, has in any case been committed to resuming direct preferential trade with the breakaway north ever since Turkish Cypriots voted resoundingly in favour of a UN reunification plan in 2004 that was overwhelmingly rejected by Greek Cypriots.

The referendum outcome meant that Cyprus joined the bloc a divided island later the same year, leaving Turkish Cypriots without the full benefits of membership and the Commission promising to ease their isolation as a reward for their 'yes' vote.

Direct trade between the EU and the Turkish Cypriots was halted by a European court decision in 1994.

Britain has long been a strong supporter of Turkey's own ambitions to join the European bloc. London sees Ankara as a vital secular, democratic bridge between the West and the Muslim world.

France, however, is opposed to Turkish EU membership and there are also reservations in Germany and Austria.

So far, only four of the 35 negotiating chapters which Turkey must successfully complete before EU membership have been opened, and only one closed.

However, eight have been frozen and no more may be successfully closed until the Cyprus dispute is resolved.

The island has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974 when Turkey seized its northern third in response to an Athens-engineered coup in Nicosia aimed at union with Greece.