Μακαριος Δρουσιώτης

FOR HISTORIC, symbolic and psychological reasons, the opening of the Ledra checkpoint might have been a significant development towards efforts at reunification:

 

The wall dividing Nicosia was first erected in the heart of the capital in 1956. Feeling that the EOKA struggle went against the interests of their community, Turkish Cypriots struck an alliance with the British and – for the first time in the history of Cyprus – there came about a situation of antagonism between ethnic Greek and Turkish inhabitants of the island. This in turn led to the first intercommunal clashes in 1956 in Nicosia and the division of the city with barbed wire into a Greek and a Turkish sector. Then, as now, Ermou Street stood as the demarcation line for the two sectors.

 

The city was reunited in 1959 following the Zurich agreements that led to independence. Ermou Street had long been the capital’s commercial centre. Greek, Turkish and Armenian merchants coexisted and worked together in peace, without any problems whatsoever. But in 1963 the area again became a hotbed of clashes, and the barbed-wire fences went up once more.

 

The checkpoint at Ermou Street, near Ledra Street, was demolished in 1968 with the lifting of restrictions on the movement of Turkish Cypriots, who since 1964 had holed themselves up in enclaves. Yet the movement was one-sided: whereas Turkish Cypriots could cross over into the Greek sector, Greek Cypriots would dare not cross – nor were they allowed to. In 1975 the Ledra crossing was closed yet again. Or rather, it was sealed off, since not even animals could pass through.

 

Thus the Ledra checkpoint has come to symbolise a half-century of conflict between the two communities on the island. And that is why it is so important that this bastion of dissent should fall.

 

But matters have been complicated, because of the methods of the other side and the reaction of the Cyprus government. The fact that a barrier is to be torn down only to create another – with a staircase, so that people can cross over – hardly serves to reunite the city. On the contrary, it smacks of border building. What we in Cyprus want to do is not establish borders across the Green line – we want to rid ourselves of barriers.

 

According to reliable sources on the Turkish Cypriot side, the construction of a bridge signals a minimum concession by the Turkish army – which does not permit the street to be fully opened – because it consider this a military area. The Turkish army wants to be able to patrol under the bridge, not for security reasons, but for symbolic reasons. It wishes to stress its presence – that it is here and monitoring the situation. Efforts aimed at concord cannot – should not – be held in the shadow of Turkish military presence. Despite the Greek Cypriots’ perfectly justified objections to the shenanigans of the Turkish military, the other side unilaterally initiated construction works; and this not in order to open the checkpoint, but to expose President Papadopoulos. But at the end of the day, it is efforts at concord and unity that remain exposed. The government used warlike language in reacting to the other side’s actions: instead of highlighting the true aspect of the issue, it accused the Turkish army of a military advance. You’d think they would have called for full-scale mobilisation. And then along came the UN, rebutting the allegations of encroachment into the buffer zone, making the government look bad for an issue where it was absolutely justified. What did Talat gain with these unilateral measures, and what did Papadopoulos gain with his reaction? All they did was add another brick to the wall of chauvinism, the biggest obstacle to finding a solution.

Makarios Drousiotis

Cyprus Mail

04/12/2005