BICOMMUNAL contacts appear to be back with a vengeance, and, according to the UN, this is down to Greek and Turkish Cypriots’ desire "to get to know each other as people."
Unficyp spokesman Charles Gaulkin yesterday said this desire for contact was a stronger catalyst for rapprochement than the resumption of settlement talks or the thaw in Greco-Turkish relations.
Last year and the year before that, bicommunal contacts were conspicuous by their absence.
There was a flurry of such meetings in 1997, but it all came to an abrupt halt in December of that year, after the EU decided to open accession talks with Cyprus and not Turkey. Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash promptly banned all bicommunal contacts.
But the climate would now appear to have changed.
Earlier this month, the first official meeting between parties from both sides for over two years took place at the Ledra Palace in Nicosia.
Last week, Turkish Cypriot greens were allowed to cross the divide to attend a conference on EU environmental law and Cyprus in Nicosia.
On Friday, a delegation from the Turkish Cypriot Patriotic Unity Movement visited the headquarters of ruling Disy in Nicosia.
On Sunday, representatives of the Movement met with representatives of the main Greek Cypriot opposition party, Akel, at the mixed village of Pyla, in the Larnaca area.
Last night, 17 Turkish Cypriot journalists were expected to attend the annual Journalists’ union ball at the Nicosia Hilton.
According to Gaulkin, many more meetings between people from the two sides have been going on away from the media spotlight. Most all these low-profile meetings are being hosted by the mixed buffer-zone village of Pyla.
"It seems Pyla has become a focal point, several things have actually been going on there quietly for some time," the Unficyp spokesman told the Cyprus Mail. "There has definitely been an increase in such meetings recently," Gaulkin added.
He mentioned a bicommunal choir that rehearses twice a month and a group of historians and education experts meeting to find ways to re-write Cyprus history in a non-prejudicial manner.
Gaulkin said the UN was delighted with the increased contact. "Of course this is a positive development, we are happy to see this going on."
The spokesman said the desire for contact between the two sides had always been there and suggested ordinary Greek and Turkish Cypriots could take much of the credit for this increased rapprochement.
"I think maybe one element might be the awareness among an increasing number of people – including young people – of the need to become more familiar with the ideas and viewpoints of other people and simply to get to know them as people," he said.
Gaulkin also mentioned political developments as a factor encouraging rapprochement.
"I’m sure that better relations between Greece and Turkey and the fact that proximity talks are going on and there is at least the prospect of a solution have also helped," he said.
Denktash and President Clerides are set to attend their third round of UN-led proximity settlement talks in New York in late May. No concrete results have been announced from the indirect talks, but both leaders have expressed satisfaction with the progress achieved.
Greece and Turkey are moving closer than ever before following the exchange of mutual aid after disastrous earthquakes in Turkey and Greece last year.
Gaulkin shied away from commenting on what Denktash’s role might be in the increased contacts.
