Almost half a million calls across the Green Line last year

ALMOST 1,200 telephone calls a day were made across the Green Line last year, the UN announced yesterday.

An announcement from UNFICYP said that during the year 2000, a total of 432,733 calls had been made between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities.

Calls from south to north numbered 256,543 while those from north to south totalled 176,190. The number of calls increased from 31,978 in January to peak at 38,460 calls in November.

The automated telephone system, which was set up to facilitate bicommunal contacts between the two sides, began operation in May 1998. The system, which has 20 lines, was financed by the United States and cost some $165,000.

Until May 1998 callers had to go through the manual UN exchange to call the other side. Only around 100,000 calls a year were made under this system.

In the first six months of operation of the new exchange, a total of 126,536 calls were made.

Callers to the north should dial 0123 to receive a dial tone while callers to the south of the island should dial 0139.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.