TWENTY-SEVEN years have passed since Turkish leader Rauf Denktash last set foot on this side of the Green Line. Tonight he will make history when he crosses the buffer zone to dine with President Glafcos Clerides at his Nicosia residence.
The dinner invitation was extended after Denktash hosted Clerides at his own home for dinner on December 5.
Preparations were well under way yesterday to ensure the President’s home at 5 Ioannis Clerides Street in Lycavitos is in prime condition for the long-awaited dinner, which comes before the start of face-to-face Cyprus problem negotiations between the two men on January 16.
While inside the house it may be a cosy dinner for three (acting UN representative Zbigniew Wlosowicz will also attend), outside at least 210 police officers are expected to be on duty. The entire rapid reaction unit will also be present to make sure everything runs smoothly. Many of them are expected to be in plain clothes.
The heads of various police departments, press and information office officials and workmen assembled at Clerides’ house yesterday to discuss the various measures that need to be taken.
As officials huddled to discuss security, an army of painters and cleaners descended on the President’s home. Lamps were polished, walls were painted and floors were swept. Even three of the trees directly outside the house were pruned in order not to give photographers and cameramen a clearer view tonight. One photographer who complained that the trees were not being cut back enough was told that the President did not appreciate his trees being pruned and that he refused to have them cut any more.
Police chief Andreas Angelides, the head of the rapid reaction unit Iacovos Papacostas, and other senior police officers, as well as press office personnel, were concerned about where to put the 200 journalists from both sides of the Green Line who are expected to attend.
It was finally decided that photographers and cameramen would be positioned directly opposite Clerides’ house on a pavement that will be roped off. A wooden platform is under construction so those at the back will still have a clear view of the cars and their occupants pulling up outside the house.
Unfortunately, police said, the area was not large enough to hold all the media personnel — and some journalists will be placed in a nearby field. The reason for this, according to Angelides, is that they only “have to write about the evening, and won’t actually be interviewing anyone, so they don’t need to be up close”.
In order to accommodate them as best as possible, he suggested that a wooden platform also be placed in the field. This slight elevation would, police said, give the journalists a “good view of Denktash” rolling up in his car.
Nearby skips were also removed yesterday to ensure that nothing obstructed the sides of the road, and plans were being made to cordon off adjacent fields so that cars could not park there at all today.
Arrangements were also made with a nearby hairdresser’s that its clients would have to park on another street for just one day. One policeman joked that he hoped for rain so no-one would show up to have their hair done, clearing the area even further.
Instructions were given to close the road off to everyone today, and police collected the names of all residents living in nearby buildings, as they will be the only ones allowed to pass through the cordon. Their cars were another matter, however: they will have to be parked elsewhere for the day.
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.
