Turkish Cypriots ‘to allow Green Line crossings’

By a Staff Reporter

THE TURKISH Cypriots said yesterday they would open the Green Line for day- long crossings in an effort to boost confidence after the collapse of last month’s peace talks.

The failure of the UN-backed negotiations aimed at reuniting the island before Cyprus enters the European Union has threatened to cement the division and damage Turkey’s own efforts to join the affluent bloc.

Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, blamed by EU diplomats for the collapse of the talks, earlier this month proposed freedom of movement and other confidence-building measures he said would encourage both sides towards a final settlement.

Yesterday Serdar Denktash, Denktash’s son and the self-styled Turkish Cypriot administration’s ‘deputy prime minister’, told Reuters news agency that Turkish Cypriots would be allowed to enter the south and Greek Cypriots to come north each day until midnight.

“The council of ministers has decided to normalise crossings from the north to the south for Turkish Cypriots for day trips … Whether the Greek Cypriots allow (citizens) to enter the south is something for them to decide,” Serdar Denktash said.

“This is a unilateral decision passed to build confidence and promote peace. We hope the Greek Cypriots will follow suit.”

The government spokesman was unable to be reached for comment last night.

The island is set to join the EU in May 2004 after signing the accession treaty in Athens last week. Rauf Denktash has demanded direct talks with Brussels, saying the government does not represent the Turkish Cypriots.

The EU has urged Turkey to push Denktash towards agreeing to a settlement or face a major obstacle in its own EU membership aspirations.

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.