Letter

Sir,
For what it’s worth, we Brits are in an unenviable position when it comes to crossing the
Green Line when staying in Cyprus: we cannot cross on an ID card, for the simple reason that
we don’t have ID cards in the UK.

It may be a “step forward” towards freedom of movement, but it discriminates against UK
citizens, who are EU citizens as well but still cannot cross the Green Line without showing
a passport, as we had to earlier this year when we made two excursions into the north under
the then-operating regulations.

My wife and I have been visiting Cyprus for many years and are currently negotiating to buy a
house and move there permanently. In common with, I should think, at least 99% of British
ex-pats living in Cyprus we will no doubt retain our UK citizenship and will therefore, along
with all the British tourists who visit the island, become second-class citizens and have one
of our fundamental European rights withheld.

In my humble opinion, the Republic has shot itself squarely in the foot by voting “no” to the
Annan plan, and I am confident that more anomalies such as this are waiting to rear their ugly
heads.
Graham Spencer
Solihull, UK

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.