WHILE THE world “warmly welcomes” the demolition of the Ledra Street wall in Nicosia, all indications are that the crossing is no closer to opening as long as Turkish troops remain in and around the area.
The international community yesterday lined up to praise the Cyprus government for tearing down the last dividing wall in Europe, describing the decision as “courageous” and “positive” and of “high symbolic significance”. The government hopes the move will act as a momentum to kick-start the July 8 2006 agreement, also known as the Gambari agreement, but sees little progress on Ledra Street as long as Turkish troops remain within the buffer zone.
Speaking at the site where the wall was demolished, British High Commissioner Peter Millet welcomed the move, adding his hope that it would lead to an early agreement on opening the crossing point. He reminded the two sides of the wider need to commence work on the Gambari agreement. “In short: a good move but it needs to be part of a wider process and I hope that process will be launched very soon.”
EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn described the move as a “courageous decision”, but urged both sides to use the momentum of the pulling down of the wall and the removal of the Turkish footbridge last December to effectively open Ledra Street to both communities. The Commission has earmarked more than 100,000 euro to finance any work needed to prepare the crossing point, he added. Speculation was rife yesterday that the overnight move to demolish the wall was a result of increased pressure from Brussels, coinciding with President Tassos Papadopoulos’ visit to the EU heartland. A government source was quick to dismiss these claims, highlighting that the government had received absolutely no pressure to remove the wall from Brussels.
The UN Special Representative in Cyprus, Michael Moller, “warmly welcomed” the move, describing it as a “positive contribution” to creating a positive atmosphere. He noted that once the two sides were in agreement on the terms for opening the crossing, UNFICYP, would be ready to move ahead. According to a UN source, the UN could prop up the old buildings, sweep the place for mines and have the road ready for crossing within five weeks of such an agreement.
Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis also described the government’s decision as a “courageous action” but put more emphasis on the “response of the other side” as to whether Ledra would remain divided or open up.
US Ambassador Ronald Schlicher described the move as a “very positive gesture”. He called on the two sides to work with the UN to complete the steps for opening the street. Schlicher also urged development on the Gambari process, referring to the setting up of technical committees and bicommunal working groups. The ambassador noted that new ideas were apparently “floating around in that regard”.
The German EU Presidency, through the German Embassy, welcomed the removal of the wall but stressed that what counted was the final outcome, “namely a functioning pedestrian crossing”.
The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Rene van der Linden, said he was delighted with the move and “strongly encouraged” Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat to respond constructively and ensure no Turkish Cypriot soldiers would be visible to those using the crossing.
The latter point appears to be the sticking point preventing further progress on the opening of Ledra Street. The government has made it absolutely clear that the demolition of the wall does not mean the opening of the crossing point until security issues are addressed. These issues concern the movement of Turkish troops in and around the buffer zone. According to a government source, in the last two years, Turkish troops have been seen moving within the buffer zone and even removing UN signposts there. As long as Turkish forces continue to claim part or whole of the buffer zone, the government cannot allow its citizens to cross in an unsafe environment, said the source. The government welcomed the UN Security Council’s repeated calls for delineation of the buffer zone to settle any potential security issues.
According to one UN source, UNFICYP has had differences of interpretation with Turkish forces regarding the mapping of the buffer zone, which led to a high-level agreement in early 2006 to resolve these differences. Although UNFICYP still receives patrol reports highlighting these differences, another UN source wished to clarify that both sides had different opinions on the buffer zone’s delineation, but that at the end of the day, only the UN was the arbiter. For example, the Cyprus government saw the recently demolished Turkish bridge as being within the UN buffer zone, where as the UN did not see its location as infringing on the buffer zone.
The same source clarified that the main issue was for the two sides to match their criteria for the opening of the crossing point, whether this be demilitarization or disengagement of military forces. Given the government’s stance on Turkish troops within the crossing point area, guns and boots will be the core of future negotiations on Ledra Street.
A government source highlighted that bringing down the wall was part of a wider effort to get the ball rolling on the Gambari process by instigating confidence-building measures. Parallel to that, the government has earmarked £200,000 for the immediate clear-up of the government-controlled area at the Kato Pyrgos-Karavostasi crossing point, one of three proposed crossings in the area. The government has not linked the opening of this point with that of Ledra Street.
