UniteCyprusNow calls for more checkpoints to open

Pro reunification group UniteCyprusNow on Tuesday urged the leaders of the island’s divided communities to uphold their promise and immediately open two crossing points they agreed on in 2015.

In a written statemen, UCN said the Dherynia and Lefka crossing points, which Nicos Anastasiades and Mustafa Akinci decided to open in May 2015, should have contributed towards reconciliation of the two communities.

“Almost three years on, they remain closed, and are part of the blame game between the sides. This is deeply concerning.”

The group said it no longer wanted to hear excuses or a blame-game over the two crossing points.

“Neither reciprocity nor give-and-take can justify their failure to open the two crossing points these last three years. We want these two regions, which have turned into dead ends in the east and west of Cyprus, to come to life,” UCN said.

The group said it would be attending a demonstration that will be held on Saturday, March 31, at the Famagusta Dherynia road to demand the opening of the crossing.

“We call on both leaders to stop making the fundamental rights and freedoms, and daily lives of Cypriots a matter of negotiation and to take steps urgently to normalise life on this island,” UCN said.

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.