Peaceful marches have been going on for decades

Sir,

Zoe Christodoulides’ article “Keeping the Peace” in the January 11 issue of Seven refers to 1989 as the year in which the first mass movement on the ceasefire line took place. It would indeed have been strange if it had taken the Greek Cypriot displaced people fifteen years to attempt to demonstrate a desire to return to their towns and villages.

The first massive attempt to return home organised by Women Walk Home, actually took place in April 1975 when 30,000 women took part. They walked in a silent and disciplined procession from the village of Frenaros through Dherynia hoping to reach the occupied town of Famagusta.

From the outset, the considered plan and philosophy of the Women Walk Home was to try to attract world attention to the tragic plight of the displaced people of Cyprus by trying to cross the dividing line and come face to face with the occupying Turkish soldiers.

The totally peaceful, non-violent intentions were widely publicised both inside and outside Cyprus. On this occasion, the women were prevented by UNFICYP from reaching the occupied town of Famagusta. The movement was renewed in 1987, when it became clear that the political negotiations for a settlement of the Cyprus problem were utterly bogged down.

This renewed effort focused less on mass participation and more on evading UNFICYP in the buffer zone and getting into the area of the island occupied by the Turkish army. Some women succeeded in doing this at Ayios Pavlos in Nicosia (800 women participated) in November 1987 and at Lymbia and Achna in March 1989 (6,000 women participated). A lot of women were seized by the Turkish army at Achna as well as Lymbia in March 1989 – certainly more than the 32 mentioned in the article.

One of the women seized at Lymbia was Titina Loizidou. Her benchmark case against Turkey for human rights violations at the European Court of Human Rights was based on this arrest and on her repeated participation in all the Walks Home mentioned above.

We all, of course, respect the work of the UN peacekeeping forces worldwide and particularly in Cyprus. The Women Walk Home was a totally serious and peaceful movement opposed to the maintenance of the current status quo in Cyprus.

Cleopatra Byauda,
Katerina Fterakidou,
Diana Markides,
Vassos Petsas,
Helen Soteriou,
Nicosia

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.