There is no crisis over Ledra
THE PRESIDENT’S premature return from London does not mean there is a crisis over Ledra Street government officials said yesterday.
The crossing was temporarily closed on Thursday night for ninety minutes – just hours after it had opened – when four uniformed Turkish Cypriot policemen began to patrol a part of the street they were not allowed into according to terms of the Ledra Street opening agreement.
The occupying forces met with the UN officials yesterday to discuss Thursday night’s incident, said the Justice Minister Kypros Chrysostomides.
“The terms of the agreement for the Ledra opening specified that the area between Ermou Street and Kykkos Street would be under UN control, therefore any presence of any military or police elements would be inexcusable,” the Minister said.
“Unfortunately, this was not the case and we proceeded to close the crossing. If a similar incident was to be repeated in the future, then our orders to police will be to close the crossing once again,” he said.
The Turkish Cypriot ‘Foreign Minister’ Turgay Avci was emphatic that the area in which the Turkish Cypriot police had moved into was part of the ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’.
“Our borders are not under debate,” he said. “If the Greek Cypriots have a problem, then we can discuss it.”
During the incident, President Christofias was on the plane to London to attend a round table discussion on progressive government held by Britain’s Labour Party.
However, upon being informed of the situation, Christofias promptly returned to Cyprus yesterday afternoon and lined up meetings with ambassadors of the five permanent members of the Security Council and with UN representative Elizabeth Spehar to discuss the issue.
His decision to return fuelled speculation over whether the President was happy with the way the incident at Ledra Street was handled and over the seriousness of the incident itself.
The order for the closing of the street came from acting President Marios Karoyian who had first consulted Christofias, according to Chrysostomides.
Karoyian did not wish to make any statements to the Mail yesterday.
Government spokesman Stephanos Stephanou denied that the President’s return meant that there was a crisis at hand.
“There is no crisis, as some people argue. The President merely wants to keep a close eye on things,” he said.
He added that Christofias’ decision to cut his London visit short “was the responsible choice to make”, and said that there was no issue of snubbing the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown since no private meeting had been arranged between the two leaders.
Director of the President’s Office Vassos Georgiou visited the crossing yesterday morning “to see what is exactly happening” and said that, “Ledra has opened and will remain open as long as the agreement is maintained.”
Georgiou emphasised that, “the UN have given reassurances last night” that yesterday’s incident will not happen again.
As to the reason why President Christofias untimely return from London, Georgiou said that it was “so that he can be fully informed.”
It is now up to the Presidential Commissioner George Iacovou to represent Cyprus at the round table discussion. Iacovou is also set to meet with members from the British Foreign Office.
Speaking to London Greek Radio about the incident, Iacovou said that “this is not the only provocation by the Turkish occupying forces. Therefore the President is back in Cyprus to deal with the matter because it is unknown if and how it may develop.”
