THE TURKISH side said yesterday they might be willing to dismantle the controversial bridge it is building at Ledra Street if the two sides sit down with the UN to resolve the deadlock over the crossing.
“We are willing to take the first opportunity to sit down and discuss this with the Greek Cypriots and the UN, and if necessary we are willing to remove the bridge.
“But we don’t want to do this and then find the Greek Cypriots come up with another excuse,” said Semavi Asik the Turkish Cypriot deputy mayor of Nicosia.
Asik was speaking only hours after UNFICYP called on the Turkish side to stop work and enter a dialogue. The Greek Cypriot side also demanded a freeze on the work yesterday afternoon pending talks.
“At the moment, work goes on but tomorrow the government will be talking with the UN and we will see what comes out of that,” said Asik. “I believe we can satisfy the military. We have not had problems with them. They are after all our army,” he said, but added the army’s needs “must be taken into consideration one way or the other”.
Since work began clearing the area north of the Green Line, where Ermou Street crosses Ledra Street, the two sides have been at loggerheads. The Greek Cypriot side has objected to the fact that the Turkish side is building a bridge across Ermou to take pedestrians into the Green Line just north of Ledra Street. The bridge is designed to allow military posts on either side of the street unhindered supply access.
The government said the Turkish side was encroaching on the buffer zone and that the bridge was a violation of the 1974 status quo in the area.
Earlier yesterday, UNFICYP suggested to the Turkish side to stop the work. It said it was unable to support or facilitate the opening of Ledra Street, and that it was reviewing the proposal submitted by the government calling for a freeze on the work being done on the Turkish side.
In a written statement, UNFICYP said it had taken its decision in the absence of the consent of both parties.
“The mission’s view is that while the construction undertaken by the Turkish side is outside the buffer zone, being to the north of the ceasefire line, it should cease. Both sides should resume efforts to find mutually acceptable arrangements for the opening of the Ledra Street crossing,” UNFICYP said.
The statement said that, even as the Security Council met on Wednesday in New York to discuss the Secretary-general’s report on the renewal of the mission’s mandate, Turkish Cypriot workers seeking to clear rubble from an area adjacent to the construction site crossed into the buffer zone.
“Last month, despite repeated cautionings by UNFICYP and other UN officials not to raise hopes unnecessarily, representatives on both sides persisted in proclaiming that the Ledra Street crossing could be open by Christmas. This presupposed the parties’ mutual agreement on a work plan and schedule and a joint commitment to proceed. Instead, the Turkish Cypriot side opted to act pre-emptively to execute its project, and persists in acting unilaterally toward an objective that by definition must be bilateral,” the statement added.
The statement said that unilateral initiatives were incompatible with the spirit of the confidence building measures that have driven carefully co-ordinated efforts to promote and ensure the orderly opening of crossing points on the island.
“UNFICYP is reviewing the proposal submitted by the Greek Cypriot side. The mission remains ready to facilitate a process whereby the two sides co-operate in good faith with each other and with the UN to open a crossing for civilian use in the Ledra Street area,” it said.
In its submission to the UN, the government proposed the immediate freezing of all activities on the proposed crossing point until an agreement could be reached on the arrangements that would be necessary for the crossing.
In a written statement, titled “The Way Forward”, the Greek Cypriot side said it hoped Ledra Street could open because it would facilitate the development and general revitalisation of the area, “as well as economic integration and increased contacts between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots”.
It also included a list of conditions it said were necessary for the practical opening of the crossing point.
These included a passageway on the ground, which was hurdle-free, “which in practice means the removal of the bridge,” it said.
A second condition requests the removal of military forces and armaments on both sides within the vicinity of the crossing point. This, the government said could be monitored by UNFICYP. A map detailing the proposed unmanned area was included.
It also wants the area in the vicinity of the crossing point on each side to be deemed a ‘civil-use’ area with a plan for the restoration of buildings there under the Nicosia Master Plan, which would be funded by the EU.
