Leaders re-affirm support for speedy checkpoint openings

The two leaders, President Nicos Anastasiades and Mustafa Akinci, have said that they both want to see the opening of the Dherynia and Lefka/Apliki crossings as soon as possible, it was reported on Monday.
The opening of the two crossings was agreed by the two leaders last year.
According to the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides confirmed reports from the north that the two leaders had discussed the issue during a telephone conversation.
Akinci had telephoned President Anastasiades to discuss the issue.
Prior to the phone call, Akinci met with members of the United Nations Development Department (UNDP), the EU support office, and the UNFICYP to look at ways to overcome delays in opening the crossings.
The Greek Cypriot head of the technical committee for crossing points, Sotos Zacheos, had said in May that it should take no more than five to seven months to see the opening of the Dherynia crossing. As regards the Lefka crossing in the Morphou area, he had said that it would take longer due to a number of environmental and infrastructural factors.

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.