Cyprus’ Green Line Regulation is “a tool to assist reunification”, Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said on Tuesday.

Speaking to the House foreign affairs committee, he said his ministry is in “full cooperation” with the European Commission regarding the regulation’s implementation, and that his ministry has “as a guiding principle” compliance with it.

To this end, he warned that no move should be made for the regulation to be amended, “because that would be extremely dangerous and may bring negative developments”.

He added that the volume of trade moving from the north into the Republic increased by 10 per cent between 2022 and 2023, and that current data shows that the amount of trade carried out in 2024 will surpass last year again.

He went on to say that the government also has other obligations within the regulation’s framework, including the fight against smuggling and health and safety.

“We want to strike a balance between the obligations we have and the use of the regulation as a tool for the reunification of our island,” he said, adding that the checks carried out at crossing points “should not be seen as something negative because they stem from the Republic of Cyprus’ obligations.”

With this in mind, he said that “people’s mobility is constantly increasing”, though the latest figures suggest the number of crossings made overall only increased due to a sharp increase in Turkish Cypriots crossing, with the number of crossings made by Greek Cypriots and non-Cypriots falling this year compared to last year.

The number of crossings made between the Republic and the north by Greek Cypriots fell by almost 4.5 per cent in the first nine months of the year compared to the same period last year, according to the north’s central bank, while the number of crossings made by non-Cypriots fell by 7.7 per cent over the same period.

Over the same period, however, the number of crossings made by Turkish Cypriots grew by 17 per cent.

The number of crossings made by Greek Cypriots was just over 40,000 higher than the number of crossings made by Turkish Cypriots over the first nine months of the year, despite the fact that there are many more Greek Cypriots living on the island.

As an overall picture, this means that a total of 5,893,889 crossings were made to the north at Cyprus’ nine crossing points in the first nine months of the year. This figure is in fact higher by 1.4 per cent than last year’s equivalent figure of 5,807,976, though this is inflated by the sheer number of Turkish Cypriots crossing.

One explanation for the inflated number of crossings made by Turkish Cypriots is that when leaving the island, many Turkish Cypriots choose to fly from the Republic’s airports as flights are often cheaper.

This point was picked up on by Turkish Cypriot travel agencies’ association (Kitsab) chairman Orhan Tolunin September.

“People with a Republic of Cyprus identity card are all flying from Larnaca and Paphos. You can find a plane ticket from Larnaca to Malta for €100, but our ticket prices are very expensive,” he said.

However, another more pressing reason may be what opposition political party CTP leader Tufan Erhurman has described as a “southward shift” in the north’s economy as the cost of living there rises.

To this end, roads around the Ayios Dhometios crossing point saw large tailbacks on Friday as Turkish Cypriots attempted to cross to the Republic to take advantage of Black Friday sales at the malls and other popular shops.