Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar on Tuesday poured cold water on the idea of opening a new crossing point in central Nicosia, saying that President Nikos Christodoulides had requested the opening of such a crossing point at Monday’s meeting between the pair.

“There is no serious congestion on Ledra Street. Every crossing point has security, personnel, and infrastructure costs. At the moment, opening a new pedestrian crossing point near Ledra Street is not a need. The most important need is to ease vehicular crossings,” he told Tak, the north’s news agency.

Additionally, he said, it is not possible for him to accept “transit roads” being opened to facilitate the passage of Greek Cypriot motorists through the north from one part of the Republic to another, singling out the idea of a crossing point at Pyroi, near the town of Athienou.

“This is not a crossing point, but a de facto transit corridor from the Greek Cypriot side to the Greek Cypriot side. It is a proposal which disregards the existence of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. It is not possible for us to accept such a situation,” he said.

Related Articles

He added that at the enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem in Geneva in March, attempts had been made to persuade Christodoulides to “make a clear proposal regarding the crossing points”, but that no proposal had been forthcoming.

He, meanwhile, maintained his support for the prospect of a crossing point opening in Mia Milia, in the east of Nicosia.

“65 per cent, or even more, of the crossings made are vehicle crossings and are made from the Ayios Dhometios crossing point. Therefore, opening new vehicle crossing points is a necessity,” he said.

He added, “I clearly told the Greek Cypriot leader yesterday, ‘do not take this matter lightly, it does not matter what our political situation is; these people are continuing to live, and the crossings are continuing”.

On this matter, he accused the Greek Cypriots of “following a policy to reduce the number of crossings”.

“The fewer people who cross to this side, the more it suits them, because every person who crosses to this side addresses this side. They are stamped; papers are drawn up. This does not suit the Greek Cypriot administration,” he said.

As such, he said, he had in Geneva suggested that crossing points be opened in Mia Milia and in the village of Louroujina, which is located just 380 metres away from Lympia.

He also touched on the matter of the buffer zone village of Pyla, where construction of a road to nearby Arsos, in the north, has been at a standstill for almost 18 months following the collapse of a mutual understanding to construct it and other local infrastructure.

“The Greek Cypriots have new settlement plans for the area, but considering the current military situation, this is unacceptable. When this is the case, people say, ‘Tatar is uncompromising’, ‘Tatar is opposed’, but it is not possible for me to accept this,” he said.

The idea of more crossing points in central Nicosia had been floated by the capital’s Turkish Cypriot mayor Mehmet Harmanci earlier in the year. He had said discussions had previously been held surrounding the potential opening of a crossing point near the old town’s Paphos gate.

As well as this, he said, discussions had been held for there to be a “merging” of the old ‘Bandabuliya’ municipal market, located in the north, and the Nicosia municipality centre for research, innovation, and entrepreneurship, located immediately south of it in the Republic.

He said the Bandabuliya idea was one which had been mentioned in his discussions with Greek Cypriot Nicosia mayor Charalambos Prountzos and his predecessor and current Nicosia district governor Constantinos Yiorkadjis.

A similar idea, he said, had entailed linking the Republic’s Ermou street with the north’s Uray street, with both streets popular evening spots with bars and restaurants in Nicosia’s old town.

Following March’s enlarged meeting, Mustafa Lakadamyali, the undersecretary of the north’s ‘foreign ministry’, had confirmed to the Cyprus Mail that each of the island’s two sides has been given the right to open two crossing points.

He said the Turkish Cypriot side has elected to open a crossing point Mia Milia and in Louroujina, adding that Christodoulides was expected propose two other crossing points “in the coming period”.

“It is understood that they are not the transit passages previously proposed, but two new crossing points,” he said, referring to the previously suggested crossing points near Athienou and Kokkina.

The mutual understanding over Pyla foresaw that the road would be built with a Turkish Cypriot checkpoint stationed north of the buffer zone and another checkpoint located within the buffer zone.

In addition, 400 plots of land north of Pyla were set to be turned into residential properties, while a large solar farm was set to be built in a vacant area northwest of the village.

However, just weeks later, the UN requested that works be put on hold after reports surfaced in the Turkish Cypriot media that Greek Cypriot construction workers had “encroached on TRNC territory”, while Turkish Cypriot Pergamos mayor Bulent Bebek said soldiers and police had been mobilised in the area to prevent anyone from entering.