Reports emerged in the Turkish Cypriot press on Tuesday that only Turkish Cypriots holding Republic of Cyprus ID could cross to the south of the island as of August 25 causing a lot of uncertainty for people crossing from the north of the island.

Following the reports on Wednesday, various statements emerged from the Greek Cypriot side that ranged from “no policy change” has been introduced to “it’s an IT upgrade” to “further information is required from ‘TRNC’ ID holders” and “it’s related to Cyprus’ accession to Schengen”.

Some reports said Turkish Cypriots holding Republic of Cyprus IDs had been asked to use them to make their crossings easier because extra documentation would be required for those using ‘TRNC’ papers. This at least seemed to have been confirmed. The reason… not so much.

It is not clear why so many different reasons had been trotted out that ended up causing uncertainty. The whole thing seems a bit uncoordinated, leaving people to wonder about the truth of the matter.

If the government introduced stricter measures related to “TRNC” identity cards due to suspicions that the Turkish Cypriot side is handing them out like candy to non-Turkish Cypriots then fair enough. Further checks might be in order.

If the sole reason is to make crossings more difficult for Turkish Cypriots, or in retaliation over the nonsensical and clearly manufactured charges against five Greek Cypriots being detained in the north since July, then we’re playing a risky game of escalation. 

Turkish Cypriot People’s Party leader Kudret Ozersay, in a social media post spoke about the contradiction between the statements of the Greek Cypriot side that “there is no policy change” and the official information from the police press office to the Cyprus News Agency saying there was.

Ozersay said that regardless of the reason “an additional burden” had been placed on people crossing to the south of the island. He didn’t suggest it was a retaliatory move over the five arrests, but Turkish Cypriot media all did on Wednesday along with witness testimonies saying people had been asked to produce RoC IDs at Ayios Dhometios crossing point.

Was there a reason it was not announced in advance?

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar also pronounced his verdict early on Wednesday saying: “Games cannot be played with the crossing points” that are causing uncertainty and undermining trust between the two communities.

He said that at a time when efforts were being made with the UN to open more crossings, any moves that complicate the operation of existing ones or cause misunderstandings should be avoided.

All of this is true. However, if Tatar’s comments were coming from a heartfelt and conciliatory place rather than a new opportunity to propagandise and play the victim card, they could be hailed as laudable, but his own actions when it comes to the five detained Greek Cypriots say otherwise.

This tit-for-tat mentality could lead to more moves on his part to make crossings more difficult for Greek Cypriots and in the end people on both sides will think twice about crossing the Green Line at all.