Athienou mayor Kyriakos Kareklas on Tuesday said he “regrets” that the announcement of new crossing points following a meeting of President Nikos Christodoulides, Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman, and United Nations envoy Maria Angela Holguin failed to include a transit road from his town to the Nicosia suburb of Aglandjia.
He told the Cyprus News Agency that “for 52 years, Athienou has been waiting” for the road, but said that he remains hopeful that “there will ultimately be a positive decision”, with the leaders set to continue their discussions on the matter with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in the coming weeks.
“The enormous benefits which will arise for Athienou from the opening of this specific crossing point are known,” he said, before adding that the town council will hold an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday to discuss “the latest developments”.
Kareklas is not the only mayor who expressed disappointment after missing out on a crossing point following Monday’s meeting, with Turkish Cypriot Nicosia mayor Mehmet Harmanci, too lamenting the failure to produce the opening of a new crossing point in the capital.
“The decisions reached have unfortunately failed to provide the expected relief regarding crossing points, which represent one of the most critical issues directly affecting daily life on the island,” he said.
He added that while the two crossing points which the leaders did agree to open, in Louroujina and in Karavostasi, “can be considered positive steps”, both are “insufficient to alleviate the heavy congestion in and around Nicosia”.
Harmanci: Confidence-building measures ‘are failing to address urgent needs’
“The lack of concrete progress on a Nicosia crossing point, such as the one at Mia Milia, which has long been on the table and which would benefit both communities, demonstrates that these confidence-building measures are failing to address the public’s most urgent needs,” he said.
The failure to open the road between Athienou and Aglandjia comes with the two sides yet to agree on exactly where it should be built.
Erhurman said on Monday the first proposal was for the road to be built entirely north of the Green Line and to be built by the Turkish Cypriot authorities.
The second proposal, he said, was for the road to be built north of the Green Line until it reached the Greek Cypriot village of Yeri, from whence it would be built with funding from the European Union.
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