By Yusuf KANLI
TDN- At the height of EOKA (the Greek Cypriot terrorist gang) violence against British colonial rule and the Turkish Cypriots who opposed "Enosis" (the union of Cyprus with Greece), the first barricade that divided the island was erected at Ledra Avenue in Nicosia, or as the Turks call it "Lokmacy," - named after a Turkish Cypriot "Lokma" (a kind of donut) shop in the district. It soon became the symbol of intercommunal strife.
With the creation of the Republic of Cyprus - an effective federation of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot peoples of the island with a complex power-sharing scheme - the barricades on Ledra Avenue, in the heart of the busy shopping district of Nicosia, were removed. However, it was again Ledra that was closed first when Greek Cypriots attacked Turkish Cypriots all over the island on the night of Dec. 21, 1963, killing the partnership state and replacing it with a Greek Cypriot run administration - recognized as the government of the island in a March 1964 U.N. resolution dispatching a U.N. peacekeeping force to the island - and a non-recognized "communal administration" for Turkish Cypriots in northern Turkish Cypriot sector of Nicosia.
A symbol of separation:
From the end of December 1963 until yesterday morning - for almost 45 years - the Ledra crossing has become the symbol of separation on the island and was often referred to as "Murder Mile" after many Turkish Cypriots were shot down by Greek Cypriot snipers in that neighborhood from 1963 until the 1974 Turkish intervention on the island. It remained closed while on April 23, 2003 the Turkish Cypriot administration unilaterally decided to allow the two peoples of the island to travel between the two sides freely - of course with registration formalities at the crossing points.
The former Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos had repeatedly refused to open the crossing, but after the change in leadership on the Greek Cypriot side the new leader, communist Demetris Christofias, agreed at a March 21 meeting with his Turkish Cypriot counterpart and comrade Mehmet Ali Talat to "drop the conditions" his predecessor attached to Ledra's reopening.
What was achieved with yesterday's reopening of Ledra is more than just the removal of some barrels, a plywood shield, land mines and some makeup on the adjacent walls. Ledra's opening is a psychological event on both sides of the divided Cyprus. Yesterday a psychological barrier was removed on the island.
For the north, it represents a change of mentality in the Greek Cypriot side from an arrogant and stubborn Papadopoulos talking of "oxi" ("no") whenever he opened his mouth, to a chubby, smiling Christofias talking of the need to settle the Cyprus problem - yet insisting that a settlement must be on his terms. Still, Turkish Cypriots are perceiving today an "improved climate" in the southern Greek Cypriot sector, though they are not yet sure whether that improved atmosphere will help to reach a "compromise formula" allowing creation of a new power-sharing deal and a new "federal" common state.
A psychological barrier removed:
Greek Cypriots, with Ledra's opening for the first time since the 1974 Turkish intervention, have gotten back a piece of land, though a negligibly small area. Secondly, with the Ledra deal, Turkish troops at that location were withdrawn by some 50 meters. Thus, Turkish troop withdrawal from that section of the divide was achieved. Thus, a new psychological confidence and perception was created in the southern Greek Cypriot sector that it is indeed possible to "regain lost land" through dialogue and a "compromise deal".
The whole exercise undertaken by Talat and Christofias, of course, was not limited to the reopening of the Ledra crossing and the two sides have started "committee works" which are hoped to help prepare a common ground for the start of "comprehensive talks" between the two leaders by the end of June. The aim of the new talks - if they can be launched - will be to achieve a "compromise resolution" to the over four decades old Cyprus problem by the year's end and at the latest by March 2009. Christofias has been silent so far on such a target, while Talat, UN representatives and those involved in discreet diplomacy still underline that such a target is still attainable.
While there appears to be a sharp discrepancy between the two sides as regards to what kind of a settlement they want on the island, let's hope that the "committee works" will help define a common target.
(Yusuf Kanly can be contacted at [email protected] or [email protected])