Cypriots welcome wall demolition

Greek and Turkish Cypriots alike have voiced their support for the bulldozing of one of Europe’s most enduring symbols of division.

A 13ft high concrete wall that stretched along the breadth of Ledra Street in the heart of Nicosia’s tourist area was torn down in a dramatic and unannounced gesture by the Greek Cypriot government, raising hopes that it will help create momentum for reuniting the island.

The wall has been a bitter symbol of the island’s 32-year division into a Greek Cypriot south and a Turkish Cypriot north.

United Nations and European Union chiefs also welcomed the move.

Amid strong security, bulldozers went to work on Thursday night, behind a screen, as a growing crowd of reporters and citizens were kept away behind barbed wire.

Some took pieces of the wall as mementoes.

“I want to have it and show my children and tell them that I was there the day the wall fell,” said Adamos Adamou, 28. “I feel lucky to be there and I feel more optimistic that something might be done.”

The wall was gone in a matter of hours, replaced by a plastic and aluminium screen.

“Demolishing the wall is a positive development for both sides, it was already a prospect,” a Turkish Cypriot said in north Nicosia. “I think both sides will make an agreement about opening the gate here – and it should open.”

Dismantling the wall is another step towards reconnecting Ledra street – first closed in the 1960s following intercommunal strife – serving at the same time as a new access point between the two communities.

Although five crossings have operated on the island since 2003, there are none in the city centre.

Cyprus made it clear that the Turkish army had to withdraw from the area first.

“We are expecting, after this unilateral decision of the government, a decision that will remove the Turkish army from the area in order to open the crossing points for citizens,” Cypriot foreign minister Giorgos Lillikas said on the sidelines of the EU summit in Brussels.

Lillikas said Greek Cypriot forces would also withdraw from the area if the Turkish army did so.

Rasit Pertev, under-secretary of the Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, described the event as “historic” and said it had come as a surprise.

“I believe (the Greek Cypriots) took this decision following pressure exerted on them. It is a positive step,” Pertev said.

Cyprus, which joined the EU in 2004, has been split since a 1974 Turkish invasion sparked by an abortive coup attempting to unite the island with Greece. Turkey maintains some 40,000 troops in the north and is the only country to recognise a breakaway Turkish Cypriot state there.

The two sides are separated physically by a buffer zone known as the Green Line, patrolled by UN peacekeepers. Efforts to reunify the island have been effectively frozen since 2004, when Greek Cypriots rejected a UN reunification blueprint accepted by Turkish Cypriots in separate referendums.

Earlier this year, Turkish Cypriots dismantled a footbridge on their side of the buffer zone. Construction of the bridge in late 2005 had angered Greek Cypriots, who withdrew their support for plans to reopen a north-south crossing on Ledra Street.