DHERYNIA: Cypriot officials opened two new border crossings on Monday for the first time in eight years, the latest push for peace by the two sides after UN-backed talks collapsed last year.

Dozens of people from the island’s Greek Cypriot south streamed across the eastern Dherynia border post, walking past United Nations peacekeepers into the breakaway Turkish-backed north.

At the same time, the Lefka or Aplici crossing opened in the northwest of the Mediterranean island.

“I am very pleased,” said 65-year-old Turkish-Cypriot Hasan Uzun about the move. “I am sick, but I wanted to come here and see this beautiful day with my eyes. I am very emotional now.” Ahead of the reopening of the Dherynia crossing, soldiers removed barriers wrapped in rusty barbed wire while a small group of riot police stood by.

Despite arguments breaking out among onlookers in the run-up to the midday opening, the crowd passed peacefully across the border.

The wreckage of a car could be seen off the main road in the UN-patrolled buffer zone, while nearby signs warned of mines beyond a barbed wire fence.

“Today is good day for Cyprus,” said Elizabeth Spehar, head of the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus.

“These crossing points will play an important role in helping to increase people to people contacts, contributing to build much needed trust and confidence between the communities on the island.” The development is also seen as a vital step to reviving peace negotiations, which collapsed in acrimony in July 2017.

“It’s another asset to the peace talks,” said Chris Charalambous, who was just 18 when war broke out more than 44 years ago.

Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded and occupied its northern third in response to a coup sponsored by the military junta then in power in Athens seeking to unite the island with Greece.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2018