Cypriot leaders agree to open two new crossings

NICOSIA

The leaders of the ethnically-divided island of Cyprus have agreed to open two new crossing points as part of efforts to revive reunification talks.

Turkish Cypriot President Tufan Erhürman and Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides held a three-hour meeting with U.N. envoy Maria Angela Holguin at the buffer zone on Nov. 9.

A brief U.N. statement called the discussions positive and said the two leaders “also discussed the opening of other crossing points” ahead of a trilateral meeting with the secretary-general in the “coming weeks.”

It added that the two crossings, one west of the divided capital Nicosia and one to its southeast, “will be opened simultaneously.” The crossings were named as Akıncılar and Gemikonağı.

However, no date has yet been announced for when the crossings will become operational.

Nine crossings between the two sides have operated since 2003, when the previously closed frontier was opened. The last new crossing opened in 2018.

An agreement last March to open four crossings ultimately failed.

Erhürman said the initiative to open the new crossing points was proposed by the Turkish Cypriot side.

Describing a package of proposals as “bridge-building initiatives,” Erhürman said it also envisaged the establishment of a joint disaster coordination center between the two communities on the island.

The package further includes the joint restoration of a church and an Armenian monastery.

However, Erhürman said a U.N.-proposed military mechanism aimed at facilitating military cooperation in the buffer zone and overseeing mine clearance had not been accepted by the Greek Cypriot side.

“I regard these as modest steps forward,” Erhürman said, adding that the outcomes were satisfactory in terms of making progress on several longstanding issues, particularly if the period from the 2017 Crans-Montana talks to 2026 was considered a period of stagnation.

A new meeting is expected to take place in the near future with the participation of outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

The opening of additional crossing points and access to the bicommunal village of Pile, located in the buffer zone, are expected to be on the agenda of the trilateral meeting.

Erhürman also said he put forward what he described as a “game-changing” proposal concerning the methodology of the negotiations, but added that he would not disclose its details publicly at this stage.

Guterres in July began a new drive to resolve the more than five-decade-old conflict and suggested new crossings as a confidence-building measure.

The Cyprus dispute has remained unresolved for more than half a century despite repeated U.N.-brokered peace initiatives. The latest comprehensive round of negotiations collapsed in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, in 2017 without reaching a settlement.