Cypriots across divide want more contact, more open checkpoints

Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot political parties appealed to their respective leaderships on Thursday to open more crossings to facilitate better communication between the island's rival communities.

Ethnically divided Cyprus has nine crossings along the 180 km (116 mile) ceasefire line that separates Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Thousands use them daily with long queues and traffic jams a regular occurrence.

The two sides are now engaged in discussions on opening up more crossing points.

Thirteen Greek and Turkish Cypriot political parties attending an event organised by the Slovak embassy in Nicosia endorsed a call to their communities' political leaders to move forward.

"This is a must in order to preserve our common cultural heritage, and to make people's life much easier," said Mehmet Harmanci, mayor of the Turkish sector of Nicosia.

His Greek Cypriot counterpart Charalambos Prountzos concurred.

"The opening of crossings is not an objective by itself, but it's a necessary move pending the resolution of the Cyprus issue, to ensure that the two communities meet, the two communities increase their understanding and their empathy towards each other," he said.

Cyprus was split in a Turkish invasion in 1974 after a brief Greek-inspired coup. 

The ceasefire line was completely sealed until April 2003, when Turkish Cypriot authorities opened one crossing, triggering a surge of tens of thousands of Cypriots to areas off-limits to them for decades.