Cyprus becomes larger

"You’d better pinch me, I can’t believe this is happening," Reuters quoted Greek Cypriot Peter Pavlou, 35, stuck in a four-kilometre traffic jam leading to the Turkish Cypriot side, as saying Thursday noon.

There was a distinct feeling of change in the air. A checkpoint which has seen angry confrontations in the past was flung wide open, with Greeks and Turks freely mingling for the first time in decades.

"People are like rivers, you can’t stop them," one Turkish Cypriot said.

The Turkish Cypriot government authorized the opening of the border gates for day trips on Tuesday, hoping to bolster confidence between the two sides after the collapse of U.N.-brokered peace talks last month.

The talks ended amid arguments over land and population exchanges, ending hopes that a united Cyprus, rather than just the Greek Cypriots, could join the European Union in May 2004.

Queues to cross
As word on the ease of entry spread on Thursday, long queues formed on either side of a U.N. manned border gate at the Ledra Palace, a former luxury hotel and now quarters for British peacekeepers.

The flow was expected to increase as Greek Cypriots head into a four-day break for Orthodox Easter from today.

On the Greek Cypriot side of Nicosia, hundreds of cars were queuing up in double lanes to cross into the Turkish Cypriot area, causing a lengthy traffic jam.

"There are people here who will have to wait about five hours to cross," Reuters photographer Andreas Manolis said.

Police reported there were more than 1,000 cars waiting to cross another checkpoint in the southeast of the island.

The Green Line stretches for 180 kilometers (120 miles) across the northern part of Cyprus with four crossing points, the main one in Nicosia itself.

Some canny businessmen were already eyeing profits; Turkish Cypriot car insurers were the first to benefit.

"I was charged five pounds for a cover note which I was later told normally costs just a pound," said Jeanu Thomas, who visited northern Nicosia with his family on Wednesday night.

It was four pounds earlier in the day.

Busses for Turkish Cypriots
Meanwhile, the Greek Cypriot administration, under international pressure to accept Turkish Cypriots drive into the south with their cars, distributed leaflets to incoming Turkish Cypriots Thursday and notified them that between 09:00 and 15:00 hours they will be given a free ride to places they would like to visit in southern Cyprus. Leaflets said busses and mini-buses were rented for that purpose.

While the north allowed Greek Cypriots to enter with their cars — on the condition of making insurance valid in the Turkish Cypriot territory — scared that permission for Turkish Cypriot licensed cars entering into the south would amount to recognition, the Greek Cypriot administration has been allowing only pedestrian Turkish Cypriots to cross into the south.

Greek Cypriots concerned of KKTC recognition
The Greek Cypriot administration, on the other hand, appeared increasingly concerned that the Turkish Cypriot decision to open the border gates between the two entities on the eastern Mediterranean island for day trips could lead to the indirect recognition of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

Politicians in southern Cyprus were particularly annoyed with seeing thousands of Greek Cypriots queuing in front of the Turkish Cypriot migration police post at the Ledra Palace gate to present their passports and get "entry permission" into the north.

Although Greek Cypriots were not required to fill any form or sign any document in order to obtain a visa for a day-trip into the north, the passport requirement was considered by many leading Greek Cypriot politicians as an "indirect recognition" of the Turkish Cypriot state "at the personal level."

Andros Kyprianou, the spokesman of the communist AKEL party charged that the decision of north to open the border for daily trips was exploitation by Denktas for the desire of the Greek Cypriot people longing to see their former houses in the north.

He charged that with the decision to open the borders Denktas was trying to escape from the responsibility of faltering the Cyprus peace talks last month.

Ioannakis Omiriu, the leader of the Movement of Social Democrats (KISOS), on the other hand, stressed that by presenting passports or ID cards to Turkish Cypriot officials on entry into the north, Greek Cypriot people were providing legitimacy to the Turkish Cypriot administration. He said his party was opposed to such developments.

Omiriu further stressed that his party wanted the right of free movement of all Cypriots throughout the island be safeguarded and believed that right could only be achieved with a resolution of the Cyprus problem. He charged that the Turkish Cypriot border opening decision was a "show by Denktas" which could lead to some wrong perceptions in the international community.

New Horizons Party (NEO) leader Mikos Kutsu claimed on the other hand that the need to obtain permission by submitting passports for exercise of free travel by Greek Cypriots on the island was a blow to humanity and the Greek Cypriot state.

He said Greek Cypriots should not forget that there was an "occupation" and the "occupier" was issuing the travel permissions.

Dinos Michaelidis, the leader of the European Reformist Movement (ADIK) condemned the Turkish Cypriot move as a "trap" and urged the Tassos Papadopoulos administration to be ready for the consequences.

"For example, Turkish Cypriots may claim their properties in the ‘free areas.’ They may as well migrate en masse to the ‘free areas.’ Passports are used for entering a foreign country, not for travel in your own country," he said. Greek Cypriots often refer to their southern state as "free areas" and to northern Turkish territories as "occupied areas."

Georgios Perdikis of the environmentalist movement, on the other hand, charged that the border opening decision was a move by the Turkish Cypriot administration to prepare the grounds of an eventual recognition and appealed to the Papadopulos administration to take counter measures.

Many Greek Cypriots — a two thirds majority of the eastern Mediterranean island’s 750,000 population — suspect the easing of crossings is a Turkish Cypriot ploy to gain wider recognition.

Diplomats were also cautious about the impact the events would have on the U.N. talks. "This is a great start, but it has to be sustained. Opening the border on its own cannot replace a settlement," a Western diplomat said.

Some locals were more upbeat. "This is now in the hands of the people. Then politicians will follow," said Lellos Demetriades, the Greek Cypriot former mayor of Nicosia.

The Turkish Cypriot north and the Greek Cypriot south have lived apart since Turkish intervention in 1974 shortly after an Athens-engineered coup by Greek Cypriots supporting union with Greece (enosis). A nine-nation U.N. peacekeeping force guards the buffer zone.