The diary read April 23, 2003 when the then leader of the Turkish Cypriots, Rauf Dektas, took the decision to open the Ledra Palace roadblock in Nicosia. There had been 29 years of complete separation between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, during which Greek Cypriots under the Republic of Cyprus prospered economically and Turkish Cypriots stagnated in the isolation of a state without international recognition.

The events that led to the opening of the Ledra Palas roadblock go back to 1999, when in Helsinki Cyprus had received the green light to join the EU, even without a solution to the Cyprus issue. With Glaukos Clerides as his interlocutor, Rauf Dektas arrived in Copenhagen in December 2002, where the then Secretary General of the UN Kofi Annan handed over to the parties the plan for the solution of the Cyprus problem that became known by his name.

Elections followed in Cyprus in 2003, which elected Tassos Papadopoulos as the new president. In March in The Hague, following another invitation from Kofi Annan, Papadopoulos reportedly accepted the Annan Plan, leaving Dektas exposed, who with his refusal added another wreck to his portfolio of participation in the efforts for a solution to the Cyprus problem. As a result of the wreck, Cyprus was ready to join the EU without a solution, signing the Accession Treaty on 16 April 2003.

The uprising of the Turkish Cypriots

The developments for the Greek Cypriot community, which linked its future with the EU, brought thousands of Turkish Cypriots to the streets demonstrating daily in favor of the solution and reunification. In this political climate and to mitigate the criticism against him, Dektas decides to open a crack in the curtain of division.

Four days after the opening of the barricade at Ledra Palas, on April 27 two more crossing points are opened within the British Bases on the eastern side of the island, in the village of Pergamos on the plain of Mesaoria and in the community of Strovilia outside Famagusta. In total, in the first 15 days of the operation of the crossing points, 260,000 Greek Cypriots and 90,000 Turkish Cypriots passed through the three roadblocks. Another month later, on May 19, a crossing point for vehicles was opened in Nicosia, in the western suburb of Agios Dometios. The contacts between the two communities, after 29 years of ice, marked a new period in the history of Cyprus. Emotion and mutual understanding were the prevalent feelings among the people that Cypriot spring with both the leaderships of the two communities looking on awkwardly, sometimes whispering words of discouragement. Indicative was the debate that had opened on the Greek Cypriot side about the risk of recognition of the Turkish Cypriot “state” due to the presentation of passports to the Turkish Cypriot “authorities”, with Alekos Markidis, the attorney general of Cyprus until April 2003, formulating the position that the states are not recognized by individuals, but by other states.

Crossings in a European context

A year later, Cyprus was now a member of the EU, with a suspension of the application of the European acquis on the Turkish Cypriot side, as a result of the rejection of the Annan Plan by the Greek Cypriots in the referendums of April 24, 2004. The roadblocks now operated in a European context, based on Regulation of the European Parliament. To date, the Green Line Regulation has been amended several times and now includes a wide range of products that can be transported by private individuals, either as consumer goods or as goods, mainly agricultural or other local products (minerals, sand, bricks, marble, footwear etc). There is still a ban on the trafficking of animals and animal products, but this is now partially lifted by the recognition of halloumi as a Protected Designation of Origin species, which also covers Turkish Cypriot cheese makers.

With slow steps to the nine points

By 2008, within the first five years of the opening of the first barricade, two more crossing points had been added to the Green Line. In March 2006, the roadblock at Astromeritis was operational, allowing short access to Morphou west of Nicosia. In April 2008, during the presidency of the then newly elected Dimitris Christofias, the pedestrian roadblock was opened on Ledras/Lokmatzi streets in the center of Nicosia. In October 2010, the roadblock opens in the Turkish Cypriot village of Limniti, allowing the residents of the seaside Kato Pyrgos, a village on the west coast of Cyprus that for 36 years had been isolated between a Turkish Cypriot enclave and the line, to be reunited with the capital of their province, Nicosia. opposition.

It took eight years and the biggest shipwreck in Cypriot history in 2017 in Crans-Montana for new crossing points to operate. In November 2018, the roadblocks were opened in Deryneia, facilitating access to Famagusta, and to the Turkish Cypriot Lefka on the northern fringes of the Troodos mountain range. The nine crossing points that operated until 2018 are the ones that remain open to this day, with the two sides not looking likely to agree any time soon to open other roadblocks, such as the much-discussed one at Pyroi in Larnaca province.

Millions of passes

From 2003 to 2017, over 23 million Turkish Cypriot crossings to the South and over 13 million Greek Cypriot crossings to the North took place. For the same period, Turkish Cypriots spent 150 million euros on the southern side, while 85 million euros were spent by Greek Cypriots in the north.

The period of normalization of roadblocks in the daily life of Cypriots was interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The crossing points were the first victims of the restrictions on movement, and the closure of the barricades lasted for 15 months, victimizing the few Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots who until then had divided their lives between the two sides. The reopening of the barricades in June 2021 has led to a reversal in crossing trends, with more Greek Cypriots now heading north.

The devaluation of the Turkish lira is a lure for many Greek Cypriots, who, faced with successive waves of increases in basic consumer goods, especially after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, make use of the Green Line Regulation, which allows the purchase of products from individuals worth up to 160 euros per person. For example, in 2022 more than five million Greek Cypriot crossings were recorded, while Turkish Cypriot crossings reached three million.

Movements to secure cheaper markets are however met with skepticism by the Greek Cypriot leadership, which is often faced with protests from organized groups, such as for example the owners of gas stations close to the Green Line, who see their turnover decreasing due to the uneven competition they face from their Turkish Cypriot colleagues.