A diplomatic tussle over who would take credit for opening up the Zodhia crossing point was promptly upstaged Wednesday when the first vehicles slowly traversed the buffer zone to inaugurate the opening of the fifth checkpoint linking the occupied north with the government-controlled south.
"Thirty-one years ago, I left. Now I can go back to see my home in Zodhia, but I have to return at the end of the day," said one emotional Greek Cypriot as he waited in his car to cross.
After months of stalling, Zodhia checkpoint was the first to open after the initial four cut through the sealed buffer zone in April 2003 when the occupation regime eased strict travel restrictions.
It is also the first checkpoint giving Greek and Turkish Cypriots easier access to the island’s western reaches on either side of the divide.
Until Wednesday, most vehicular traffic was channeled through the Ayios Dhometios checkpoint some 27 kms from Zodhia.
The Ledra Palace checkpoint is open only to pedestrian traffic, while the other two in Pergamos and Strovilia are situated to the east of the island, inconveniencing motorists wishing to travel west.
UN mediation
The opening was made possible after Nicosia and the occupation regime accepted a United Nations mediation to resolve a war of nerves that threatened to further delay the Zodhia opening.
"The crossing opened at 12.30pm today (Wednesday) with 12 vehicles coming from the north to the south," UN spokesman Brian Kelly told The Cyprus Weekly.
"As soon as we had a clear signal that both sides accepted our proposals for a temporary arrangement we facilitated the opening of the crossing," he added.
The first dozen Turkish Cypriot cars to cross were shortly followed by six Greek Cypriot vehicles heading in the opposite direction.
Zodhia is only open to vehicular traffic and will be subject to one-way only vehicle movement in alternating, 15-minute intervals, until the road widening is completed by the EU, said the UN.
The crossing will be open between 6:00am and 7:00pm daily. No vehicles over three tons will be allowed and there will be a 45-kilometre speed limit.
Stopping in the buffer zone is prohibited.
Traffic flow will be the sole responsibility of the UN, but Justice Minister Doros Theodorou said Cyprus Republic service vehicles will be allowed inside in case of emergency.
Police Chief Tasos Panayiotou said law enforcement authorities would ensure security at Zodhia as in the other government-controlled checkpoints.
Opening up Zodhia has been on the agenda for almost a year but demining and infrastructure work needing to be done first.
However, Wednesday's opening went ahead prior to an EU-funded road construction project being completed.
The Turkish Cypriots had threatened to unilaterally open up Zodhia and steal Nicosia’s diplomatic thunder.
Stand off
Arrangements were made in a matter of days after a stand off for months with each side blaming the other over the delay.
"It’s a fact that what work to ready the checkpoint for its opening was done in a very short period of time. Possibly, the occupation regime tried to surprise us," said Theodorou.
"Simply, were were ready before they were," he added.
Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat threw the gauntlet to Nicosia on Sunday when he visited Zodhia to trumpet that the crossing point would open Aug. 31st according to the occupation regime’s own timetable.
The move ostensibly intended to test Greek Cypriot resolve and portray Nicosia abroad a spineless ditherer, unwilling to make the tough decisions for peace.
"It’s those who delay that have to put their excuses to the people and to the international community," Talat said.
The EU encourages the free flow of people and goods across the green line and has advocated the opening of more crossing points. Brussels is putting up the money for demining and infrastructure work to facilitate more checkpoint openings.
Nicosia retorted through Foreign Minister George Iacovou who dismissed Talat’s accusations as empty bluster since Nicosia had made all necessary preparations to open Zodhia long before the Turkish Cypriot leader put on his show.
Zodhia is among seven new crossing points Nicosia had proposed last October.
Iacovou suggested that opening Zodhia would be delayed due to some EU-funded infrastructure work such as widening the single-lane road inside the buffer zone.
The foreign minister said the Cyprus Republic is governed by the rule of law and must play by the rules unlike Talat who "takes Greek Cypriot properties and builds checkpoint offices without asking anybody".
Picking up where Iacovou left off, Government Spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides said the delay to open up Zodhia was owed entirely to the occupation regime’s insistence to pave a new road through Greek Cypriot-owned land that would have led straight to a minefield.
Obstacles
Chrysostomides said progress was made only after Talat abandoned the scheme for an alternate road. But he threw up more obstacles by insisting on "grandiose, border offices" in a bid to underscore his illegal regime’s bogus claims to sovereignty.
"This again proved his (Talat’s) propensity towards division and to upgrade the status of his regime. We have said what is needed is the creation of a passage through the ceasefire line without many formalities," said Chrysostomides.
"Free movement on Cyprus Republic territory should be ensured without formalities," he added.
Chrysostomides said proof of Nicosia’s readiness to proceed with the Zodhia opening was the fact that it was the government’s that proposed the compromise for alternate intervals of passage, as well as the checkpoint’s limited hours of operation.
