Row over Green Line crossings
Nicosia expressed annoyance yesterday at the decision by Turkish-Cypriot officials to exclude Greek Cypriots from travel facilitations extended to all other European Union citizens, according to Athens News Agency reports. The ANA quoted Turkish-Cypriot administration leader Mehmet Ali Talat as saying on Saturday that all EU citizens, except for Greek Cypriots, would be allowed entry to the Turkish-occupied north of Cyprus upon display of their identity cards. Under the new measure that came into effect on Saturday, Greek Cypriots still have to present their passports in order to cross the Green Line, which separates north from south. Yesterday, Cypriot government spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides accused the Turkish-Cypriots of uncooperativeness. The ANA quoted Chrysostomides as saying there was no reason to continue to force Greek Cypriots to display their passports when crossing the Green Line. On Friday, Nicosia was angered by the Turkish Cypriots’ refusal to let Cyprus’s EU commissioner, Markos Kyprianou, enter unless he showed his passport.
