Sunday Mail newspaper

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BAILOUT WORRIES

RUSSIAN TOURISM INSIDE

Elderly approaching tough conditions with fear and humour Page 8

Conflicting opinions on whether it will grow to support the island

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TV and lifestyle supplements to see you through the week

www.cyprus-mail.com

April 21, 2013

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NEWS REVIEW: LOSSES HIT HOME AS AUSTERITY MEASURES BEGIN TO BITE - PAGE 17 INSIDE Cyprus Government repeats call for unity on economy 3

World Boston suspect caught after manhunt 10

Reportage Why Qatar is buying up London centre

Lifestyle Dare to live your fantasies, book suggests 20

Sport Arsenal stay on course for Champs League back

New monument to our division Ten years after the checkpoints opened, allowing people to cross from one ‘side’ of Cyprus to the other, the floodgates now see more of a trickle By Stefanos Evripidou

C

YPRUS MARKS the tenth anniversary since the opening of the checkpoints on Tuesday, which ended 29 years of physical separation between the two communities, adding another milestone to the long history of continued division on the island. On April 23, 2003 Turkish Cypriot authorities overcame Turkish military reluctance and opened the sealed gates between the two communities, allowing thousands of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots to pass each other in long queues and cross to see the ‘other’ side for the first time in three decades. Emotional accounts of refugees on both sides returning to their homes and being welcomed by the current inhabitants with open arms and courteous hospitality were beamed and printed by media around the world. The warnings of the late Rauf Denktash that there would be bloodshed on the streets when Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots mixed again proved entirely groundless. A few years on, one commentator noted that you could find more trouble at

a Saturday afternoon football match than from the crossings. Despite the euphoria which followed the surprise opening, a year and a day later, the mood changed significantly with the overwhelming rejection of the Annan plan by the Greek Cypriots and deep sense of disappointment by the Turkish Cypriots. Now, 3,650 days after the opening, the initial enthusiasm has seemingly dissipated with many going about their business as if the checkpoints were always open and others as if they had never opened at all. Ambling along Nicosia’s rejuvenated Ledra Street, the Turkish language can be heard in equal measure to Greek, with both fighting for a place among the multitude of other languages spoken among the hordes of ice-cream eaters. People no longer double take when they see a car displaying the number plates of the ‘other’ side on any road from Ayia Napa to Kyrenia. Teenagers who do not remember the physical separation of the two communities that so defined the anguish and sorrow of their parents and grandparents for decades, and

Thousands rushed to cross over in the first days and weeks of the opening. Below: refugee Roulla Savvidou returns to her family home in Kythrea who consider the seven crossing points across the Green Line as commonplace as the internet. However, not everyone in Cyprus has crossed the buffer zone since 2003, nor do many continue to cross regularly. According to Charis Psaltis, assistant professor of social and developmental psychology at the University of Cyprus, there have been approximately eight million crossings by Greek Cypriots and 14 million by Turkish Cypriots over the

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‘This is not my place anymore’

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Openings and closure

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