‘Crossings saved my business’

By Esra Aygin

April 23, 2023

Öntaç Düzgün and members of his staff

Öntaç Düzgün was seriously contemplating closing down his small knitting and wool shop in the heart of the walled city in north Nicosia, when the crossing points opened and turned his business around.

“We used to sell nothing,” recalls the 66-year-old. “Many others closed down their shops. I would have done the same eventually.”

With the opening of the first crossing points in 2003, Greek Cypriots, taking advantage of the cheaper prices, started shopping in the north. This meant Düzgün could keep his business afloat. But the big turnaround for him happened in 2008 when the Ledra Street/Lokmacı crossing point opened, funnelling those who crossed almost past his door.

“Ninety per cent of my customers are Greek Cypriots,” Düzgün said. “The little children, who used to come here holding their parents’ hands when the crossing points first opened, are now young women,” Düzgün says. “And now they come here to say hello and shop.”

Düzgün, who was taking turns with his wife to attend the shop, had to hire four more people to meet the high demand.

“And we still are barely enough,” he said, adding proudly: “And all of my staff can communicate in Greek.”

According to Düzgün, every shop in the north of the walled city now has at least one staff member who can speak Greek. “They either took lessons or learned through daily practice here”.

Especially with the severe devaluation of the Turkish lira in recent years, the north has become very attractive for Greek Cypriot shoppers, who use euros. The lira lost 44 per cent of its value against the dollar in 2021 and a further 30 per cent in 2022. This has pushed the Turkish Cypriot economy into one of the worst financial crises of history. The Greek Cypriot spending has proven to be a significant contribution to the economy.

And according to Düzgün, this spending currently amounts to €70,000 daily.

The total contribution of the crossing points to the north’s economy is around an annual €200 million euros, according to economist Mertkan Hamit, or 12 per cent of Turkish Cypriot GDP.

But the opening of the crossing points did not only have economic benefits, Düzgün explains. The relations that started with trade have evolved into friendships. “Now I see at least 50 people, who are here daily, just having coffee and mingling with their Turkish Cypriot friends”.

In fact, repeated studies by academics Charis Psaltis and Deniz Yucel since 2007 show that in both communities, contact enabled by the opening of the crossing points led to the reduction of prejudice, trust building and an increase in will for renewed cohabitation.

Düzgün, who is originally from Polis in Paphos, was 17-years-old when he had to leave for the north with his family in 1974. The opening of the crossing points also meant he could go back to the house where he spent his childhood and teenage years.

“I have all my memories in that house, in that neighbourhood,” he said emotionally.

When he and his brothers found the house, now inhabited by a Greek Cypriot family originally from Yialousa in Rizokarpaso, he had mixed feelings: “something so close to me was now someone else’s private space.

“They were very kind,” he said with appreciation. “They offered us macun (glyka) and coffee. They said we could take a tour of the house. But we didn’t. That would make us feel like intruders.”

After this bittersweet experience Düzgün and his brothers have visited their house twice more.

“Now, even though we go to Polis every couple of months and spend the night there, we don’t go to our house. It would be very rude to go there every time and say ‘this house was ours.’ How many times can we inconvenience the poor family?”

https://cyprus-mail.com/2023/04/23/crossings-saved-my-business/

Partition policy deepened by Covid 19

Esra Aygin

It is a source of concern not only for the communities on the island, but also for the international community that there is no consultation, plan or discussion regarding the opening of the crossing points, which have been closed supposedly due to the Covid 19 pandemic. 

Last week, the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces on the island stated that it stands ready to assist the sides on the lifting of the restrictions at the crossing points. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, in response to a letter by Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci said that he expects the two leaders to agree on certain arrangements on the opening of the crossing points as soon as the health situation is stabilized. The European Commission, which has called on the opening of all borders in Europe, is also watching closely the policies of the sides regarding the crossing points. 

The Greek Cypriot side, on 28 February, when not a single Covid 19 case had yet been detected, unilaterally closed four of the nine crossing points in Cyprus. The fact that the other five crossing points remained open, that there were no other travel restrictions, that there were no measures at airports and seaports, and the fact that the Limassol Carnival was allowed to go on on 1 March made it impossible to justify or defend the legitimacy of the closure of the four crossing points. 

A couple of days later, the Turkish Cypriot side, ignoring calls from peace activists and reasonable politicians for cooperation and coordination, unilaterally closed all of the crossing points. 

In fact, the Covid 19 pandemic provided a very convenient excuse for those, who want the crossing points closed. At the moment, although many restrictions are being eased, there is no plan, cooperation or coordination for the opening of the crossing points. The policy being implemented at the moment on both sides of the island is the policy of those, who do not want the crossing points to open, and who prefer the situation to stay like this. The Covid 19 crisis is being used to deepen the division of the island. 

The signals of this policy were rife in the Greek Cypriot side even before the Covid 19 pandemic. Since the end of last year, there has been an intensive propaganda that a high number of refugees are crossing from the north the south. Official data regarding the immigrants were not shared, but it was argued that Turkey is deliberately sending immigrants to the south and that their numbers are constantly increasing. Some opinion leaders, politicians and political parties were demanding to close the crossing points as a response. 

According to figures by civil society organisations and independent researchers however, there had been a steady decrease in the number of immigrants crossing from the north to the south since December 2019. Nevertheless, a number of Greek Cypriot ministers adopted ELAM’s proposal to close the crossing points and seriously discussed the issue with Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades.  

At the moment, there are health experts and politicians, who appear frequently on TV arguing that the figures from the north cannot be trusted, that there are uncontrolled entries continuously from Turkey to the north, and that under these circumstances it is impossible to open the crossing points. 

There are even some, who argue that crossing points are the reason why there is no solution on the island, that crossing points legitimise and normalise the situation on the island and prevent a solution, and therefore, they should remain closed. 

Another opinion is to keep the crossing points closed and destroy the north economically, therefore rendering it weak in negotiations. Among all these absurd arguments and voices, calls to open the crossing points remain very weak. 

The Greek Cypriot side, in response to calls to open the crossing points, is saying that they closed crossing points except two, and it is the Turkish Cypriot side that closed all the crossing points. However, the 14-day quarantine requirement means that in practice all the crossing points are closed. The Turkish Cypriot side could easily expose the Greek Cypriot side by declaring all crossing points open, but for some reason the north, which economically needs the people coming from the south does not seem to be in a hurry to open the crossing points either. Interestingly, there seems to be a tacit agreement between the two sides to keep the crossing points closed. This situation strengthens the right wing narrative and puts important issues such as confidence building measures or the resumption of negotiations in the back burner. 

In fact, this situation is an excellent public opinion exercise for Anastasiades, who, by now, is widely known to have permanent partition in his heart. It is a test of ‘what would happen?’ in a situation where there are no negotiations, all crossing points are closed and the north is sealed. The Green Line has turned into a border for months. A normalized border. And sadly, there is no significant reaction from the public. 

As it can be seen from the statements, the international community is not hiding that it is concerned that the issue of opening the crossing points will be abused for political reasons. It is indeed worrying that there is no plan to open the crossing points at a time when the virus has been brought under control on both sides. In the north there has been no new Covid 19 case for weeks. In the south, only a few cases are detected each day and these are probably people, who were in contact with positive cases. In other words, there is no pandemic in Cyprus that would legitimise the policy of keeping crossing points closed. 

Unfortunately, with the way the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot authorities reacted to the Covid 19 crisis, they both physically and politically deepened the division. It is obvious that there is need for a strong and coordinated pressure from the communities to have the crossing points opened again. 

Frustration over moves to block TC EU integration

By Esra Aygin

May 12, 2017

The EU ad-hoc committee needs to continue its work uninterrupted if the Green Line is to be erased on day one of a solution, a European Commission official told Cypriot leaders.

Director of European Commission’s structural reform support service Maarten Verwey presented Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci and Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades the EU ad-hoc committee’s findings on the level of preparedness of the Turkish Cypriot community to function within the EU.

“There is a lot that needs to be done both legally and administratively, and the short-term scheduling, cancellations, changes in plans on the part of Cypriots create difficulties for the Commission,” said a source.

“We can’t keep stopping and starting this effort. As long as the negotiations are ongoing, we have to continue.”

The bi-communal EU ad-hoc committee was set up under European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in 2015, with the aim of preparing the Turkish Cypriot side for the implementation of the EU acquis in the event of a solution.

The sides agree that the Green Line has to disappear on day one of a solution. Failure to do so would create a lot of practical problems, as it will not be the same as the administrative border between the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot constituent states.

Since 2015, there have been a number of interruptions and obstructions stemming from both sides, the source said.

The committee has been delayed a number of times due to concerns of the Greek Cypriot side that the Turkish Cypriot entity may be upgraded through such relations and work with the Commission.

“There is always this concern on the Greek Cypriot side that ‘what if we help all this preparation but there is no solution’,” said the source.
“But this is a baseless concern. This effort is undertaken on the basis of the UN solution process.”

The right-wing Turkish Cypriot National Unity Party UBP-Democratic Party coalition has been obstructing the committee’s work by withholding some information and preventing key studies that need to be conducted in the banks, on the pretext that they are against EU methods and funding.

Akinci’s efforts to convince the coalition have, so far, been futile.

“This has been a big problem from day one,” a frustrated Akinci told reporters after his meeting with Verwey.

“It is really impossible to understand why the government would block an effort that would ensure our banks’ functioning in international finance.”

The main argument of the right-wing against a solution is that it will lead to the economic destruction of Turkish Cypriots and result in the collapse of all sectors.

Their campaign in the event of a referendum will probably be built on this argument.

Many observers agree, therefore, that they are doing everything to prevent any kind of preparation in the north for compliance with EU law.