As Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades was preparing to travel to Geneva for negotiations on the Cyprus problem, thousands of demonstrators called for a resolution of the issue.
On Saturday, Cypriots from both sides of the divide in Nicosia, marched for peace and reunification. The routes stopped at semi-circles on either side of the barbed wire, as checkpoints have been closed for over a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Cyprus belongs to its people,” demonstrators chanted, holding placards in Greek and Turkish.
“The world is going though extraordinary times and sometimes people have been using this excuse to justify the closure of crossings, and on such a small island with no land borders with anywhere else,” said Kemal Baykalli, a member of the grassroots platform Unite Cyprus Now, one of many organisations that participated in Saturday’s event.
“What could have been done is open the crossing points for the benefit and welfare of all Cypriots and jointly coordinate the situation, but they didn’t do this,” he added.
