NICOSIA, CYPRUS (AP) – The government of ethnically divided Cyprus came under fire on Tuesday over a decision to lay razor wire along a section of a UN-controlled buffer zone.
It says the move is needed to stem the influx of migrants from the island’s northern breakaway, but critics say the plan is ‘ineffective’ and only feeds fears that divisions will be cemented, amid renewed pressure to to resume dormant peace talks.
Crew members began laying the razor wire on the south side of the buffer zone about 30 kilometers west of the capital, Nicosia, earlier this week.
Critics, including the communist-rooted opposition party AKEL, said the move left only ‘big question marks’ as it implied the demarcation of borders and entrenched the divisions of our homeland. ‘
Farmers authorized to cultivate land within the buffer zone initially expressed concern about access to their plots, but the government said they would take action to facilitate access.
Cyprus was divided along ethnic lines in 1974 when Turkey invaded following a coup by supporters of union with Greece. Turkish Cypriots in the northern third island of the island declared independence almost a decade later, but only Turkey recognizes this. Cyprus joined the European Union in 2004, but only the southern part, where the internationally recognized government sits, enjoys full benefits.
According to Cypriot government officials, the country has the highest number of asylum applications per capita in the European Union. Most of these asylum seekers cross a porous buffer zone after heading north, often with commercial flights.
Stefanos Stefanou, spokesperson for AKEL, acknowledged that Cyprus has to deal with large influxes of migrants, but insisted that ‘methods that imply borders between states’ are not the way to go.
“The migration problem has not been solved anywhere in the world by erecting walls, fences or barbed wire,” Stefanou said. “It is (former US President Donald) Trump’s ideas that this government is obviously copying.”
Other opposition parties said the move was “very bad” because it gave impetus to the current Turkish Cypriot leadership and its protector, Turkey, which wants to give up a federal framework agreed to reunite Cyprus and an agreement on two equal states. to close.
The peace group Unite Cyprus Now tweeted that it expects authorities to ‘spend as much effort to reduce barriers as to build them’.
The government defended the move, saying that the razor wire fitting is completely in line with European regulations governing the movement over the buffer zone and that the EU, the UN and local authorities have been informed in advance.
Government spokesman Kyriakos Koushos said no “political or other message” could be diverted from the move, other than to protect public safety and to “design uncontrolled migratory influences that feed Turkey by design through our occupied territories”. obstruct.
Government authorities in Cyprus have long accused Ankara of actively encouraging migrants to seek asylum in the south to change the island’s demographic character.
Koushos said contact between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots was not hampered because people on either side of the gorge were crossing along nine designated crossing points.
Many of the crossroads are currently closed due to coronavirus restrictions.