Athens/Nicosia - Less than a week after leaders on the divided Mediterranean island of Cyprus agreed to open up a barricaded street in the heart of the capital Nicosia, the Turkish military is reportedly preventing the UN's entry into the area, officials said Tuesday. In a move intended to relaunch reunification talks, Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat agreed to meet again in three months and to open up the street in central Nicosia.
After meeting with Ozdil Nami, an aide to Talat, late on Monday, Greek Cypriot Presidential Commissioner George Iacovou told reporters that Turkish troops are not ready to allow UN personnel into the Ledra Street area of the Green Line to give the all-clear for infrastructural work that would allow the crossing to open.
Reports said Turkish troops talked of "technical problems" that would prevent the UN's entry to the area for the time being.
"I said in all likelihood that this would happen and when you asked me I told you sometimes pending issues do not allow us to conclude," Iacovou told reporters after his meeting with Nami.
Asked if the Turkish side had changed its mind, Iacovou said he could not comment, adding simply "that they were not yet ready."
Ledra Street, which has come to symbolize the island's division, is a busy pedestrian thoroughfare marking the dividing line between the ethnic Greek and Turkish parts of the city.
The street has been split for decades between the Greek Cypriot south and Turkish Cypriot north and its opening has become almost a litmus test for measures to bring the two communities closer and ease the way to reunification talks.
Although the wall was torn down in recent years the street remained blocked due to controversy over military patrols in the area.
UN officials said it will take 10-15 days for the UN to finish sweeping the area for mines before it can open up the street, which is filled with derelict buildings, to the public.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded the northern third of the island in response to a brief Greek-inspired coup.
With a new Cypriot president in office, expectations are running high for reunification talks to resume, stalled since a UN-brokered peace plan came to nothing almost four years ago after Greek Cypriots voted no.
It is hoped that the long overdue agreement to open Ledra Street will provide the momentum for further confidence building measures.
The UN-patrolled buffer zone prevented Cypriots from moving between the two sides until five crossing points opened in 2003.
