Imagining a demilitarized Nicosia... (*)

Shall we sit and wait for Mr. Kofi Annan to decide whether to start a new initiative for Cyprus? Shall we wait for Mr. Jack Straw to finish his tours around the area and decide what to do?

Shall we wait for Mr. Bush to lift up his head from his plans of creating another Iraq out of Iran and start thinking of what to do about the solution of the Cyprus problem?

Shall we wait for Turkey to heat up the old meals and present to us as `something new` and play for time over and over again? Shall we wait for Greece to make a move?

Who or what shall we wait for?

This week, the New Cyprus Party (YKP) started a refreshing campaign for a demilitarized Nicosia... It will be a global campaign, not a local one, trying to get as many as possible to be involved from around Europe and the world... It will be a campaign to refresh our minds and our mentality – to think freely and to dream freely about how our divided capital Nicosia and how our divided country Cyprus could be...

Just imagine a Nicosia with no military signs, no dead-ends, no barrels, no barbed wire... Imagine a Nicosia where no military zones or armies would be present... And from there, just imagine a demilitarized country where people can move freely...

Imagine, just imagine the Ermu Street, the Ledra Street, Kaymakli and all the beautiful but divided parts of Nicosia to become alive once again, for the `Green Line` to be reunited into working zones, for the `dead-zone` to become alive with people, working together, imagining a reunited country together...

Imagine how the traffic would flow, how there would no more be military parades with guns and tanks, how there would be less tension and less chauvinism in the streets...

Imagine how this city would breathe differently if there were no armies, no guns, no military zones were present... Imagine how you, yourself would feel, how the `impossibles` could be turned into `possibles`...

Just imagine...

I will share with you this refreshing campaign of YKP (New Cyprus Party) – here’s their campaign statement:

`Having passed through an important process, we are at a new process in the Cyprus problem. At this point in time, the mistrust among the sides and chauvinism has reached important proportions. The belief in a solution has been seriously wounded. The political will to change the status quo has been weakened.

Under such conditions, the most important aspect of building an atmosphere of trust and regression of chauvinism is by practical actions. There seems to be a need for a new push which would play a role similar to that of the `bi-communal activities` and `intercommunal contacts` back in the 1990s.

The military is coming up at every important step as a considerable aspect of the problem, just as it has happened during the non-opening of the Ledra Street and during the discussions for the return of Varosha to its owners. By taking into account the serious trauma created in 1974, we can see the role of the military for increasing mistrust and chauvinism.

During the process for a solution, the solution would be helped and deadlocks could be overcome by the immediate implementation of some trust-building measures.

At this point, the demilitarization of the divided city Nicosia, carries big importance.

Nicosia, especially the walled-city of Nicosia is where the dividing line of Cyprus and Cypriots has the most proximity. This also means that the armed forces of the two sides have the most proximity to each other in Nicosia. This is the only area where most of the time, in some spots, 18 year old kids are on duty, seeing each other across a road on the dividing line. The old Nicosia also contains the no-man’s land which cannot be used anymore as it is a military zone now and which also has historical value since it was lively once.

The presence of the army in Nicosia, is affecting negatively the development of the city, the flow of traffic, the social, sporting and cultural activities, especially in the northern part of the city.

Nicosia is also the city where the two sides hold military ceremonies, triggering each other...

That’s why, the demilitarization of Nicosia would be the first and an important step for the demilitarization of the whole island. The demilitarization of Nicosia would start the process of reuniting the city first, and then the whole island.

The demilitarization of Nicosia would create the opportunity of recreating life in the buffer zone, where hundreds of houses and workplaces can be reutilized. This zone could be turned into a common working zone and the dividing line could turn into a space for reuniting Cyprus.

The demilitarization of Nicosia, would mean that civilians could plan the future of the city with more ease. Nicosia, full of dead ends due to military zones, would solve its traffic problems more easily with the demilitarization of the city.

The demilitarization of Nicosia would start the discussion process about the presence of military forces in the habitation zones of other towns and villages of Cyprus.

The demilitarization of Nicosia would also mean the freeing of the city from military ceremonies which create pretexts for each other. The tension created by such military ceremonies, only pump chauvinism and bring out the `enemy` aspects to the forefront. Demilitarization, would lessen this tension as well.

The demilitarization of Nicosia would bring a new push towards the process for a solution and would seriously contribute to the building of trust among the communities. The demilitarization of Nicosia would be the first concrete step where the `impossibles` could be turned into `possibilities`...

With these pretexts, the New Cyprus Party (YKP) is starting a campaign which would take the whole world in it... The campaign is called `A DEMILITARIZED NICOSIA: in the process for a solution`. This would be the first but not the last campaign.

YKP will start new campaigns in the coming days and will put forward its will together with all Cypriots, in all platforms, during its struggle in the process for a solution, showing its determination to carry its struggle for a new Cyprus from the streets to the power...

These campaigns will contain all forms of action in them. We will use all methods of communication and will try to get the support of all Cypriots, of Europe and those sides who are part of the Cyprus problem in the world... We will be one person short, if you are not part of this campaign...

The demilitarization of Nicosia is possible, a new Cyprus is also possible – for this, participate so that we can realize `a demilitarized Nicosia` and a reunified Cyprus...`

(*) Article published in the ALITHIA newspaper on the 5th of February, 2006.

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