President Mustafa Akıncı met today with leaders and representatives of political parties, to discuss his exchange of views with the Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades on the reopening of the crossing points.
Today’s meeting was attended by the Speaker of the Republic’s Assembly Teberrüken Uluçay, Prime Minister Ersin Tatar, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Kudret Özersay as well as leaders of the political opposition parties.
President Mustafa Akıncı and the Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades had discussed the matter of the crossings, which were closed as part of the island’s response to the coronavirus pandemic during a telephone conversation they had on Thursday.
The two Cypriot community leaders reached an agreement in principle on who should be allowed to cross initially and through which crossing points.
The groups to be allowed through crossing points as part of the first stage will be Turkish Cypriots who work or study in the south, Turkish Cypriot residents from Pile who work in the TRNC as well as Turkish Cypriots who are receiving treatment at hospitals and other medical institutions on the Greek Cypriot side.
Also to be permitted to cross will be Greek Cypriots or Maronites permanently residing in the TRNC.
Additionally, Turkish Cypriot students will be permitted to cross through the Ledra Palace checkpoint, from where buses will transport them to their schools.
The Greek Cypriot leader said they envisaged the border crossings to begin on June 8.
Those individuals crossing will be required to present a document showing that they have tested negative for Covid-19 in the last three days.
The Greek Cypriot authorities will also be collecting random samples to test for the virus, from people crossing through checkpoints.
The two leaders also agreed on the need for the bi-communal Technical Committee on Health to convene at the earliest date, so that opinions can be exchanged on the matter of the gradual resumption of the operation of checkpoints, depending on the rates of infection with Covid-19 at the time.
BRTK