Neophytou warns crossing point closures could revive direct trade debate

Nicosia, Cyprus. Former Disy leader Averof Neophytou warned on Wednesday that closing crossing points could create new political problems for the Republic and give Turkey an argument to revive the issue of direct trade with the north.

He said closures from government-controlled areas could allow the Turkish side to argue in Brussels that the Republic was restricting movement across the Green Line.

Direct trade concerns

Neophytou said such a move could potentially reopen a debate that Nicosia had previously sought to prevent.

He recalled that former president Glafcos Clerides had feared that easier movement between the two sides could make the division more tolerable and reduce pressure for a settlement.

Following the rejection of the Annan plan by Greek Cypriots in 2004, Brussels moved to support Turkish Cypriots economically and proposed allowing direct trade with the north.

Previous opposition

Neophytou said the Republic had successfully opposed the proposal, with former president Tassos Papadopoulos playing what he described as a key role in preventing direct trade arrangements that Nicosia considered politically and legally problematic.

He said closing the crossing points now could reverse that position by enabling Turkey and the north to claim that the Republic was restricting movement across the Green Line, reviving the direct trade issue in Brussels.

Call for new crossings

Neophytou warned advocates of closures that their intentions did not determine the consequences of such a decision.

“Sometimes even genuine patriotism and selfless motives like yours inadvertently lead to national misadventures,” he said.

He has also criticised the government for failing to make progress on opening new crossing points.

Earlier this month, he urged President Nikos Christodoulides to overcome what he called the obstacle of a roadblock “to open the way for a solution”.