Harmancı Calls Lack of New Vehicle Crossing in Nicosia a “Disappointment”

Nicosia Turkish Municipality Mayor Mehmet Harmancı assessed the decisions taken following the latest meeting between the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot leaders, held in the presence of a United Nations (UN) representative.

“FAILURE TO MAKE CONCRETE PROGRESS ON OPENING A NEW VEHICLE CROSSING IN NICOSIA IS A DISAPPOINTMENT”

While describing the planned opening of the Akıncılar–Limya and Kambo–Gemikonağı crossing points as positive steps, Harmancı said it was disappointing that no solution had been found to ease congestion at Metehan and that no concrete progress had been made towards opening a new vehicle crossing point in Nicosia.

Harmancı said the decisions concerning crossing points had failed to deliver the expected relief on one of the most significant issues directly affecting everyday life on the island.

Drawing attention to the failure to ease congestion at the Metehan Crossing Point, the lack of a new vehicle crossing in Nicosia and the fact that crossing points in other areas remained practically unusable, Harmancı noted that the vast majority of vehicle crossings in Nicosia continued to be channelled through a single point, Metehan, resulting in persistent long queues.

Emphasising that these queues negatively affected people's daily lives, Harmancı said: “The continuation of these queues means that people will continue to endure hardship in their everyday lives.”

“THE NEW CROSSINGS WILL NOT BE ENOUGH TO REDUCE CONGESTION IN NICOSIA”

Harmancı said the planned opening of the Akıncılar–Limya and Kambo–Gemikonağı crossing points could be regarded as positive steps, but noted that they would not significantly reduce congestion in Nicosia and its surrounding areas.

He said the failure to make concrete progress on opening a Nicosia crossing point such as Haspolat (Mia Milia), which had been on the agenda for a long time and would benefit both communities, demonstrated that confidence-building measures were not addressing the public's most urgent needs.

“BOLDER AND MORE LASTING STEPS WERE EXPECTED”

Stating that the two leaders were expected to take bolder and more lasting steps under the current circumstances, in which people lose hours waiting in queues and economic and social life are made more difficult, Harmancı stressed that the problem at crossing points was not merely a matter of transportation.

“The fact that the queues do not disappear is not merely a transportation problem; it is a tangible obstacle standing in the way of contact between the two communities and everyday life,” he said.