The Republic is to create a special lane at the Ayios Dhometios crossing point for schoolchildren and people receiving healthcare to cross from the north, it was announced on Tuesday.
The lane will be open to people living in the north who either attend school in the Republic or are travelling to the Republic’s healthcare institutions to receive treatment, humanitarian affairs commissioner Anna Aristotelous said.
She explained that “people enclaved and resettled from Rizokarpaso, Ayia Triada, Ayios Andronikos, Kormakitis and the general Karpasia area … are subject to great inconvenience and delay, since the delay [at the crossing point] is added to the already long distances travelled by our elderly fellow human beings.”
She added, “our purpose is to facilitate the lives of people who chose to stay in our occupied villages despite the adversities and problems.
“It is very important to provide support and care, especially to our elderly enclaved and resettled people who are facing medical problems, but also to recognise their sacrifices for so many years to keep our occupied villages alive under occupation,” she said.
She added that many residents of Kormakitis had been “complaining about excessive delays at the Ayios Dhometios crossing point,” frequently having to wait for hours to be able to cross.
It is not yet clear whether or not the special lane will be open to Turkish Cypriots in receipt of healthcare in the Republic, or the many Turkish Cypriot schoolchildren who attend schools in the Republic.