Cyprus News Agency: News in English, 06-12-29

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From: The Cyprus News Agency at <http://www.cyna.org.cy>

CONTENTS

[01] PAPADOPOULOS - LEDRA STREET

[01] PAPADOPOULOS - LEDRA STREET

Once the bridge is demolished, troops removed from the area to allow people to cross and once symbols that render the area a border crossing are taken away, we are ready within 24 hours to knock down the wall on our side, the Cypriot President said, responding to questions inviting him to comment on a decision by the Turkish Cypriot regime in occupied areas to pull down a footbridge it erected last year.

Papadopoulos referred journalists to remarks on the matter by the Government Spokesman but also pointed out that buildings in the vicinity of Ledra street, on both sides of the divide, must be reinforced as many of them are all but collapsing.

Replying to other questions, President Papadopoulos said that a crossing at Ledra street will be controlled just as other crossing points are.

On Thursday, Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat announced his decision to demolish a footbridge the occupation regime constructed last year at the northern end of Ledra street, in the UN-controlled buffer zone dividing the capital Nicosia, with the purpose of contributing to the decision of the Turkish and Greek Cypriot sides to resume the comprehensive settlement negotiations within the first quarter of 2007 and also, to the promotion of the cooperation sense of the two peoples.

The UN Peace-keeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) welcomed this positive contribution to efforts to realize the opening of a crossing point at this location. UNFICYP stands ready to assist both sides in agreeing on practical arrangements to move this much anticipated process forward.

Cyprus Government Spokesman Christodoulos Pashiardis, commenting on this, recalled that the Greek Cypriot side put forward end of 2005 and on 8 July 2006 to the United Nations a set of proposals regarding the opening of the Ledra Street crossing point.

These include measures that need to be taken in relation with efforts to open a crossing point at Ledra street and facilitate the movement of people: demolition of a National Guard wall in parallel with the demolition of the bridge by the Turkish side, implementation of security measures for the safe crossing of people, unmanning of the area around the end of Ledra street, including an end to Turkish military patrols, removal of all symbols that could offend and restoration of adjacent building.

Currently there are five crossing points between the southern government-controlled areas of the Republic, where the legal government exercises its jurisdiction, and the northern Turkish- occupied north of the island where the government is prevented from exercising its jurisdiction because of the massive presence of the Turkish occupation troops

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