Transition in Nicosia: Reopening the Ledra / Lokmaci Crossing - Lefkos Kyriacou

In 1974, through ‘liberation’ or ‘invasion’, the actions of mainland Turkey led to the creation of a de facto state in the North of Cyprus, later known as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). This left the Republic of Cyprus as a predominantly Greek-Cypriot state in the southern half of the island. The partition was enabled by a Buffer Zone, whose thickness was determined by the respective ceasefire lines of the two armies and subsequently monitored by the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP).

Cyprus was bisected; its ethnic distribution drastically rearranged according to national and international interests. The limits of the Turkish military advance in 1974 continue to segregate the island and Nicosia today: Greek Cypriots in the south and Turkish Cypriots in the north, both with Nicosia as their capital.

The Buffer Zone, within Nicosia, was the hardening of a much older line in the heart of the city that was once a common ground between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities that developed into a frontier during the second half of the 20th Century. Streets that abut the Buffer Zone come to dead-ends against concrete walls, barbed-wire fences, sand-bags and military observation points, forming a ‘no-man’s land’ that stretches across the entire island. This is the story of the reopening of one of the streets divided by the Buffer Zone and formerly the main shopping street of the capital: Ledra Street in Greek (named after the ancient city-state of Ledra) and Lokmaci Street in Turkish (after Cyprus’ crispy, honeyed doughnuts).