NICOSIA, April 2: A symbolic crossing through the UN-controlled buffer zone in Nicosia, the world’s last divided capital, is set to open on Thursday as a new Cypriot peace drive gains momentum.

“We will finish the work at Ledra (Street) today (Wednesday) and we will do the opening tomorrow,” northern Nicosia’s mayor, Cemal Bulutoglulari, said of the street through the old town’s heart that has been closed for 45 years.

The opening signals a new climate of trust on the Mediterranean island that has been divided for 34 years, with a top UN official saying he felt a “palpable sense of momentum” toward a solution.

The move was agreed at a breakthrough meeting in last month between newly elected Greek Cypriot President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, who also agreed to resume reunification talks in June.

The opening of the crossing coincides with a three-day visit by top UN official Lynn Pascoe to advance the reunification efforts.

“There is a very positive tone here in Cyprus at the moment and a palpable sense of momentum,” Pascoe told reporters.

“I think Cypriots are right to have high expectations. I’m encouraged and I will pass this on to the (UN) secretary-general (Ban Ki-moon) when I talk with him.”

Pascoe, the American head of the UN department of political affairs, held a second round of talks with President Christofias before heading north to meet Mr Talat again.

“It is our sincere hope and expectation that the period in the next three months will take us toward fully fledged negotiations on a settlement.

“We all know achieving a solution won’t be easy... It will require a lot of hard work and compromise, but I’m confident the two sides, with our help, can succeed.”

Hasan Ercakica, spokesman for the Turkish-Cypriot leader, described the meeting as “productive”, adding that he had “seized the chance to acquire information regarding the way the Turkish Cypriot side considers the issue”.

“The Turkish Cypriot side is in favour of maintaining the efforts of finding a solution to the problem under the umbrella of the good offices mission of the UN Secretary-General and with the involvement of the UN,” said Mr Ercakica.

Ledra Street, a bustling area inside 600-year-old Venetian walls, will be the sixth crossing on the island to open since April 2003, when Turkish Cypriots for the first time lifted entry curbs for Greek Cypriots.

Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974 when Turkey sent troops to its northern third in response to an Athens-engineered Greek Cypriot coup in Nicosia aimed at uniting the island with Greece.

A UN plan to reunite the island failed in 2004 when the Greek Cypriots voted against it in a referendum, although the Turkish Cypriots voted overwhelmingly in favour.

But the February election of Christofias sparked a renewed drive for peace after several years of stalemate under his predecessor, Tassos Papadopoulos.

The barricades on Ledra Street were among the first to be erected after inter-communal violence flared in the city in 1963.

That led to the arrival the following year of UN peacekeeping troops who have remained ever since.

Turkish Cypriot authorities, who refer to the street by its Turkish name of Lokmaci Street, tore down their barrier across the north-south street in 2005, and the Greek Cypriots followed suit last year.

The two sectors stand less than 100 metres apart at Ledra Street, but the area has had to be checked for unexploded ordnance and buildings shored up after decades of neglect.—AFP