KATO PYRGOS (Cyprus): Trapped between sea, mountains and politics, the Greek Cypriot town of Kato Pyrgos is losing hope of an end to its isolation amid the slow progress by rival leaders to reunify the Mediterranean island.

Unlike other Cypriot beach resorts which teem with tourists, the streets of this idyllic northwestern coastal town are empty. Hotels with peeling facades, restaurants and cafes are desperately seeking clients.

Ever since the division of Cyprus in 1974, when Turkey occupied its northern third in response to a Greek Cypriot coup seeking union with Greece, time appears to have stood still for Kato Pyrgos.

“We don’t have many foreign tourists. We are so far away from everything else and the road to town is difficult,” Costakis Georgiades, who runs a cafe-restaurant, told AFP.

Like most of the 3,000 residents of Kato Pyrgos and its sister village of Pano Pyrgos, he hopes President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat will deliver on pledges to make the town accessible.

That would mean opening a crossing point between the government-controlled side, where Kato Pyrgos is located, and the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which was declared in 1983 and only recognised by Ankara.

Kato Pyrgos in the northwest of Cyprus is sandwiched between the clear blue waters of the Mediterranean sea, the Troodos mountains, and a UN-monitored Green Line that runs across the divided island.

Christofias, the Greek Cypriot leader, and Talat have met almost weekly since a fresh UN-sponsored peace bid was launched in September. At the time, an end to the isolation of Kato Pyrgos was termed a “priority”.

But repeated promises to open a crossing point at Limnitis, about 45 kilometres northwest of Nicosia, to facilitate travel to Kato Pyrgos have failed to materialise, to the dismay of residents.

It’s a 90-minute drive over rough terrain to the nearest city or airport.

“We want to trust our president (Christofias). He has promised to do his utmost for our town,” said Sofia Andreou, owner of the Pyrgiana hotel.

The hotel’s terrace was drenched in sunshine on a recent November day but not a soul was in sight.

Andreou and Georgiades, like most of the town’s residents, sound resigned to their fate.

“Here, maybe for a month, people believed (in a solution) but then nothing happened,” said Georgiades. “Now we simply don’t believe anymore and personally I don’t think anything will happen any time soon.”

In March, the Greek Cypriot authorities began clearing the way for the Limnis crossing which would cut journey time to and from the capital Nicosia by more than a half.

But since then nothing has been done.

The opening of a crossing at Limnitis appears to have become more of a stumbling block in the peace negotiations than a step to bolster ties between the two communities.

In August, Turkish Cypriot authorities refused to allow Greek Cypriot religious pilgrims to cross into the north, even though earlier that month Turkish Cypriots were allowed to attend a military ceremony in the south.

“Opening Limnitis raises practical and political problems,” said Hasan Ercakica, a spokesman for Talat, adding that both sides had to gain from a decision to open a crossing point “so that it will have an ethical base”.

The Turkish Cypriot authorities have meanwhile been demanding – in vain – that another crossing point be established in the south of the island.

Amid the political wrangling, the people of Kato Pyrgos are losing hope.

“We are suffering from this situation. There is no work, people are poor and the young are forced to leave to seek jobs,” said 80-year-old Costas Iassidis.—AFP