Greek Cypriot Women Stage Partition Protest

About 400 Greek Cypriot women demonstrators brushed U.N. peacekeeping troops aside Sunday and crossed into the buffer zone separating Greek and Turkish portions of Cyprus.

It was the first attempt by Greek Cypriots to enter the zone since it was established after the 1974 Turkish invasion. But mine fields kept the women demonstrators from advancing another 200 yards to enter the Turkish-occupied region on the other side.

Their aim was to break through the heavily fortified “Attila Line” and the U.N.-patrolled no man’s land dividing the Greek Cypriot-controlled south from the Turkish-controlled north on the eastern Mediterranean island.

The women were protesting the 13-year-old partition and the Turkish refusal to allow any of the 200,000 Greek Cypriot refugees to return to their homes in the north.

“We come in peace,” proclaimed huge cloth banners in English and Turkish carried at the head of the advancing column.

Blue-helmeted troops of the Swedish and Austrian contingents of the U.N. peacekeeping force on Cyprus blocked them, warning there were Turkish mine fields ahead.

‘Get Out of Our Way’

“We want to return to our homes. Get out of our way,” the women marchers shouted, scuffling with the peacekeepers and brushing them aside.

U.N. officers shouted at the women who had broken through to stop “or you will be blown up.”

About 100 U.N. troopers regrouped hastily, formed a human chain by locking arms and blocked a further advance.

“We don’t mind if some of us die, we want to prove this line doesn’t exist for us,” some women shouted, trying to break through the line. But organizers called them back, saying they had achieved their objective of crossing the line.

The women waited, hoping someone would approach from the Turkish side for informal talks. But about a dozen armed Turkish soldiers patrolling a ridge 400 yards away kept their distance.

Message for Turkish Embassy

Organizers asked U.N. officials to deliver a message to the Turkish Embassy demanding the withdrawal of Turkish troops and 65,000 Turkish “colonizers” in the north.

The message also protested Turkey’s refusal to implement a series of U.N. Security Council resolutions demanding the withdrawal of the troops and the return of the Greek Cypriot refugees.

The Greek Cypriot government of President Spyros Kyprianou, fearing clashes, had asked the women not to march.

Turkish troops invaded Cyprus, with the government saying they were sent to protect the Turkish-Cypriot minority, after Greek-Cypriot national guard officers staged a short-lived coup with the intention of uniting the island with Greece.