Turkish Cypriots Plan Major Change: They’ll Drive on Right

The breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is preparing to switch from driving on the left side of the road to the right side, Turkish Cypriot newspapers said Friday.

The newspapers quoted Dervis Eroglu, prime minister of the Turkish Cypriot state, as saying draft laws on the change will be submitted to the Turkish Cypriot Parliament.

The change would bring two opposite driving systems to the island, which is divided between Turkish and Greek Cypriots.

Vehicles in Cyprus were driven on the left side of the road when the island was a British colony, and the practice continued after independence in 1960.

No change is contemplated for the two-thirds of the island controlled by the Greek Cypriot government.

Cyprus has been divided since Turkish troops invaded in 1974 after a short-lived Greek Cypriot coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece.

Since 1974, the 165,000 Turkish Cypriots have formed their own government, issued their own stamps and designed their own flag.

They live almost completely separately from the 500,000 Greek Cypriots. U.N. troops police a 112-mile-long buffer zone between the two sectors.