Protests Greet Visit by Turkish Cypriot Leader

Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf R. Denktash crossed into the Greek Cypriot-controlled part of Cyprus on Saturday for the first time since the 1974 Turkish invasion, prompting demonstrations against his visit.

The Turkish Cypriot leader was driven under police escort to the Greek Cypriot president’s home in Nicosia amid protests at the city’s main square and outside the presidential residence.

President Glafcos Clerides invited Denktash to dinner as a sign of improving relations as the men prepare for negotiations Jan. 16 on reunifying the island. The two shook hands outside Clerides’ home, smiling and posing for photographs.

The dinner reciprocates Clerides’ trip to northern Cyprus on Dec. 5 after an agreement to resume long-deadlocked U.N.-sponsored talks on reunifying the island. The U.N. representative on the island, Zbigniew Wlosowicz, also was expected to attend Saturday’s dinner.

Cyprus has been divided into a Turkish-occupied north and a Greek Cypriot-controlled south since Turkey invaded after a coup staged by supporters of union with Greece. Turkey maintains about 35,000 troops on the northern third of the island.

At the town square, where about 300 people attended a rally, a huge banner draped on the walls of Nicosia’s medieval buildings read, “No dinner with the occupier of Cyprus while the occupation continues.”

Earlier in the day, about 200 Greek Cypriot refugees and relatives of 1,600 missing Greek Cypriots demonstrated near the U.N. checkpoint linking the divided capital.

“The Denktash visit is a betrayal while 200,000 Greek Cypriot refugees are not allowed to return to their occupied homes in the north and Turkey refuses to account for 1,600 Greek Cypriots who went missing in the north in the wake of the invasion,” Aris Hajipanayiotou, the leader of the Pancyprian Anti-Occupation Movement, told the crowd.

About 100 elderly Greek Cypriot women dressed in black carried large photographs of missing sons and husbands. A smaller group later took up a position near Clerides’ home, where about 300 people were protesting behind a police barricade.

“We came here hoping that Denktash will see us holding up the photographs of our husbands and children so that the pain in our hearts may touch his heart also,” Harita Mandoles said.

Government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou said Clerides would bring up the issue of the missing Greek Cypriots and other humanitarian matters. He appealed to demonstrators to keep their protests peaceful.