An interesting part of Prime Minister Vajpayee’s visit to Cyprus was a trip this afternoon to the ‘‘Green Line’’ which is a fall-out of the virtual slicing and freezing of this capital city into two parts in 1974.The Turkish Cypriots, who constitute 18 per cent of Cyprus’ population, took away 37.5 per cent of the territory of Cyprus in the north following an invasion of the country by Turkey.Today, the barbed fence that separates the two parts stands mute testimony to the divide between the Cypriot Muslims and the Greek Cypriot Christians.The artificial dividing line runs for 224 km and the two parts are separated by a UN-administered buffer zone whose width varies from 5-10 km.The area is policed by a 1200-strong UN Peace Keeping Force which has been in existence since 1964. Its mandate is renewed every six months through resolutions of the UN Security Council.Three Indian generals, General Thimayya, Gen Prem Chand and Gen Giani headed the force in its early days.The Cypriots recall with great nostalgia that it was General Prem Chand of India who prevented the country’s airport from falling into the hands of the invaders. Today, the airport, where Vajpayee’s special plane landed, is in the UN-administered zone.The so-called Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was initially formed with 120,000 Turkish Cypriots.With a third of them later migrating to other lands, today the territory has about 80,000 Turkish Cypriots, another 35,000 Turkish troops and significantly, about 120,000 Turks.
