8th of March...
An important date in the history of womanhood.
Now, an important date in the history of Cyprus.
And an important date in my own history.
The two Mayors of Nicosia stand together at the crumbling hotel in the deserted buffer zone dividing the city... They are there on the occasion of a panel discussion about women’s day...
The male mayor of the city (Cemal) offers a rose to the female mayor of the same city (Eleni)...
A rose that puts a smile on all faces...
A rose on the occasion of women’s day...
A rose that becomes the unifying factor in between the two mayors of the same divided city...
Couple of hours later, while i am happily sleeping in bed, my phone rings...
The voice asks: '' Where are you?! ''
I answer: ''Who are you?''
-- ''Who else can it be at this time?''
--''Huh... I don't know!!!???.......''
--''Come on... it's Cemal. I need to speak to Eleni urgently!''
--''Oh, I am sorry Mr. Mayor, let me give you the Mayor's mobile number, but what's all this rush at this time?! Its freaking midnight!''
--''They are bringing down the wall on their side of the city and you are sleeping!''
--''Oh My God! Really?! Ok wait, I'm coming down!!!''
Then my cousin calls... She makes similar comments regarding the wall that make me realize that this is no joke! There really is some action going on along the buffer zone and this is history. We had to be there. So she says she would be at my door in 5 minutes, and she really lives up to her promise this time. Very unlikely behaviour for her but wow... So we get there at the famous Lokmaci (Ledra) Checkpoint around midnight. It was the night connecting the 8th to the 9th.
There was a handful of people all trying to figure out what the hell the noise coming from the south was all about. By getting on top of whatever shambles of rocks and broken tables we could find over there, we took a look at what was going on over there, only about 100 metres away from us...
The last wall dividing the last divided capital in Europe was apparently coming down. And the two mayors whom I was together with just a couple of hours ago, were leading the operations on their respective parts of the divided city amidst the darkness of the night.
There were more camera crews than people to be interviewed.
There were roars of suprise and laughters of joy on both sides of the checkpoint.
There were men and women, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, people on duty and loiterers...
We were getting one step closer to achieving solution to the Cyprus problem...
When my cousin and I were leaving the scene, joy was up in the air...
It was the joy of a mild spring evening...
Evening was slowly leaving its place to the morning...
It was time to make love, not war.
And that's what we did exactly...
An important date in the history of womanhood.
Now, an important date in the history of Cyprus.
And an important date in my own history.
The two Mayors of Nicosia stand together at the crumbling hotel in the deserted buffer zone dividing the city... They are there on the occasion of a panel discussion about women’s day...
The male mayor of the city (Cemal) offers a rose to the female mayor of the same city (Eleni)...
A rose that puts a smile on all faces...
A rose on the occasion of women’s day...
A rose that becomes the unifying factor in between the two mayors of the same divided city...
Couple of hours later, while i am happily sleeping in bed, my phone rings...
The voice asks: '' Where are you?! ''
I answer: ''Who are you?''
-- ''Who else can it be at this time?''
--''Huh... I don't know!!!???.......''
--''Come on... it's Cemal. I need to speak to Eleni urgently!''
--''Oh, I am sorry Mr. Mayor, let me give you the Mayor's mobile number, but what's all this rush at this time?! Its freaking midnight!''
--''They are bringing down the wall on their side of the city and you are sleeping!''
--''Oh My God! Really?! Ok wait, I'm coming down!!!''
Then my cousin calls... She makes similar comments regarding the wall that make me realize that this is no joke! There really is some action going on along the buffer zone and this is history. We had to be there. So she says she would be at my door in 5 minutes, and she really lives up to her promise this time. Very unlikely behaviour for her but wow... So we get there at the famous Lokmaci (Ledra) Checkpoint around midnight. It was the night connecting the 8th to the 9th.
There was a handful of people all trying to figure out what the hell the noise coming from the south was all about. By getting on top of whatever shambles of rocks and broken tables we could find over there, we took a look at what was going on over there, only about 100 metres away from us...
The last wall dividing the last divided capital in Europe was apparently coming down. And the two mayors whom I was together with just a couple of hours ago, were leading the operations on their respective parts of the divided city amidst the darkness of the night.
There were more camera crews than people to be interviewed.
There were roars of suprise and laughters of joy on both sides of the checkpoint.
There were men and women, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, people on duty and loiterers...
We were getting one step closer to achieving solution to the Cyprus problem...
When my cousin and I were leaving the scene, joy was up in the air...
It was the joy of a mild spring evening...
Evening was slowly leaving its place to the morning...
It was time to make love, not war.
And that's what we did exactly...
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