The Louroujina crossing point “will be the first to be opened” after the Turkish Cypriot leadership election in October, the village’s Turkish Cypriot mayor Ali Karavezirler said on Wednesday.

Speaking to Haber Kibris TV, he explained that his municipality has already lit the road towards the nearby Greek Cypriot village of Lympia with a future crossing point, and that new tarmac would be laid and drainage systems installed in the near future.

“Believing is half of success. We set out on this path to get this crossing point, and at the end of the road it will be beautiful. With this belief and determination, we are ready to open the crossing point,” he said.

He also criticised Greek Cypriot Athienou Mayor Kyriacos Kareklas, saying that Kareklas had suggested a viaduct be built over the top of the north, between Louroujina and Ercan (Tymbou) airport near the village of Pyroi, to connect Athienou and the Nicosia suburb of Aglandjia.

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“[Kareklas] wants a viaduct, that is, a transit passage. Lands would pass under a bridge and vehicles would pass over it, but the Turkish Cypriot side would not be included. It was said that the Greek Cypriot side would go from Athienou to Aglandjia … This would be a border correction, we cannot accept this,” he said.

Instead, he said, he had suggested that three crossing points be opened – one in Aglandjia, one in Athienou, and one in Louroujina.

“The village of Pyroi is on this map. I suggested building a roundabout and having crossing points around there,” he said, adding that he had devised a plan and submitted maps to both Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar and the Turkish military.

“We want the 380-metre crossing to Lympia to be opened … and a total of three crossing points, Lympia, Athienou, and Aglandjia. The viaduct is definitely not right. It is a one-sided solution,” he said.

Louroujina is located just 380 metres away from Lympia, and is one of two potential crossing points suggested by the Turkish Cypriot side this year, the other being in the eastern Nicosia suburb of Mia Milia.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had announced at the enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem in Geneva in March that four new crossing points would open on the island, but progress has since stalled, with Tatar now refusing to meet President Nikos Christodoulides in light of recent arrests made by the Republic of Cyprus of people accused of selling Greek Cypriot-owned property in the north.

Earlier in the year, Karavezirler had said the Louroujina crossing point could be opened as quickly as 10 days after being given the go-ahead, and added that it is not only his village’s infrastructure, but its people who are ready for a new crossing point to open.

“People living in Louroujina are warm-blooded, affectionate, hardworking, and they earn their living through toil. When the crossing point is opened, they will look for ways to bring home the bread from different fields. I believe in this, and I trust in this, and they will be successful in this regard,” he began.

The village of Lympia is located immediately south of Louroujina, with the town of Dali and the village of Potamia being located to the west and northwest.

With no adjacent crossing point, Louroujina’s only transport link to the rest of the island is a single road which heads northwards and under the runway of Ercan (Tymbou) airport towards the main road between northern Nicosia and Famagusta.