The Greek Cypriot side suggested the opening of a new crossing point in Nicosia’s old town during the enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem in New York, but the Turkish Cypriot side rejected it, according to reports on Friday.

The Cyprus News Agency reported that the proposal had been made for a crossing point on Lidinis Street, on which theNicosia municipality centre for research, innovation, and entrepreneurshipis located, and which backs onto the old ‘Bandabuliya’ municipal market, which is located in the north.

Calls have grown in recent months for a new crossing point to be opened in Nicosia’s old town, with the existing Ledra Street crossing point becoming overcrowded due to an increase in the number of tourists visiting it, particularly during the summer months.

However, the same report stated that Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar “refused” the suggestion and “gave various excuses”.

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The suggestion for a new crossing point on Lidinis Street had first been made public by Turkish Cypriot Nicosia mayor Mehmet Harmanci in January.

He said the prospect had been mentioned in his discussions with Greek Cypriot Nicosia mayor Charalambos Prountzos and his predecessor and current Nicosia district governor Constantinos Yiorkadjis.

Tatar, meanwhile, has been consistently against the idea, insisting that Ledra Street is adequate as Nicosia’s old town’s only crossing point.

“There is no serious congestion on Ledra Street. Every crossing point has security, personnel, and infrastructure costs. At the moment, opening a new pedestrian crossing point near Ledra Street is not a need. The most important need is to ease vehicular crossings,” he told Tak, the north’s news agency, in May.

Away from Nicosia’s old town, Tatar and President Nikos Christodoulides appeared to have come to an agreement regarding the former’s suggestions that crossing points be opened in the eastern Nicosia suburb of Mia Milia and in the village of Louroujina, which is located between Nicosia and Larnaca.

During his press conference following the enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem in the early hours of Friday morning, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the two sides have “reached an agreement on the crossing points themselves”, and that what is left to discuss was “the question of itinerary”.

However, as Guterres was making his statements, Turkish Cypriot diplomatic sources were denying to the Cyprus Mail that any agreement had been reached on the crossing points’ location.

“There has been no progress yet on the issue of the crossing points because the Greek Cypriot leader [President Nikos Christodoulides] insists on a transit corridor for use only by Greek Cypriots, instead of a crossing point,” one source said.

By “transit corridor”, the sources were referring to crossing points which would run from one part of the Republic to another through the north, with two such crossing points – through the Turkish Cypriot exclave of Kokkina in the island’s northwest, and between Athienou and the Nicosia suburb of Aglandjia – having been suggested by the Greek Cypriot side.

During his own press conference, Tatar explained that the difference in opinion regarding the corridor between Athienou and Aglandjia came about regarding its location.

The Turkish Cypriot side, he said, had wished for the road to be routed mostly through the north, while the Greek Cypriot side had asked for it to be mostly routed through the buffer zone.

Christodoulides said during his press conference that there had been “some progress” made over the prospect of a corridor between Athienou and Aglandjia, but that the Turkish side was “not in a position to make final decisions today” as the consent of the Turkish army would be required.

He also confirmed that he had “accepted the Turkish Cypriot side’s proposals” for crossing points in Mia Milia and Louroujina.