(United Nations buffer zone) Old tires, torn cardboard boxes… In the buffer zone which divides the island of Cyprus between the South Cypriot-Greek and the North Cypriot-Turkish, young volunteers are busy Friday to clean up the earth bank, with the help of UN peacekeepers.
Not far from the village of Troulli, in the south-east of the Mediterranean island, the volunteers, all young Greek Cypriots involved in bi-communal projects, load the bags filled with waste into two United Nations vans.
Since its invasion by the Turkish army in 1974 in reaction to a coup d’état by Greek-Cypriot nationalists who wanted to reunite it with Greece, the island has been divided between the Republic of Cyprus – a member of the European Union – which exercises its authority in the south, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) self-proclaimed in 1983, only recognized by Ankara.
While negotiations have stalled since 2017, the UN is trying to bring together residents on both sides of the buffer zone that separates the South from the North, through periodic cleaning operations, as the spokesperson for the UN Peacekeeping Force for Cyprus (UNFICYP), Aleem Siddique.
The buffer zone, which is 180 kilometers long and 8 kilometers wide, is home to an exceptional variety of plant and animal species, but has over time transformed into an open dump, laments the UN spokesperson.
“Protecting the environment is a common interest shared by both communities,” he told AFP.
The clean-up operation is part of the UN Youth Champions for Environment and Peace program and was organized on the occasion of the final official day of the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland. .
“Same values”
To reach the wild dump, the vans took a path lined with olive trees, strewn here and there with polystyrene and metal rubbish.
“We have seen a significant increase in waste dumping and other violations in the area,” says Siddique. These unloadings would take place mainly at night and are linked to construction activities in the region, he assures.
Holding a black plastic bag in her hand, Joya Lahoud, one of the young volunteers, rakes the ground a little further and picks up the rubbish lying there.
“We all live on the same island and ultimately share the same values,” says the 19-year-old who participated in a two-week bicommunal project in August as part of the same UN program.
Young Greek Cypriots and Turks “work together without any division,” said the one who recently took part in a clean-up operation on a beach in Famagusta, in the north.
But for Boghos Avetikian, a 23-year-old Cypriot of Armenian origin, the opportunities that bring young people from both sides together are rare.
“The young people of the two communities do not mix well,” laments the 23-year-old who lives in the southern part of the island. “If they had the chance to collaborate together, I think something good would come out of it. ”