The Greek President, Mr Costis Stephanopoulos, yesterday toured the Green Line in the world's last divided capital at the end of his four day visit to Cyprus. His cavalcade of gleaming cars swept up to the wide plaza at the end of Ledra street where he was greeted by the Mayor of Nicosia, Mr Lellos Demetriades, and the local commander, Brig Lucas Aristidou, a host of cameramen and journalists and a scattering of Greek Cypriots, some who had come from a church service nearby.
The blue-and-white flag of Greece hung alongside the white-and-gold flag of the Cyprus republic above a memorial to a Greek Cypriot killed in the anti-colonial struggle. A dozen troops in camouflage uniforms presented arms as the President strode towards the viewing platform built on the wall by the National Guard.
There he braved a crush of television crews to gaze across the cool leafy green no-man's land - where low trees, scrub and grass grow through tangles of barbed wire - to the white painted wall 50 metres distant, to the red-and-white Turkish and Turkish Cypriot flags hanging limply on their poles.
He called this the place "where Europe will stop" if Ankara "does not change tactics and policies", making it clear that Turkey would not be allowed to join the European Union until the occupation of northern Cyprus ends.
As he descended the narrow stair, there was a spattering of applause from Greek Cypriots gathered under shop awnings out of the sharp Sunday sun. His party walked round the corner to a sandbagged firing point where he called for the "wall of shame" to come down.
He ended his brief tour at the guard post where an enterprising Cypriot has established the "Berlin Cafe".
The Turkish President, Mr Suleyman Demirel, who was expected to begin a tit-for-tat official visit to the north yesterday, will instead arrive on July 20th to celebrate the 1974 Turkish invasion which divided the island.
The Turkish side has not so far responded to the proposal on June 18th of the President of Cyprus, Mr Glafkos Clerides, for security and confidence building measures and Turkish troop reductions which could bring about a cancellation of the Greek Cypriot Russian missile deal which has heightened tension. But the Greek Deputy Foreign Secretary, Mr Yiannos Kranidiotis, told The Irish Times that the Security Council would "include a reference" to this proposal in next week's resolution extending the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force.
At the moment the proposal is the only hope for a renewal of contacts between the two sides.
