Cyprus 2003: Crossing the ceasefire line

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 17 July 2024

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In April 2003, the people of Cyprus were allowed to cross the ceasefire line for the first time in 29 years.

Hundreds of people rushed to the check points and queued for hours to visit the homes they had left after the Greek coup and Turkish invasion of July 1974. Greek Cypriots made up the great majority of those displaced, often fleeing under fire with nothing but the clothes they had on.

Singer and ethnomusicologist Nicoletta Demetriou’s parents were among them. Nicoletta tells Maria Margaronis about the day the checkpoints opened, the experience of crossing, and her parents’ encounter with their old neighbourhood and its new inhabitants — and reflects on how it changed her.

(Photo: People crossing the ceasefire line in Cyprus in April 2003. Credit: Janine Haidar/AFP via Getty Images)

Music: Solo laouto by Michalis Tterlikkas.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	He is Brian Cox.
0:02.8	Hello.
0:03.3	And he understands science.
0:05.3	I'm Robin Ince and I don't understand it quite so much.
0:09.0	Could it tell us something about the nature of matter?
0:11.3	Nope.
0:12.0	Okay, good.
0:14.2	Together we'll be joined by a collection of experts and non-expert guests.
0:18.6	What's going on?
0:19.8	Don't worry.
0:21.7	Taking a look at some of the most wonderful things
0:24.4	in the scientific world.
0:25.9	Science with Funny Bits, The Infinite Monkey Cage on Radio 4 and BBC Sounds. Welcome to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service.
0:37.0	I'm Maria Margaronis, taking you back to April 23rd, 2003, the day the people of
0:46.7	Cyprus were first allowed to cross the ceasefire line that has cut their island in two since
0:51.8	1974.
0:53.0	It was wholly Wednesday, so the Wednesday before Orthodox Easter.
0:58.0	And I remember waking up to very loud noises coming from the kitchen.
1:05.0	And when I opened my eyes, I realized that it was a TV.
1:10.0	And there was also my mom talking on the phone and I heard him say will we go will we go
1:20.8	Nicolet de Mitriu was born to Greek Cypriot parents in 1979, five years after Turkey
1:27.2	invaded and occupied a third of the island in response to a Greek-backed military coup.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.