In the twenty years since the opening of the barricades on April 23, 2003, a total of 141 million people have passed through the barricades in the direction of the occupied or free areas, according to the newspaper "Halkin Sesi" in its publication on April 29, as reported by the Office Press and Information.
As the newspaper notes, crossings, which ranged between 4-6 million per year in the early years, rose to 1 million in 2019, just before the pandemic.
Crossings fell to 3-4 million in 2020-2021 due to pandemic restrictions, but rose again to 13 million last year.
It is also reported that the percentage of Turkish Cypriots was quite high compared to Greek Cypriots and citizens of other countries, but this has changed in recent years, with Greek Cypriot crossings increasing to 43% of total crossings.
According to the data of the last 15 years, in 2008 53% of the total crossings were made by "citizens of the TRNC", 29% by citizens of other countries and 19% by citizens of the Republic of Cyprus. From 2022 the crossings of "TRNC citizens" decreased to 29% of the total crossings, while the percentage of citizens of the Republic of Cyprus increased to 43% of the total crossings. Most Greek Cypriots go to the occupied territories for shopping, reports the publication.
The percentage of Turkish Cypriot crossings in total crossings to the free zones increased significantly during the pandemic, despite the restrictions, due to the fact that during the pandemic Turkish Cypriots were allowed to cross into the Republic of Cyprus controlled area to work.
Besides, the newspaper reports that there is interest from Iranians to visit the occupied territories. According to the publication, in the first three months of 2023, Turkey is the country with the largest number of visitors to the occupied territories with 267.474 people, followed by Iran with 11.102, Russia with 9.434 and Germany with 5.863.
Source: KYPE
