Cypriots tear down barricades on division symbol

By Michele Kambas

NICOSIA (Reuters) - Greek and Turkish Cypriots on Thursday pulled down barricades that have separated them for half a century, reopening Ledra Street, a potent symbol of Cyprus's ethnic partition.

The highly symbolic gesture comes as the two communities prepare talks to end the Mediterranean island's division, an obstacle to Turkey's hoped-for membership of the European Union and a source of tension between NATO partners Athens and Ankara.

Hundreds of Greek and Turkish Cypriots crossed Ledra after the 80-metre stretch of road in the main commercial district of Nicosia was opened to pedestrians in a ceremony attended by United Nations envoys and dignitaries from both communities.

"I couldn't sleep all night. I will walk to St Loukas church (on the Turkish Cypriot side) and light a candle," said Loukia Skordi Salidou, 65.

"My generation is dying. Thank God I'm alive to see this."

An upmarket shopping street on the Greek Cypriot side, Ledra fans out in the north into a maze of haberdasheries and fruit markets, the traditional mainstay of merchants in Nicosia.

"We all know opening Ledra Street does not mean the Cyprus problem is resolved. There is much more hard work to be done," said Elizabeth Spehar, the chief of mission for the United Nations in Cyprus, at the ceremony.

"But the opening gives us a glimpse of what is possible."