The key thoroughfare of Ledra Street in the commercial hub of the Venetian-walled old city was sealed after deadly intercommunal violence erupted in 1963 and has come to symbolize the division of the Mediterranean island.

Following a ceremony attended by officials and watched by Greek and Turkish Cypriots on each side of the UN buffer zone, called the "Green Line," a passage was opened allowing hundreds of people from both communities to pass through.

Nicosia mayor Eleni Mavrou, a Greek Cypriot, described the move as a "first step" toward the reunification of the island, which has been partitioned along ethnic lines since Turkey invaded in 1974.

Katherine Clerides, Member of Parliament and daughter of former Republic of Cyprus President Glafkos Clerides, spoke of the event as a seminal moment.

"We've come through a long difficult period," Clerides told the Middle East Times. "Today's event is symbolically important. A new government has just taken over and in a short time has managed to reach an agreement with the Turkish Cypriot side."

Former Nicosia mayor Lellos Demetriades called the development, "a crack in the wall," and added, "Many cracks make walls come tumbling down, we have to be optimistic."

A Turkish Cypriot High School teacher in north Nicosia who came out to attend the ceremony spoke about it marking a small, but essential step of reconciliation between the Turkish and Greek Cypriot communities.

"It's a small step. There are already other crossing points. This is just one more. But it creates a good atmosphere," Figen Kansu told the Middle East Times.

Indeed, Ledra Street is the sixth crossing on the island to open since April 2003.

"Cypriots are mingling, looking at each other wondering who are Greek Cypriots and who are Turkish Cypriots," Kansu said, adding: "I think people are surprised to be in such close and easy contact with people from the other community."

A few people complained that newly erected checkpoints, which replaced metal barriers that were taken down hours before the opening, were an unnecessary hindrance with guards asking everyone to show their IDs.

Thursday's event was agreed at a breakthrough meeting in March between new president of the Republic of Cyprus, Demetris Christofias, and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat. They also agreed to resume full reunification talks in June.

"Today is a historic day. We are witnessing the overthrow of one of the obstacles to reunification," said Talat aide Ozdil Nami.

The barricades in Ledra Street - known in Turkish as Lokmaci Street - were among the first to be erected, leading to the arrival in 1964 of UN peacekeepers who have remained ever since.

Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974 when Turkey seized its northern third in response to an Athens-engineered Greek Cypriot coup in Nicosia aimed at uniting the island with Greece.

Some 40,000 Turkish troops are stationed in northern Cyprus.

Turkey's army chief on Saturday backed peace negotiations to reunify Cyprus, but warned that a withdrawal of Turkish soldiers from the island after any deal would not be swift.

Saying the Turkish military presence was the "guarantee" for peace in Cyprus, General Yasar Buyukanit also said his soldiers would continue to patrol in the vicinity of the new crossing.

"There is no such thing as pulling troops out tomorrow if there is a peace deal today," he said. "The army needs to observe and be fully convinced on how safe Turkish Cypriots are. Only then can this issue be considered."

Buyukanit was speaking at the end of a four-day trip to the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Cyprus in the north, which only Turkey recognizes.

Clerides noted that despite the apparent severe comments by the Turkish general, he was showing rare flexibility.

"This was a good statement," she said. "[Buyukanit] is saying that the army can withdraw at some point. That's the first time the head of the Turkish army has spoken in such a way."

New negotiations, which are scheduled to start in June, will be the most concrete push to end the 33-year division of Cyprus since 2004, when a UN settlement plan was rejected leading to a divided Cyprus joining the European Union that year.

Over the next three months fact finding committees will prepare for the meeting of the leaders of the two communities.

UN spokesman Jose Diaz said that the Ledra opening was a significant development as it symbolized the division of the island.

"This is a concrete manifestation of new positive developments in Cyprus," Diaz told the Middle East Times. "We hope in three months to lead to fully fledged negotiations."

The UN will be facilitating the work of inter-communal working committees to look at the nitty-gritty details, like property rights, security and military forces, he said. "They will take their work to the leaders."

Clerides pointed out, however, that actual details of these committees have not yet been publicized.

"We're unclear as to whether they'll be looking at facts on the ground or actually brainstorming," she said. "That depends on who will participate in them."

"Will they be government technocrats who are not going to make political decisions, but just do background research, or members of political parties who have some say in the decision making process?"

The answer is expected soon, as the committees are scheduled to begin on April 7.

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MAJOR DATES IN MODERN CYPRUS

(AFP)

Following are key dates in the history of Cyprus since it gained independence.

1960

August 16: Cyprus becomes independent from Britain.

1963

December: Intercommunal violence erupts between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities.

1964

March: A UN peacekeeping force for Cyprus (UNFICYP) is established.

1974

July 15: Greek Cypriot members of the National Guard overthrow president Archbishop Makarios in a coup sponsored by the military junta in Athens which wants to merge the island with Greece.

July 20: Turkey, citing a 1959 agreement that made Turkey, Greece and Britain guarantors of Cypriot independence, invade the north to protect the Turkish Cypriot minority.

July 23: The fall of both the regime in Athens and the collapse of the coup in Nicosia leads to the restoration of Makarios.

August: The United Nations demands the restoration of Cypriot sovereignty and withdrawal of foreign troops. Peace talks in Geneva collapse. The Turkish army advances to control 37 percent of the island. Greek Cypriots in the north and Turkish Cypriots in the south flee to opposite sides.

1977

Jan: Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders agree on the principle of a federal "bicommunal, bizonal" non-aligned state.

Aug 3: Makarios dies of a heart attack.

1983

Nov 15: Proclamation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, recognized only by Turkey.

1992

April: The UN Security Council calls for a settlement based on a unitary state of "two politically equal communities."

2002

Nov: A peace plan drawn up by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is sent to leaders on both sides.

2003

Feb: Newly elected Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash meet for talks on the UN plan.

April: Although overall talks are bogged down, Greek and Turkish Cypriot authorities allow people from their communities to cross the UN-patrolled Green Line.

2004

March: Talks in Switzerland, including both the Greek and Turkish governments, fail to produce an agreement.

April: Greek Cypriots reject the UN plan by a large majority, while the Turkish Cypriots strongly approve it in a separate referendum.

May 1: A divided Cyprus joins the European Union.

2005

April: Mehmet Ali Talat is elected Turkish Cypriot leader.

2006

July: Papadopoulos meets Talat in UN-sponsored talks after a two-year hiatus.

December: The EU partially suspends Turkey's membership talks over Ankara's refusal to open its ports and airports to traffic from Cyprus.

2007

March: The European Union relaunches membership talks with Turkey.

Sept: Papadopoulos and Talat meet without any breakthrough.

2008

Jan 1: Cyprus adopts the European Union's single currency, the euro.

Feb 24: Communist Demetris Christofias elected president of Cyprus.

Mar 21: Christofias and Talat meet and agree to formally relaunch peace talks in three months.

April 3: The Ledra Street crossing in the heart of Nicosia opens for the first time since intercommunal violence in 1963.

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News agency copy was used in this report.