President Mary McAleese had talks with Cypriot president Tassos Papadopoulos at the presidential palace in Nicosia yesterday, continuing her official visit to the island which began on Saturday.
The palace, a handsome stone building with pointed arches, red tile roof and dome, served as the residence of British colonial governors until independence, when it was transformed into the president's office. As they strode through the foyer, the presidents passed a model of the burnt-out shell of the palace as it was in 1974 after the Athens junta mounted a coup against then President Makarios, precipitating the Turkish invasion and occupation of the north.
Following discussions on a variety of issues, including how divided Ireland could help divided Cyprus move toward reunification through UN-brokered negotiations, Mrs McAleese warned that it could be a long process. She recalled that the Good Friday agreement came at the end of years of failed efforts. But she expressed hope that the "threads of the peace process" between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, dropped in 2004, could be picked up once again soon.
At Nicosia's town hall, on the Avila Bastion of the 16th-century Venetian walls that enclose the old town, Mrs McAleese was presented the golden key of the city by mayor Michalakis Zambelas, who praised Ireland for its "struggle for peace on both the local and international levels".
The mayor accompanied the President and Dr Martin McAleese down Ledra Street, the main thoroughfare of the walled city dubbed "Murder Mile" by the British during Cyprus's independence struggle.
Mrs McAleese paused to wave at shoppers and tourists as she made her way to the wall that bisects the world's last divided capital.
Here she climbed the steps to a platform to view the crumbling ruins and tangled growth that separate Greek and Turkish Cypriots.
She observed, "It is a scandal that such a thing should exist in modern Europe. It is a thoroughly depressing spectacle and I hope that current effort . . . to commence negotiations leading to reconciliation will come to a successful conclusion."