CYPRUS: A referendum of sorts on Cyprus reunification and the island's membership of the EU takes place every working day in Nicosia. It happens at crossing points along the Green Line which has divided the island for nearly 30 years, when Turks cross en masse into the Greek Cypriot part, reports MichaelJansen
As politicians talk about what to do, the Turkish Cypriots are voting with their feet.
In the pre-dawn chill yesterday, construction workers, huddled in jackets, woollen scarves round their necks, cleared their documents with police in the booth at the Turkish Cypriot checkpoint at the Ledra Palace crossing before walking briskly across the buffer zone to the police post on the Greek side, part of the internationally recognised Republic of Cyprus.
Those on foot are either collected by their Greek Cypriot employers or engage taxis to take them to their jobs.
"Five hundred come every morning at about six when the crossing opens," remarks Pambos, one of the drivers waiting for a fare on the road beneath the 16th century Venetian wall of old Nicosia. He expects customers to spill from the next cresting wave of Turkish Cypriots, clutching sheafs of documents to present to the Nicosia District Office. The policeman who keeps the count says 1,400-1,800 enter the republic from the north at this gate daily.
The roads near the district office, a 10-minute drive away, are congested with parked cars and taxis dropping off Turkish Cypriots gripping their precious documents. The lobby is a mob scene filled with Turkish chatter.
A stout Greek Cypriot in a blue shirt and trousers stands guard at the door leading to the offices on the upper floors. Lists of numbers are posted on the wall. Applicants check pink chits against the numbers and await their turn to slip through the door, ascend in the lift and approach the appropriate official.
A tall Turkish Cypriot in a beige tweed jacket tells me he has come for identity cards for his family. "But," he says, "first I must get birth certificates for my children." They were born since the Turkish army occupied the north and imposed de-facto partition in 1974.
While Turkish Cypriots have been flocking to this office since their leader Rauf Denktash opened the gates last April, the rush is on to obtain identity cards and passports before Cyprus joins the European Union on May 1st.
A fair girl waiting in line at the window remarks: "They say the procedures will change then."
At a small office on a main street in the old city, a Turkish Cypriot is seeking advice about health benefits. Erechin Fevzi, a Turkish Cypriot volunteer who has lived in the south since 1999, hovers over a laptop, waiting for the printer to deliver a document.
Costantis Kandounas, a Greek Cypriot lawyer and reconciliation activist who set up the free service, says: "We provide any information they need." Since opening on Monday, the centre has had 35 visitors and 30 e-mails. "What I am trying to do here is to address fear and distrust. I want to have a practical effect."
Turkish Cypriots are very keen on the EU. Now they must travel on documents issued either by Turkey or the breakaway Turkish state, recognised only by Ankara.
A Cypriot passport is a European passport, opening the door to residency, education and employment in many EU states. Claiming their citizenship in the republic also confers on them the right to vote as well as to secure jobs and social security and health benefits.
As one Greek Cypriot friend observed wryly: "Our politicians must now think of Turkish Cypriot constituents."
Turkish Cypriot politicians must also think hard on the anomaly of thousands of Turkish Cypriots who have citizenship in the republic but live in an area outside the control of the government of the republic soon to become a member of the EU.