ABSTRACT
On April 23, 2003, to the surprise of much of the world, the militarized zone that divides the island of Cyprus opened. The ceasefire line that partitions the island had been impenetrable to most Cypriots since 1974, so international media heralded the opening of the checkpoints as a momentous event that echoed the fall of the Berlin Wall. As in the moment of that wall’s collapse, cameras captured the rush of Cypriots across the border to visit homes unwillingly abandoned three decades earlier. It was a euphoric moment filled with the tears of return to lost homes and the laughter of reunions. Old friends were found and new ones made, and many Cypriots reveled in the simple freedom of being able to stroll in streets that had long been forbidden to them.
