Since it opened six months ago, the checkpoint at Ledra Street, in the heart of the Cypriot capital Nicosia, is one of the most popular on the divided Mediterranean island. Curious residents and tourists cross the so-called “Green Line” every day, in order to take a look at the other side of the island.

Since 1974, Cyprus – and Nicosia itself – have been divided between the Greek-controlled south and the Turkish-controlled north. Tourists are surprised by the gap between the two sides. “There's a big difference between the Greek and the Turkish parts. Over there [on the Turkish side], the buildings are falling down, the economy isn’t the same. It’s like there are two time periods just a few metres apart – one modern and one old,” comments one German tourist in Nicosia.

For decades a no man’s land, the area around the Ledra Street checkpoint is now buzzing with new businesses. Cafés, restaurants and souvenir shops have sprouted, taking advantage of the new traffic.

The Ledra Street checkpoint is a symbol of the determination among the leaders on both sides of the Green Line to come up with a solution to the island’s division, which has been going on for 34 years. The leaders of the Greek and Turkish parts of the island meet on Sept. 3 to resume peace negotiations, their aim to jointly draft a reunification plan under the auspices of the United Nations.

In the meantime, more progress is on the way: another checkpoint is about to open, in the strategic Limnitis area, in the hope of encouraging more trade between the Turkish-occupied north and the European south.

"The opening at Limnitis is a very good initiative, but we should go beyond that. Why not sit together and write new histories that are both critical and promote critical thinking at the same time?" says Chara Makriyanni, a teacher and president of “Home for Cooperation”, an NGO which brings together Greek- and Turkish-Cypriot history teachers, who want to move forward when diplomacy fails. In a building riddled with bullets, in the middle of the buffer zone, the NGO plans to open a training centre for both teachers and students, so that they discuss their island’s history.

The co-founder of the NGO, Derviche Comunoglu, a Turkish Cypriot, says mentalities on the island need to be changed. For Derviche: "We have to learn compromise – and no nationalism. This is peace, I think."

And compromise seems to be the key word. The two leaders have turned this word into their latest leitmotiv, despite some extremist voices who try to be heard above everyone else’s. Both leaders are well aware that they will have to turn a blind eye to some of the wounds if they want to bring down Europe’s last standing wall.