According to the stuff I read at home Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974 and it was partitioned into two parts – the internationally recognised southern (Greek) Cyprus, and the Turkish north. According to the Turkish article I read Turkey invaded as a result of ethnic (read religious!) violence against the Muslim Turkish minority by the Greek Christians. This was when the British were handing Cyprus back after colonial rule, and the Turks apparently appealed to the Brits to intervene to protect the Turkish Cypriots to no avail, so they moved in as a protective measure. This all sounds so familiar, think Israel and the Palestinians, think Bosnia, think Yugoslavia. It’s all about colonialism and religion.
It is weird here though. Right next to this huge rambling resort and casino is a rotting multi storey shell of a former hotel. It is literally dying of concrete cancer, windows all gone, just a skeleton really, surrounded by wire so no-one can enter it. Some fading signs of it being a resort hotel still attest to its past. The Turks have just left the abandoned Greek rot – I read there is a dead zone in Famagusta that I look forward to seeing, homes, shops and the like abandoned by the Greek Cypriots when they fled the invasion in ‘74 that remain untouched since they left. Some still have food on the table and supplies in the stores.
Today has been a nothing sort of day, sleeping, eating and a bit of wandering to explore, but that was the intention. The hotel is isolated and full of Germans, Turks and the odd Brit, who all seem to view each other with a degree of suspicion, or is it aloofness? I can’t really figure it out. It is still not the tourist season and I seem to be the first conference person to arrive. Maybe tomorrow I’ll rent a car and explore.
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