Posts Tagged ‘cyprus’

NICOSIA, March 9 (Reuters) – Greek Cypriots razed to the ground a symbol of Cyprus’ decades-old division running through the heart of the capital Nicosia and challenged Turkey to respond by withdrawing its troops from the area.
Demolition work on a concrete barrier in Nicosia’s Ledra Street ceased by dawn on Friday, exposing a corridor of crumbling buildings untouched for decades.
The barrier was quickly replaced by sheets of aluminium and remained under heavy police guard. Authorities said that for security reasons the area would remain off limits to civilians until Turkey removed its troops from its side.
Nicosia residents hailed the move as an important step and one compared it with the destruction of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
This is extremely symbolic – “The dynamism created by this move will lead to the opening of the crossing,” said Rasit Pertev, chief adviser to Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat.

It was not clear what prompted the Greek Cypriot action but both sides on the divided Mediterranean island have been under intense pressure from the international community for the past few years to strike a lasting peace deal.
“Tonight we have demolished the checkpoint on our side,” Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos told reporters at an EU summit in Brussels.
So now we will see whether the Turkish troops will be withdrawn so the passage would be opened or not. Because if the troops are not withdrawn  - there cannot be a passage.
The barrier was a cement wall stretching from one side of the road to the other. Beyond it is a buffer zone about 50 metres wide and manned by UN troops. Ledra Street is the main commercial district of Nicosia, a city of 250,000 people.
Cyprus has been split into an internationally recognised Greek Cypriot south and a Turkish Cypriot north, recognised only by Turkey, since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded to foil an Athens-backed Greek Cypriot coup seeking to unite the island with Greece.
Turkey has about 35,000 troops in the island’s north.
SYMBOLIC WEDGE
Diplomats say even if there is a deal with Turkey, it could take several weeks to prepare for any possible opening of the crossing. “It would take about four to five weeks at least,” said a western diplomat.
When the barrier was demolished, people grabbed chunks of mangled metal and concrete from trucks as they rumbled past.
“This is what happened when the Berlin Wall came down, only in our case the police wouldn’t let us take anything,” said a woman who, after an altercation with police officers, retrieved a rotting plank of wood.
In 1989 Greek and Turkish Cypriots agreed to a partial military disengagement of sentry posts in Nicosia which reduced tensions.
Turkish Cypriot authorities eased restrictions on visits across the Green Line in 2003 and five crossing points have been erected since then between the north and south.
Cyprus relations remain a stumbling block to Turkey’s EU membership aspirations and a source of tension with neighbouring Greece. Greek Cypriots voted against a U.N. re-unification plan shortly before joining the EU in 2004.

An overview of the Intern Quartet (less Mark) outing to Cyprus.  Step 1, get there.

Okay, so our flight to Cyprus was at 6:20am on Saturday the 17th.  The airport is down near Piraeus, so it takes usually around 45 minutes to get there, I’m told.  It didn’t seem that long when I got a taxi in after my flight, but then again, I wasn’t paying much attention (at least not quality attention) to anything right then.  So, 6:20 – 45 makes 5:35am, make it 5:05 to be safe.  Then we have to arrive early for international flight check-in, because even though Cyprus is in the EU, it hasn’t signed (or implemented, I’m not sure) the Schengen agreements, which means it still has independent border controls. On the plus side, this meant I got more stamps in my passport, which is amazingly unbelievably (and inexplicably) satisfying.  But we had to get there earlier (we thought), so now the clock is pushed back to 4:05am.  And of course most people don’t just roll out of bed and walk out the door – even boys – so make it 3:30am to give me time to put clothes on straight and brush my teeth.  Yuck.

Oh yeah, and the night before that, we went to an event at the Marine house, because they are generally cool people, and even if they weren’t, I sure wouldn’t tell them so.  We went over there and had drinks and conversation with the detachment and random people from work, plus people from town that they know. It was fun but didn’t end until midnight, when they moved the party to a bar, and we ditched to get a few hours of sleep.  P.S. if you ever join the Marines, you should know that the ones at diplomatic posts get live-in chefs.  And if my experience is anything to go by, they’re pretty good.  Nummy hors-douvres.

Anyway, getting a taxi at 3:30am is not a problem, it turns out.  Depending on where you’ve been this may or may not surprise you.  A flight later and we arrived in Cyprus.  Along the way, I discovered that the wait times at 5ish in the morning are pretty much nonexistent, so we had overbudgeted for time at the airport.  Also, intern Courtney falls asleep instantaneously on airplanes.

On the approach pattern, we flew over the whole island along the North-South axis – it is relatively small, at least in that dimension.  Even so there were large swathes of farmland and mountains that make you realize it’s more than just a tourist destination; people have lived there, semi-independently, for millenia.  Upon arrival, Jodi rents the car, Courtney tries to figure out how to keep her eyes open, and I change money.  P.S. I now have the only spendable money (in Cypriot pounds).  The feeling of power is amazing.  Also, they have interesting designs on their coins.

Step 1.5, a little background information.

The Turkish military invaded in 1974, on grounds that the Greek cypriots were violating the terms of a 1960 treaty, which may or may not be true.  The treaty contained many provisions to protect the Turkish Cypriot minority including guaranteed levels of representation in the legislature and increased local autonomy, and most importantly it required that Cyprus remain independent of any other power; historical evidence and prevailing sentiment at the time both indicated that the majority of the island was leaning towards unification with Greece, which would have been a violation.  Furthermore, there was significant domestic protest over the disproportionate power Turkish Cypriots seemed to enjoy.  Many people think that the Turks were only invading to force the Greek cypriots to compromise with the Turkish cypriots on favorable terms over the major issues – in any case, they now control 37% of the island, including a bit more than half (I think) of the capital, Nicosia.  So the invasion itself was a spectacular success, but the aftermath didn’t turn out as planned, because nobody bothered to compromise.

A note on names.  Pay attention here, because this is kinda tricky: when talking to a Greek cypriot, it is diplomatic to term the north side “Turkish occupied Cyprus” or a similar phrase, because they hate it when you give any semblance of legitimacy to the administration of the north side of the island.  However, when in the north, it is diplomatic to refer to it as “North Cyprus” (the informal name of the Turkish-backed state), because 1.) people don’t like it when you use euphemisms which deny the existence of the country they’re pretty sure they live in, and 2.) it is illegal to “insult Turkishness” in Turkey, and this may carry over to areas under Turkish control.

Step 2, play tourist.

So Saturday morning in Cyprus we drove the rental car from the airport at Larnaca down the coast road to Limassol, and then on the Pafos. How’s your Cyprus geography?  Along the way, it rained, but about the time we hit the Birthplace of Aphrodite, the sky cleared a little bit.  I have a picture on the gallery, looking southwest (I think) from the coast, with a bit of cliff on the left, ocean on the right, and a clearing sky above, that I think looks just gorgeous.  We also saw a fort (which was a bit of a snoozer, but what can you do?) and some archaeological digs (which were much cooler).  I got a picture of me laying down in a crypt.  A bit of fun, but mostly it made my jacket filthy.  And about this time I was feeling really tired, but I was not alone, so we decided to drive to Nicosia (the capital and major city) and check in with our hosts.

Jodi had arranged for us to stay with some family friends who work in Nicosia, so we checked in and said hi.  We had a snack, cleaned up a little, and suddenly even Courtney was awake, so we went into town.  Nicosia is really interesting, because the UN buffer zone separating the Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots runs right through the downtown area.  We wandered the Greek side for an hour, and then got a call on my handy dandy phone from one of the Marines from Nicosia, who showed us around.  It is nice to have these connections.

Sunday we drove over into the Turkish side of the island.  Regardless of differing opinions on the existence of a state in the northern section, they do allow people to cross between the sides.  I got another stamp in my passport (by special request), and we went touristing.  We went and saw the castle of St. Hiliarian (spelling?).  It’s high on a mountainous ridge, between the UN’s line and the Mediterranean to the north, but it was built long before the conflict.  I think it was built by the English originally, but used by the French, the Venetians, the Ottomans, etc. etc. etc. down the line. Today it is a tourist spot, but the area is still very important militarily, and we drove past tons of military bases.  I have a few opinions about the military situation in the area too, but I’m trying for a tourist perspective now.  So the castle was cool, and huge.  They claimed it inspired the Snow White castle but I think they’re lying.  We wandered it for hours – the grounds were very large, and steep, actually.  When it was fully intact it must have been impressive, and they basically built a contiguous complex of structures on the last 100 meters of the mountaintop.  We climbed to the very top and had an amazing view.  I think, if I had billions of dollars, and it wasn’t probably a World Heritage Site, and buying land in a country of questionable existence weren’t a bad idea, I would buy it. Breathtaking view of the mountaintops, green valleys between, and the slopes all the way down to the Mediterranean, right over the tops of towns.  On a clear day you could probably see to Turkey.

And from there, we wandered down to the coast by car and explored a little.  It was a pretty sleepy, generally unexciting place, save for the fact of the beaches, and the monument to the Turkish invasion. More political stuff, but I just can’t help it –  the artwork was very very very propagandized.  In the first panel, there were pictures of people suffering under oppression (probably supposed to be the Turkish Cypriots), and then the second panel had people suffering violently (probably representing ethnic cleansing), and the third had soldiers fighting each other (the invasion from Turkey), and in the fourth there were people smiling and holding hands under the shining sun.  The imagery is pretty straightforward, but I’m pretty sure the conflict is not so clear-cut.  Fascinating to see.  I don’t have pictures, because my camera battery ran out in the middle, but I made Courtney take some, so I’ll get those eventually.  It reminded me of nothing so much as a Turkish Guernica – both in artistic style and historical content, but I think the Guernica may be a more genuine reflection of the events it seeks to describe.