Cypriot ghost town in limbo as peace talks falter (Feature)

By Christine Pirovolakis Dec 11, 2010, 2:06 GMT

Nicosia - Overgrown shrubs and weeds carpet the streets of the bullet-scarred Varosha beachfront in the fenced-off Greek Cypriot neighbourhood of Famagusta in Cyprus that was once dubbed the 'Cyprus Riviera'.

The now long-vacant luxury high-rise hotels and apartments along sandy beaches are crumbling. Residents were driven from the city in 1974, in a Turkish invasion sparked by a Greek-inspired coup split the eastern Mediterranean island.

'Open up - I left my soul inside,' reads a hand-written note, one of many taped to the fence, reads.

As the Turkish forces approached, the majority of Famagusta's 42,000 residents fled to the south. Most, thinking they would be back within a matter of days, left all their possessions behind.

Since then, the Greek Cypriot quarter of the Turkish Cypriot- controlled city of Famagusta has been sealed, with only Turkish soldiers on patrol inside.

If ongoing peace talks between Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders achieve a breakthrough, Famagusta could be one of the first Greek Cypriot areas among dozens located with a UN-supervised buffer zone to be brought back to life in more than three decades.

Greek Cypriots currently live in the south of Cyprus and Turkish Cypriots in the north, divided by the buffer zone, or 'no man's land,' which runs through the island from east to west.

Cyprus joined the European Union in 2004, but the breakaway north, where Turkey maintain 35,000 troops, has been left out.

The European Commission believes that the return of the fenced off town of Varosha to its lawful inhabitants will be one of the key elements for the achievement of a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem.

'When we started the negotiations I had said to myself that I will have to wait for a move by Turkey - if Turkey really wants to send a signal to the world then it could do something with the fenced-off area of Varosha,' said George Iacovou, the chief negotiator in peace talks for the Greek Cypriot side.

Greek Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias has included the town's opening, along with the supervision of Famagusta's port by the European Union, in a package of proposals aimed at giving the slow-moving talks a push.

'Right now the town is held hostage - if the Turkish Cypriots acted in good faith and proposed returning the town, if not to the United Nations, then temporarily to the EU, we would see this as a positive step,' said Alexis Galanos, Famagusta's municipal mayor in exile.

'A temporary EU administration, with its institutions and regulations, could be in place which would help the entire area.'

He said a recent proposal by Turkish Cypriot businessmen to open the fenced off area in order to create business and boost the economy in the north would only create bitterness and pain in the hearts of those still waiting to return.

A UN security council resolution considers any attempts to settle any part of the fenced off area of Famagusta by people other than its inhabitants as inadmissible and calls for the transfer of this area to the administration of the UN.

Months of UN-led diplomatic efforts in peace talks are no closer to resolving the decades-old conflict of the divided island of Cyprus, with 'serious differences' remaining between Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders on the issues of private property lost during the war, territory, the issue of settlers and security during negotiations.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned that talks to end Cyprus' 36-year division would suffer a major setback unless progress is reached in early 2011.

Ban said recently that peace talks 'could founder fatally' without a 'substantive agreement' being reached before elections in Cyprus and Turkey are held in mid-2011.

'Both sides should push hard to reach compromises. New flexibility is urgently needed to bridge the position and thereby demonstrate that the political will still exists to reunify the island,' says Sabine Freizer, International Crisis Group's Europe Programme Director.

Experts insist that whatever the outcome, architects and town planners will face a massive task in restoring the Medieval town with its Venetian walls and ancient churches badly damaged by bombs and bullets and left to crumble over 36 years.

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