Category: Cyprus/TRNC

GO CYPRUS : Former junior minister LIZ MCMANUS visits the northern part of the island where natural beauty and cultural richness are attracting a growing number of tourists

GREEK CYPRUS is such a well-known and popular tourist destination that it is easy to overlook northern Cyprus.When the island was partitioned in the 1970s, northern Cyprus – the Turkish-speaking part – was considered an inaccessible, occupied area and yet its natural beauty and cultural richness have attracted a growing number of visitors. Access has become easier with new border crossings and daily flights via Istanbul to Ercan Airport.

Progress has come with a familiar price, very familiar to anyone from Ireland. We visited a divided island that had a property bubble and the ghost estates to prove it. That said, it is also true that, in the carve-up, the Turkish Cypriots got the best scenery.

We stayed in the pretty harbour town of Kyrenia (Girne in Turkish) that nestles under a dramatic range of mountains. We travelled with a group organised by Explore Worldwide Ltd and stayed in the Nostalgia Hotel, a small establishment tucked into a narrow street close to the harbour. It is designed in a traditional Cypriot style and some rooms have four-poster beds.

I’d been sent a questionnaire by the travel company. What did I want on the trip? Walking and history, I’d replied dutifully. On both counts northern Cyprus delivered spectacularly. We spent a week walking in the Kyrenia mountains, clambering up to Crusader castles and exploring historical sites along the coast.

CYPRUS WAS the stepping stone for waves of Persian, Roman, Byzantine, French, Italian and British cultures that left a bloodstained legacy in stone. Happy the country without a history, my guide book quoted, and then went on to describe Cyprus – because of its turbulent history – as an unhappy shuttlecock.

On day one our walk took us up a mountain track. As it was springtime there was a profusion of wild flowers; pink and white rock roses, crown daisies, asphodel, alliums. There are 30 species of orchids in northern Cyprus. Under the mimosa and carob trees red poppies ran riot in the grass. The local myth relates that the goddess of love Aphrodite (born in Cyprus apparently, although another myth claims she was born out of castrated testicles of Uranus) was in love with Dionysus. When he was killed, so the story goes, his blood and her tears mingled to produce the wild poppies that we saw around us.

After a Cypriot picnic made for us by the wife of Mustapha, our driver, we descended into the quiet village of Bellapais. It is noted for its 14th-century abbey and is also famous for its appearance in Lawrence Durrell’s book Bitter Lemons of Cyprus . Bellapais boasts not just one but two Trees of Idleness (each, it is claimed, is the original).

It was said that if you sat long enough under the tree you’d be overcome by an indolence that had the villagers living so long the gravedigger was out of a job. We struck lucky as the Bellapais Music Festival was in full swing and, later in the week, we had dinner overlooking the abbey before attending a musical recital inside its lofty refectory.

The next day, we passed one of the many military barracks that are evident across northern Cyprus. A lone soldier waved us on to St Hilarion Castle. The castle straddles a mountain top and the steep climb is worth every step.

It is a remarkable piece of architecture that rises organically out of rock. Stone stairs lead up the crenellated walls and turrets of the castle to give vertiginous views. There are three castles positioned strategically across the mountain range. Buffavento Castle is the highest of the three.

The climb there is demanding but well worth the effort. The construction of these castles was driven by fear. From their battlements the French knights used smoke signals to warn of an impending attack from the east. As it happened, in the end, the Venetians took over and removed much of the stone in order to reinforce their coastal castles at Kyrenia and Famagusta.

Inside the castle at Kyrenia harbour there is a large courtyard that houses the Shipwreck Museum and the remains of a cargo boat that was raised from the seabed in 1968 by American archeologists. The vessel is 2,300 years old. It carried almonds, millstones and amphorae which are on display in the museum.

Beyond the mountain range lies the central Mesaoria Plain. Turn west and you get to the dusty suburbs of Lefkosa (Nicosia). Much better to turn east and head for Gazimagusa (Famagusta).

On the way a visit to St Barnabas Monastery is a must. Until 1976 the monastery was inhabited by three aged monks, brothers in faith but also biological brothers who financed its upkeep by painting icons. Not only are the icons worth a look but there is an astonishing collection of artifacts from 2000 BC until Byzantine times.

The ancient city of Salamis is another must-see. Much of it is, as yet, unexcavated but if you’re into Roman plumbing you’ll enjoy the gymnasium, theatre, baths and the latrines. We stopped there on our way to Famagusta, which is a walled town full of surprises. Within the walls, St Nicholas Cathedral dominates over a mixture of buildings of different styles. Modelled on the cathedral at Rheims it is now a mosque. A weird melding of religions greets you when – shoeless of course – you step inside the high space with its Gothic windows and Turkish carpeted floor. Outside the city walls, an entire suburb of houses, shops and churches is sealed off; the ghost town of Varosha, a quarter that was abandoned by fleeing Greeks and has been left to decay in a no-man’s land.

THERE IS MUCH to see in Famagusta and it has a gorgeous cafe to visit when you’ve seen enough. Inside the Petek Pastanesi, there is every mouth-watering confection imaginable. Our guide, an English expat, had told us of its delights but we didn’t believe her until we sampled them for ourselves.

There are British ex-pats as well as British tourists in northern Cyprus. I was told they come because it is outside the eurozone, but the relationship between the English and Cypriots goes back a long time – to the days of Richard the Lionheart who managed to sell the island twice, first to the Knights Templar, then to the French.

Today, there is no shortage of bars with names such as the Fisherman’s Inn or the Horseshoe Bar and you need never want for an English breakfast there. Middle England comes to northern Cyprus, I imagine, because it is quiet, clean, safe and beautiful.

It is not all one-way travel. In a village on the Karpas peninsula a local man told me that the population was 200 but that 2,000 more of them lived in London.

Cyprus has always been a meeting point for East and West – hence its troubled past. Despite the obvious political difficulties over the future of Cyprus, things are changing; the border is more porous, the number of EU-funded projects in northern Cyprus is well signposted, every Turkish Cypriot is entitled to an EU passport. Only a matter of time, I imagine, before Michael O’Leary gets landing rights into Ercan airport and a new invasion begins.

Northern Cyrpus where to…

Stay

Nostalgia Boutique Hotel, Kyrenia, tel 00-90-392-815-3079, nostalgaboutiquehotel.com. Modestly-priced 28-room hotel with Cypriot-style decor and a restaurant attached.

The Colony, Kyrenia, tel 00-90-392-815-1518, parkheritage.com. Upmarket, uptown 90-room hotel with a casino next door. Expensive but has a reputation for good food and excellent service.

Portofino Hotel, Famagusta, tel 00-90-392-366-4392. Budget hotel with 53 rooms near to the walls of the old town.

Eat

Gazan restaurant, Kyrenia, tel 00-90-392-815-3079. Beside the Nostalgia Boutique Hotel and has the same owner. Great meze and modest prices. We had the best Cypriot dinner of our stay there.

Cafe Carob, Kyrenia, tel 00-90-392-815-6277. Italian restaurant with balcony overlooking the harbour. Fantastic view if you can get a table on the balcony or roof.

Petek Pastanesi cafe, Famagusta, tel 00-90-392-366-7104. Magnificent confectionary and pleasant surroundings. Must be enjoyed at leisure – you can spend a long time just making your choice.

Go

Kyrenia harbour. A lively and attractive harbour with restaurants, cafes and a Shipwreck Museum in the castle. The town is a good base with a choice of accommodation.

Bellapais. A mountain village with a 14th century abbey and links to writer Lawrence Durrell.

Famagusta. A town rich in history and pleasant pedestrianised centre. A visit to St Barnabas Monastery and the ancient city of Salamis on the way is well worthwhile.

More information

North Cyprus by Diana Darke, published by Bradt Travel Guides.

By Max Gevers

NOW that the chances of Turkey joining the EU in the foreseeable future have declined to zero, the prospect of a solution to the Cyprus problem too is close to nil. For Cyprus, Turkey’s road towards EU-accession always was a powerful and unique strategic opportunity, the strongest imaginable political impetus to negotiate a solution acceptable to both sides. That opportunity has now been squandered: by the Cyprus government, because of its attempts to have it all its own way and not seeing where and in which European capitals its real interests were best assured; by northern Cyprus, because its hard line government preferred the present situation in the absence of some powerful coaching and arm twisting by Turkey and never seemed sincere in negotiations; and by Ankara, because with the disappearance of a serious European incentive, it lacked the drive for hard negotiations. For Turkey there is, in the absence of a European option, no longer any incentive to achieve success, despite its zero-problem foreign policy.

Years have been wasted away and, with the departure of Mehmet Ali Talat in northern Cyprus and the increasing reluctance in some European countries concerning Turkey’s EU negotiations, this incredible incentive for Turkey to settle on Cyprus was lost. With that loss, chances for a solution in Cyprus are indeed very slim. They will remain so, and gradually if not very fast, become non-existent.

If a solution to the Cyprus problem is still really sought after, that is if the Cyprus government is really serious about negotiating and finding a solution, then it will have to come up with an incentive for Turkey. This must be powerful enough to change the present parameters of the negotiations in which almost nobody believes any more that something useful and substantial can be achieved. Is there such an incentive?

There is, and it concerns the exploration and production of hydrocarbons in the sea around Cyprus. There has been a lot of talk about the potential presence of oil and/or gas in this part of the Mediterranean. Much of it is wishful thinking based on inflated expectations of a very complex geology in the area. Up to now, not a drop of oil or gas has actually been found and brought to the surface; only some preliminary seismic exploration has been carried out. That may have been promising, but the experience of the search for oil and gas in seas elsewhere in the world has shown that it is almost impossible to make reliable estimates of possible reserves without exploratory drilling itself.

With the Cyprus conflict nowhere near a solution, it is extremely unlikely that Turkey will allow Cyprus full-scale and unhindered exploration in this part of the world. Israel may join in some exploration, but it could not be a fully fledged partner, without also becoming a burden for Cyprus’ foreign policy towards the Arab world. Besides, it would not take away the main factor, which is that Turkey and northern Cyprus have to be major partners in the game for serious and sustained exploration and production of hydrocarbons in the area. Cyprus must come to terms with Turkey on this issue; it cannot do without this, or the full potential exploitation of mineral riches in the seas around Cyprus will not be realised.

A second factor the Cyprus government should take into account, if it is at all serious about negotiating a solution, is that it should facilitate a very broad based internal debate, with the involvement of NGOs and civil society on the sort of solution it wants. The studies by researcher Alexandros Lordos some years ago were an excellent beginning but not properly followed up nor elaborated into operational conclusions. The present situation is that the Greek Cypriots, with a fair amount of contempt for historical truths, basically want it almost all for themselves. There is hardly any pretence about it with the consequence that, after the Annan plan, there was no serious thought on the type of solution that could and would be acceptable to all. Neither is there any thought on how to actually live in a Cyprus where Turkish and Greek Cypriots genuinely share responsibilities for government and society. Whenever some sort of compromise on specific subjects leaks out, it invariably meets ferocious opposition and accusation that the Cyprus government is giving it all away, a situation worse than any imaginary zero-sum game. It is an almost impossible situation for any government, and the present one is certainly not known for its courageous stands and decisions.

A third factor to be kept in mind is that the UN will not eternally remain in Cyprus to separate the parties, in the absence of even the remotest prospect for a solution. At the same time, this also offers an opportunity: the future possibility that the UN might well leave could trigger an increased sense of urgency that something serious and substantial should really happen quite soon.

A fourth aspect with which parties should rapidly come to terms is the idea that permanent partition, with northern Cyprus gradually being absorbed into Turkey itself, a scenario which foolishly northern Cyprus does not really seem to realise, is a very serious and by now realistic option. August 1974 is almost 37 years ago and the memory of a fully independent and united Cyprus is hardly very much alive these days, let alone that the situation before that time scarcely merited a beauty prize. Maybe it is indeed the case that Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, although grudgingly liking each other, do not really want to live together and certainly not to share responsibility for government and society.

These are the issues which should be at the forefront of everybody who is involved with Cyprus. A solution is still possible but realistically and unfortunately at present increasingly remote. The international community, indeed the EU, is bored stiff with Cyprus and hardly ever pays more than minimal lip-service when needed, something the Cyprus government should keep in mind as its time to take the EU presidency approaches.

Realism, political courage, serious civil society debate and, why not, some substantial assistance by a major outside power are needed. The old mantra that only Cypriots can solve their own problems has been proved totally and disastrously wrong, something only Cypriots don’t realise. Cypriots have, unfortunately, managed to transform an unwanted situation into a stale problem and a permanent misfortune. The incentive of the potential riches of oil and gas exploration and production could change this, but only if the authorities in Cyprus and Turkey really want that and if civil society in Cyprus has a productive say in the type of future society it wants to live in.

Source: Cyprus-mail