Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
welcomed by the current inhabitants. The two peoples treated each other with civility and kindness and, more
than a decade after the checkpoints' opening, no major incidents have been reported.
Many Turkish Cypriots now cross the line every day on their way to work in the southern part of the island.
Serdar Denktaş, the son of Rauf and the man behind the realisation of the border opening, dubbed the events 'a
quiet revolution'. Many compared it to the the fall of the Berline Wall in 1989, minus the dramatic knocking
down of the buffer zone, an event still to take place.
Numerous mainland Turkish settlers have married Turkish Cypriots. These relationships are somewhat frowned
upon by middle-class Turkish Cypriots, who see themselves as different from the mainlanders.
Repairing the Damage
Many Greek Cypriots quickly regrouped after 1974, putting their energies into rebuilding
their shattered nation. Within a few years the economy was on the mend and the Republic
of Cyprus was recognised internationally as the only legitimate representative of the is-
land. The economy pushed ahead through the 1980s. The opening of the Cyprus Stock
Exchange, in 1999, initially absorbed vast amounts of private funds. In the early 2000s the
stock exchange took a full-size nose dive and many Cypriots lost huge amounts of money.
Similar financial losses were endured in 2013 as a result of the deepening recession, bank-
ing crisis and ensuing EU bailout (on the condition that strict austerity measures were
taken).
Tourism has remained buoyant, however, though, and although British visitors remain
the largest group, there has a marked increase in Russian tourists.
North of the Green Line is known by most foreigners simply as 'Northern Cyprus' and
by the Greeks as the 'Occupied Territories'
(ta katehomena).
This area, by comparison to
the South, has developed at a snail's pace. An influx of Turkish mainlanders and interna-
tional economic sanctions against the unrecognised Northern government has made pro-
gress difficult. It remains largely supported by its client and sponsor nation, Turkey,
through direct funding and its use as a Turkish military outpost.
The Stones of Famagusta
is a 2008 documentary that traces the historical remains of Famagusta's beautiful,
ruined architecture. A labour-of-love project by two British expats, it's treasured by the local population.
BORDER BLOODSHED
