Assignment: The 'ghost city' of Cyprus

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 3 September 2024

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The once glamorous Cypriot beach resort of Varosha has stood empty and frozen in time since war divided the island 50 years ago, but it is now partially open to tourists and there are hotly contested plans for its renewal.

Maria Margaronis speaks to Varosha's former inhabitants - mostly Greek Cypriots - who fled in 1974 when Turkish troops invaded the island and have been unable to return ever since, after Turkey fenced off the town as a bargaining chip for future peace negotiations.

Some of these Varoshians want to rebuild the resort together with the island's Turkish Cypriots - a potential model for diffusing hostilities across the whole island - and the UN says its original inhabitants must be allowed to return. But, following decades of failed peace talks, the internationally unrecognised Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which controls Varosha, now says it intends to re-open and redevelop the entire town.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service.
0:03.4	I'm Maria Margaronis on assignment in Cyprus
0:06.3	to find out what's next for the old resort town of Varosha
0:09.6	fenced off for 50 years and recently opened to tourists.
0:15.0	Right, as we go down the road, if you look to the left, you'll see the deep water harbour of
0:19.4	Farmagusta.
0:20.8	Internationally, it's not recognized.
0:23.0	I'm on the open top of a red double-decker bus
0:26.0	with a bunch of British holidaymakers
0:28.0	sweltering in the sun.
0:29.0	For now, to the right, you'll start seeing the first indication of Varocha. There's a hotel with its lift shaft exposed.
0:37.0	We're on our way to the crumbling resort town of Varocia, a suburb of Magusta on the northeast coast of Cyprus, abandoned by its Greek Cypriot inhabitants
0:45.1	50 years ago when Turkey invaded the island. Since then, Cyprus has been split in two. The
0:51.1	South is the Greek Cypriot republic. The North is a Turkish Cypriot Republic, the North is a Turkish Cypriot statelet,
0:56.0	recognised only by Turkey.
0:58.0	Now they will search your bags, so if you have any drones or flags or anything like that please leave them on board the bus
1:07.9	Varocha was fenced off and held by the Turkish military for nearly half a century to use as a bargaining chip.
1:14.3	But four years ago, Turkey's President Erdogan arrived and declared part of it open.
1:19.0	It's now become a magnet for dark tourism.
1:25.0	Okay, just a little tricky bag.
1:27.0	Recording kit.
1:31.0	Note book. Okay, thank you. Recording Kit. Note. Note.
	...

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