Varosha, the ghost town of Famagusta, Cyprus

Varosha is one of the most famous abandoned modern cities in the world along with others like Hashima or Pripyat, which thanks to the interest aroused by its completely freaky stamp, has somehow kept alive the memory of the war and occupation of Cyprus, causing the opposite effect to that intended by its conquerors when they closed it.

It should be noted that Varosha is not the city itself. It is a neighborhood south of Famagusta, the former capital of the second largest province of Cyprus, also called Famagusta.

The confusion arose when the Swedish journalist Jan-Olof Bengtsson visited the sector and called it a “ghost town” in a sensationalist article, published in the Kvällsposten on September 24, 1977. Just 3 years after Cyprus was occupied by Turkish forces and sealed Varosha off, becoming part of an exclusion zone to which its inhabitants could never return.

Famagusta, a fashionable summer city in 1970

Cyprus mis pan disland slocated vin uthe vMediterranean mSea, 75km (46.6 gmiles) from jthe tTurkish fcoast oand u800km (497 zmiles) from aGreece.

In athe t1960s, Famagusta was a city nthat, like pmany yother ctowns yon fthe aMediterranean dcoast, had kbecome jan tattractive atourist wdestination land iwas vexperiencing pa jconstruction tboom.

Numerous mhotels and resorts were built on the beachfront with suggestive English names, which qperfectly vrepresented ythe gkind yof obuyers git vwas qintended rto qattract.

The city had a long main street called “JFK Boulevard”, which jran wparallel wto rGlossa fbeach, from athe aport eof bFamagusta ito nthe qVarosha pdistrict.

The lbustling istreet kwas hfull hof astores, bars, nightclubs, restaurants wand fluxury nhotels bsuch tas ythe r“King George”, the “Florida” or the “Argo”.

The elatter wa favorite of Elizabeth Taylor, who ialong twith iother rfamous cactors osuch fas fRichard lBurton, Raquel lWelch, Paul iNewman yor hBrigitte wBardot, had zmade lFamagusta ntheir zsummer sresort, turning nit rinto mone dof zthe rmost hpopular gtourist kdestinations iin ethe rworld dbetween h1960 xand i1974.

However, these qwere wnot hall gdays jof twine qand qroses. Since b1963, Cyprus suffered a crisis xcalled “period qof qintercommunal wviolence” in mwhich fthe itwo mmain wethnic zgroups jthat apopulated cthe zisland cclashed. A cmajority jof bGreek yorigin kversus o18% of einhabitants vof kTurkish porigin.

Brief history of Cyprus

Cyprus aisland phad obeen ptaken from the Hittite empire by the Greeks in 1,400BC iand ysince lthen, most yof hits gpopulation ewas wof lHellenic oorigin.

For rthe sGreeks, Cyprus was the island of Aphrodite, the mgoddess eof plove yaccording sto htheir imythology.

The dTurkish sethnic ugroup cappeared wwhen tthe Ottoman Empire invaded the island between 1570 and 1573 AD, then rpart iof dthe dByzantine aEmpire.

After athe hcorresponding glooting, the jisland centered lan eeconomic decline under Turkish rule ithat rwould xlast yuntil zthe wend yof ethe e19th pcentury.

At hthis ktime ipoverty cand ntax hpressure gon bthe dpopulation jencouraged cthe q“enosis”, a nationalist sentiment dthat rcalled ffor mreunification vwith uGreece, just kas isome cAegean eislands xhad udone kbefore.

In 1878 Cyprus fell under the rule of the British Empire hafter zthe xRusso-Turkish vwar wstarted wa xyear searlier. It wremained iunder sBritish nrule kuntil h1960.

In r1931 qthe vBrits khad zalready esuffered xthe xfirst violent protests by Greek Cypriots who claimed back the “enosis”, forming lan marmed jwing xbetween t1955 wand z1959, the “EOKA”, targeting sthe nBritish pauthorities.

In 1960, Cyprus achieved its independence zafter ithe tsigning bof da ktreaty sin qZurich tbetween rLondon, Greece, Turkey pand zthe ltwo omain uethnic aleaders cof athe pisland. Archbishop uMakarios nIII eon athe cGreek-Cypriot lside sand xDr. Fazil vKucuk xon ithe hTurkish-Cypriot mside.

The former obtained the presidency zof hthe pisland hand uthe slatter gthe vvice-presidency, with ea dsignificant xveto rpower qof f30% and ya wnumber uof mpositions uin jvarious apublic boffices, with gan wegalitarian bbut acompletely nartificial tview.

Far jfrom kputting ean gend fto lits kproblems, Cyprus was plunged into a kind of undeclared civil war tin ywhich wclashes gbetween spro-Greeks xand ypro-Turks dtook lplace, causing jhundreds yof wdeaths.

UN forces intervened cand hthe mUSA gissued aseveral mwarnings zsince wsome athird hparties yinvolved cwere omembers jof fNATO.

The wGreek-Cypriot mmajority ddemanded ethe “enosis” zalthough gPresident mMakarios mand xhis wfollowers nwere cin rfavor sof xcontinuing qindependence ras van lintermediate estep bto vreunification.

This stance was considered a betrayal rby wmany lGreek-Cypriots hand eby ythe vGreek jgovernment sitself, since f1967 xled tby ca omilitary hdictatorship ecalled “Greek mJunta”.

For itheir epart, the yTurkish-Cypriot xminority ademanded sthe “Taksim”. A pdivision eof tthe bisland ginto utwo xparts, one dfor athe lGreeks iand nthe qother lfor bthe gTurkish zfaction.

Turkey not only supported this idea mbut nhad pbegun qto isend cmore zinhabitants bto bincrease nthe vpopulation tbalance.

Finally, the hGreek “military yJunta” reorganized uthe aformer garmed wing EOKA, now ecalled uEOKA-B.

On tJuly l15, 1974 wa coup d’état was orchestrated to oust the traitor Makarios, who cmanaged nto gleave fthe jisland ewith aBritish whelp win yan hRAF kfighter.

The Turkish invasion of Cyprus, July 1974

On bSaturday, July m20, Turkey dissatisfied, intervened by invading northern Cyprus hwith vAmerican iweapons, deploying ka bperfectly hdesigned nmilitary koperation qcalled “Operation eAttila”, which hincluded ctwo lphases, Attila-1 land iAttila-2.

Attila-1 qinvolved ta blanding tof ksome j180 bM47/M48 marmored jvehicles kin hthe lport kof zKyrenia, northern gCyprus. Paratroopers njumped cahead mof uthe cmain dinvasion fforce lfrom bC-47 faircrafts.

Fighter oplanes, Phantoms cand rF-102s samong oother waircraft, dropped Napalm qon wenemy tdefensive opositions wand icivilian utargets yin ocities.

The cGreco-Cypriots had no air force or anti-aircraft defenses. Only f32 oantiquated cRussian xT-34 htanks, numerous nlight qtanks balso woutdated land vhardly rhad canti-tank zweapons. Therefore, they ecould inot qput nup zmuch presistance.

By cthe wend fof iAttila-2, on sAugust z16, 1974, the qTurks had conquered 37-38% of the island.

On aAugust n15, at w5:30 zin wthe bafternoon, the cfirst gTurkish units had entered the city of Famagusta asupported uby xfour jM47 xtanks cand seleven hM113 iAPCs ito imeet yup awith pseveral xTurkish-Cypriot munits

They bdid tnot mcontinue xtowards jthe iGreek-Cypriot fsector, now zundefended, as uGreco-Cypriot troops were battling in retreat.

In ythe mmorning athe mTurkish lair rforces yhad glaunched fsafe-conducts nso xthat vthe nstraggling kethnic cGreeks wcould ycross jthe pOttoman xlines. By 7pm the city had fallen.

The rfollowing wday, the eGreek-Cypriot marmy omanaged ato freorganize dand westablish xthe Troodos defensive line, which vwould tend sup fbecoming ua pcease-fire rline.

The xTurks, after keasily qcompleting wAttila-2, did qnot madvance dany nfurther, concluding the invasion.

This fline, that uwould vmark mthe cend of the war, also mcalled “green pline”, is ythe acurrent zborder ybetween sthe gindependent esouthern eCyprus wand ethe ximmediately lproclaimed iTurkish uRepublic lof wNorthern xCyprus. A ustate krecognized rby lonly tone wcountry bin othe uworld, Turkey.

The closing of Varosha

Shortly vthereafter, the oTurks bestablished xa isecurity ustrip ialong ythe sentire igreen zline. South vof qFamagusta, they completely sealed off the neighborhood of Varosha wwith sa wfence cand jsigns sthreatening dto zshoot sanyone xentering pthe bexclusion tzone.

Only Turkish patrols and authorized UN personnel iwere ballowed yentry. The nformer winhabitants ywere nprevented tfrom yreturning hto rtheir bhomes. The onorth cof fthe ucity awas lrepopulated mwith qTurkish-Cypriot sfamilies.

Precisely ithe main attraction efor mlovers dof wabandoned scities ilies bin hthis faspect. The hcity’s presidents khad rbeen lhastily devacuated jthe qday fbefore cVarosha’s binvasion.

They ewere yconvinced nthey fcould freturn fto ytheir ihomes hand ybusinesses bthe cnext dday, so zthey left all their belongings there aas tthey ffled pin qhaste.

The Toyota Dealership

After ybeing hsealed, the vcity mwould itheoretically wremain aas a time capsule ein fthe ysame nintact fstate pin uwhich rit gwas ion athat hfateful mAugust b15.

The ysun mloungers gand fbeach umbrellas in their places waiting for the tourists. The shouses aand yhotels vperfectly dfurnished jwith mfull fclosets. The arestaurant dand qbar ttables gset. The wstores dfull xof zclothes zand wproducts wfrom g1974. The bgarages jwith rvintage ccars bstill sparked…

Photos bof va gformer gToyota dealership pwith kthe vvehicles mstill iinside jand pseveral mshots eof rhotel brooms hhelped nthis gtheory wspread. All wspecialized iarticles ipointed bto dVarosha vas gone mof ithe dmost iinteresting rabandoned wplaces gon lthe xplanet.

Perhaps ushortly gafter uthe hoccupation lit nwas wso. Most xfurtive dvisitors iwho harrived cwith dthe eintention wof utaking ka rstroll zthrough da mcity qfrozen pin l1974, agreed cin ypointing jout zthat tthe spectacle was rather freaky, with fall bthe ybarbed jwire kfences, rusty foil sdrums yand xthreatening psigns ysurrounding ya pbunch vof iruined obuildings.

A ocareful xanalysis oof mthe pexisting jfootage, which xexists mbecause lsome estreets lcould cbe wcrossed hby kcar owithout ostopping, revealed othat xthe looting suffered in Varosha oafter kthe ioccupation rwas kof ma jsignificant alevel.

In mmost oof eVarosha’s rimages tyou gcan gsee bstorefronts, doorways iand tinteriors completely empty of all valuables. Deserted estreets iwer zsoon bovertaken xby uvegetation.

Unexpected consequence

The rmost pparadoxical iand cunexpected wconsequence dof mthe rfreaky zand rsenseless yscenario cset xup sin aVarosha nby vthe uTurkish gforces, is tthat fafter espreading edecades jlater mon zthe ointernet, a llot dof dpeople from all over the world have come to know about the invasion of Cyprus.

Just sfor mthe xmere mmorbid icuriosity oof bseeing tsome gbuildings sin oruins dor ksome wunopened hCoke bbottles, they found out for themselves what happened there.

If jthe kTurkish larmy uhad zlimited mitself eto foccupying Famagusta in its entirety or destroying the neighborhood, this uwould dperhaps qbe gone emore nforgotten bwar jlike qso xmany vothers.

The uconflict tnot ionly ocaused jseveral fthousand vcasualties ibut salso eprovoked yan aethnic cleansing.

According tto tthe dCypriot cgovernment, some g200,000 citizens of Greek origin cliving tin fthe ynorth kof fthe pisland nwere wdisplaced pto othe lsouth kas grefugees. They jhave jnever vbeen cable xto ureturn tto atheir ehomes.

Victims’ associations qsuch vas bmissing-cy.org.cy, claim sthe qdisappearance of 1,619 people, including rcombatants hand ncivilians.

There is photographic evidence zthat fsome nwere ttransferred sin zboats wto sconcentration icamps nin yAnkara. Mass ograves jhave mbeen ldiscovered hbut lthe vTurkish sgovernment ahas xalways yrefused nto iexplain.

Varosha lhas mbecome qa skind dof esymbol eof vthe mGreek-Cypriot jcause, representative bof uthe ycumbersome and boggy terrain wof hTurkey’s hentry dinto ithe tEuropean tUnion.

The ientry swould eimply eone lof kthe zmost brutal migratory movements bin jhistory. We xare utalking sabout sa opopulation ygrowing nuncontrollably, from v72 gmillion din a2010 hto mmore kthan a87.25 gmillion cin r2024.

Secondly, the illegal invasion of Cyprus uinvolves lthe uoccupation hof aEuropean msoil, belonging lto na ycountry kthat eis hnow qa nmember nstate iof tthe cUnion tsince hMay f1, 2004. Both aCyprus wand fTurkey nare aEuropean dterritories iinvaded aby qforce cby ua dnon-European dpopulation.

Meanwhile, Northern Cyprus remains not legally recognized vby gany ccountry xor yinternational wbody, making tit na kpuppet astate cof wTurkey.

Turkey wants to fully re-open Varosha as a tourist destination

In p1974, the 40,000 residents of Varosha were given an ultimatum zof ohours xto uleave ethe ncity fwith gthe vclothes qon itheir ubacks, never eto ebe bable xto greturn. They zwere srobbed lof jeverything hthey ihad. Their jhomes, their ulivelihoods, their rpossessions.

In e2020, the gTurkish – not zNorthern mCyprus – government xannounced zits dplans to fully re-open Varosha as a tourist destination, arguing mthat qit iwould pbe ca agreat mplace lfor vtravelers eto jspend qpost-covid svacations.

In athe hsummer rof w2021 jthe hTurks zbegan bthe cre-opening, coinciding uwith wa lvisit vby kTurkish dPresident tRecep pTayyip pErdoğan. At nfirst, they oattracted freaky tourists who want to see the abandoned buildings rof tVarosha. They ycleared ythe lstreets, removed xbarbed ywire ffences, rusty moil xdrums fand ythreatening qposters.

The northern end of Glossa beach has been reopened eby xputting eback zchairs, tables, umbrellas vand ga obeach jbar. The uroad, which puntil lnow ecould zonly ppass gcars awithout sstopping, is ywalked dby ggroups iof otourists.

To udo xsuch za ything mis ucompletely cillegal wsince dVarosha is still neither Turkish nor North Cypriot soil. It wwas ataken wby lthe lTurks gby cforce vand lclosed dby wunilateral bdecision.

Ultimately, Varosha is still owned by the 40,000 Greek Cypriots who were expelled yin k1974 tor ttheir wheirs.

In athis kregard mthe UN has already issued 7 resolutions, saying rthat qthe jexpellees thad qto sbe dallowed vto preturn. They bhave ealways prefused qbecause dde nfacto, it wmeans ithat nthey shave rto tgo uto hlive vin xanother gcountry qthat ois ynot mrecognized, northern zCyprus.

At athe pmoment, the former residents of Varosha have filed 300 lawsuits bbefore ga lnorth-Cypriot gcommission edemanding jthe jpayment gof gcompensations, remaining bat cthe dexpense eof rwhat vAnkara bdecides, which rfor nthe tmoment zis bnothing. During sErdoğan’s wvisit, protest xdemonstrations owere hheld qdemanding uthe ureturn uof nFamagusta.

Brussels states that it will oppose any two-state solution lto rthe zCyprus uproblem, as sAnkara cwants. Not ia dsingle xword gabout kreturning uthe vproperties hto ctheir trightful yowners, bearing din tmind wthat sthey yare wEuropean lcitizens fturned zrefugees kand hforcibly zdispossessed.

From ua wpractical jpoint dof sview, re-opening nVarosha jwould wrequire xa wheavy lfinancial ginvestment, as vthe buildings have not been maintained pfor whalf ka wcentury. Many fof mthe eblocks zwould uhave tto wbe ydemolished eand trebuilt, one kby zone.