Varosia
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Varosia Βαρώσια Maraş |
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| Basic data | |||
| State : |
 Cyprus, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
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| District : |
Famagusta Gazimağusa
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| Geographic coordinates : | 35 ° 6 ′ N , 33 ° 57 ′ E | ||
| Residents : | 39,000 (1974) | ||
| LAU-1 code no .: | CY-04 | ||
Varosia , Varosha , in the German-speaking area also occasionally Varoscha , Greek Βαρώσια ( Turkish Maraş , also Kapalı Maraş ), is a ghost town on the outskirts of Famagusta in the east of the island of Cyprus . De jure , the area belongs to the Republic of Cyprus , which it assigned to the Famagusta district . Since 1983, the city is in fact the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and is a district of Famagusta or Gazimağusa in the same district . Varosia has been a restricted military area since 1974 .
history
Foundation and advancement to the tourist center
Greek migrants began to build the suburb of Varosia in 1956, where in 1973 most of the Greek population of Famagusta, a total of 31,960 Cypriot Greeks, lived.
Varosia gained importance with the mass tourism of the 1960s and 1970s. Large hotel complexes were built on the local beach, whereby the length of the property on the beach was often no more than 25 to 35 meters and mostly represented the narrow side. In 1973 (the last year before the Turkish invasion of the Cyprus conflict ) Varosia generated 53.7% of the total income of the island's tourism industry. The entire complex consisted of 45 hotels with 10,000 beds, 60 apartment hotels, 99 “recreation centers”, 21 banks, 24 theaters and cinemas, around 3000 smaller and larger shops. Another 380 buildings were still in the construction phase in 1974.
Turkish invasion 1974, ghost town
As part of the invasion of the northern part of the island, the Turkish military occupied the city on August 14, 1974 and declared the complex a restricted area. In 1978 a declaration of intent was made through the mediation of UN Secretary Kurt Waldheim , but this remained without consequences. When the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was founded in 1983, its government threatened to settle Varosia, whereupon the UN Security Council condemned this threat in 1984 and proposed that the ghost town be subordinated to the UN . This was rejected by the government of Northern Cyprus, which is only recognized by Turkey. In the 1990s, the Turkish side offered to return Varosia to the original residents in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. The fact that Mustafa Akıncı made the return of Varosia to the original inhabitants the theme of his election campaign in 2005 did not lead to any rapprochement, and his attempt at compensation in 2015 remained unsuccessful due to the elections in 2016.
The hotel city was often traded as a pledge and a potential exchange object. However, other places on the island have since taken on their role as a tourist center. The buildings have been decaying since the Turkish invasion and nature is gradually reclaiming the area. The beach is now one of the most important nesting sites for the threatened green sea turtle .
On June 18, 2019, the Turkish Cypriot government announced that it wanted to reopen the tourist region. An inventory was then started in cooperation with Turkey . It is estimated that reopening the region will cost the equivalent of approximately $ 10 billion. The Turkish government supports this approach.
gallery
Abandoned Hotels on the Beach (2016)
Abandoned Hotels (2013)
Beach party at night (2016)
Web links
Remarks
- ^ GH Blake, RI Lawless: The Changing Middle Eastern City , Routledge, 2016, p. 133.
- ↑ Neophytos Loizides: Designing Peace. Cyprus and Institutional Innovations in Divided Societies , University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016, p. 163.
- ^ Famagusta , Travel Guide to Northern Cyprus.
- ↑ KKTC hükümetinden 'Maraş' açılımı. Retrieved September 20, 2019 (Turkish).
- ↑ TRAVEL INSIDE: Government wants to reopen the ghost town of Varosha - TRAVEL INSIDE. In: aboutTravel. June 21, 2019, accessed on September 20, 2019 (Swiss Standard German).
- ↑ Kıbrıs'ta Bakanlar Kurulu, Maraş'ın açılması kararı aldı. Retrieved September 20, 2019 (Turkish).
- ↑ Dışişleri Bakanı Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu merak edilenleri Cüneyt Özdemir'e anlattı - 5N1K 09/14/2019. Retrieved September 20, 2019 .