Greek and Turkish Cypriots have lived estranged for decades, and their island has been divided in two ever since a Greek Cypriot coup was followed by a Turkish invasion of the north in 1974.
Four decades on, a United Nations-controlled buffer zone splits Cyprus east to west. The zone still contains crumbling relics of times gone by – abandoned houses, businesses and even an airport.
It did not last. A political dispute caused Turkish Cypriots to leave the administration and violence erupted in December 1963, prompting the dispatch of U.N. peacekeepers to the island six months later.
Turkish Cypriots withdrew into enclaves, effectively partitioning the capital Nicosia.
The whole island was divided in two in 1974, when Turkish troops invaded and seized the northern third of Cyrpus in response to a coup by militant Greek Cypriots seeking union with Greece.
Although it is possible to cross the boundary through a number of checkpoints, entry to the U.N. zone itself is highly restricted. Many of the things inside – cars, houses, businesses – have been left to gather dust.
One of the most striking symbols of the buffer zone is the abandoned Nicosia International Airport, where a Cyprus Airways passenger plane still stands, faded and broken.
Reuters