The Presidential Palace said yesterday that a Turkish Cypriot move relating to the abandoned town of Varosha was unacceptable and only served to promote the island’s permanent partition.
Undersecretary to the president, Vasilis Palmas, said Tuesday’s announcement that properties inside the fenced-off town in Famagusta would be catalogued by Turkish Cypriots was “completely unacceptable” and only served the island’s permanent partition.
On Tuesday, Turkish Cypriot ‘foreign minister’ Kudret Ozersay said the administration would evaluate conditions for action in Varosha, currently under the control of the Turkish occupation forces.
Reports said the Turkish Cypriot would coordinate their actions with Ankara and a team of experts will visit Varosha to make a list of movable and immovable properties in the town.
Palmas said what Ozersay was doing had been proposed in 2014 ahead of a visit by US vice president Joe Biden.
“We had come very close to an agreement for the creation of a joint committee of Greek and Turkish Cypriots as well as international experts on Famagusta, an agreement that was scuppered by Ozersay at the last moment,” Palmas said. “It is a completely unacceptable approach, which essentially creates certain partitionist positions in the particular issue.”
Palmas would not speculate on what the Turkish Cypriot endgame was, adding, however, that they never did anything without Ankara’s approval or guidance.
“We are dealing with Turkey, which pulls the strings. I don’t think Mr. Ozersay took such an initiative; it was probably done with Turkey’s guidance.”
Dubbed ghost town, Varosha was abandoned by its Greek Cypriot inhabitants in August 1974, ahead of the Turkish army’s advance.
It has remained closed ever since, apart from a couple of hotels in its northern side, which are used by the Turkish army.
UN Security Council resolution 550 called on Turkey to return the area under UN control and considers “attempts to settle any part of Varosha by people other than its inhabitants as inadmissible.”
Main opposition AKEL leader said his party would not accept the town re-opening under Turkish Cypriot control.
Andros Kyprianou said opening Varosha under Turkish Cypriot control was tantamount to establishing Cyprus’ permanent partition.
“We will never accept such a thing.”
The Turkish Cypriot side had made similar utterances in 2017 – following the collapse of reunification talks – relating to the return of the Maronites to their villages in the north.
So far, however, there has been no concrete progress.
Maronites, whose ancestors migrated to Cyprus from present-day Lebanon during the Middle Ages, lived in four villages before 1974.
Two of these villages, Ayia Marina and Asomatos, are under the control of the Turkish army and are totally off limits.
There are some military lodgements in Karpasha but the village is not under military control.
The fourth Maronite village, Kormakitis has been open to its original residents to resettle since 2003. At the moment, a total of around 200 Maronites, mostly pensioners, live in Kormakitis and Karpasha.