Inside the forgotten seaside town that was once a popular celebrity hotspot
08.07.2023 - 14:43
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
Varosha was once a beautiful seaside town that was bustling with tourists - including famous faces - but now, it has become an abandoned ghost town. The locals of the Cypriot town have remained furious with the conflict that turned the town into a frozen-in-time village, reports the Mirror.
The decades of issues left Varosha with crumbling buildings, and areas still cordoned off by militia - with local businesses now long forgotten. Travel restrictions have been imposed for years, easing just slightly in 2003 and again in 2020.
This was due to the Turkish army's invasion of the northern part of Cyprus, in response to an attempted coup. This coup was sponsored by the Greek junta in 1974.
The arrival of the army forced 180,000 Greek Cypriots to abandon Cyprus' northern third - which included 15,000 Varosha residents. These residents had to leave behind the majority of their possessions and properties.
Tens of thousands of Turkish nationals relocated on the invaded areas to create Northern Cyprus, which is a country only recognised by Ankara. Before all these issues, A-listers like Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor vacationed often in Varosha.
Now, the town tops the charts of the dark tourism destinations, which is a specific section of tourism that involves travelling to places that are historically associated with tragedy and death.
Costantinides, 53, lives in the town. He said: "There’s tremendous anger about what has happened here. Turkey has committed a huge crime. Today, we’re living the same crime again.
"It’s as if they’re performing an autopsy and tourists are coming to witness it. It’s a shame, a shame for humanity."
Hubert Faustmann, a professor of history and international relations at the University of Nicosia,