Without being a Greek or Turkish Cypriot, it is hard to feel the depth of the recent Turkish occupation in Northern Cyprus. I can emphasize with the people on both sides and step into their shoes, but I still don’t feel the pain the locals do. When we visited the ghost town in present-day Famagusta, I could see the pain in our tour guides eyes as she talked about the “conquest of Turkey,” but I could not feel it in my heart. To have your home torn away from you, the house that has belonged to your family for years, is an inexplicable pain you must experience to understand.
Today through my experience in the cathedral turned mosque, I learned the other side of the story that the Greek Cypriots would not tell us. Before Turkey invaded northern Cyprus, Greek Cypriots and Greeks themselves started coups to join Cyprus under Greece. Due to this uprising, Turkey sent in troops to help support the Turkish Cypriots that did not want to join; the UN even supported the action. The problem came when Turkish troops did not leave the area even when the crisis was averted. The story provides context to show that both sides were at fault and committed crimes against each other. As Americans, it’s easy to think that all world conflict is in the past, but this conflict is real for the Cypriots. Our tour guide alluded that Greek Cypriots worry daily that the Turkish will completely invade the country. Thankfully the United Nations will support the Republic of Cyprus if the invasion ever happens.
With all this being said, it feels unnerving to be touring on both sides of a country that is at odds with each other. As you can see in the picture, beach chairs are right underneath a ghost town. In America, a ghost town would be left alone, but in Cyprus, it is simply history, and tourism continues.
In the last part of the day, we traveled to a beach, a beach that I would say felt extremely Americanized; that is my opinion. Nevertheless, it felt weird to be so joyful in the ocean after visiting a site that has rich emotion and hurt underneath it. While tourism on beaches is the largest sector of the economy, it still feels uncomfortable to be so happy when the people of Cyprus are hurting.