Today our group visited the occupied Turkish area of Cyprus. I was nervous beforehand about crossing the border, but the actual experience of crossing ended up being fairly relaxed. While there were some soldiers standing around, no one was pointing a gun at us; we didn’t get searched, and we didn’t even have to get out of our bus. The one difficult part about the border was that it took us quite a while to get across, with it taking almost 20 minutes to cross. Upon crossing the border, we saw a constant reminder of the previous conflict as we were not allowed to take photos by the border, and there was a long stretch of abandoned buildings. The buildings served as a strong reminder to me of the horrors of the invasion, as I couldn’t shake the thought of all the families that were forced to abandon everything and become refugees within their own country. Once we reached the city, however, I started to see the beauty of the area. The old Venetian walls surrounding the city were beautiful to me, and it was amazing to me to see how the residents blended the historic buildings with modern construction. What really stood out in the city, though, was the cathedral turned mosque. The architecture was absolutely beautiful, and seeing the inside of a mosque for the first time was a memorable experience. One thing that did surprise me about the mosque, though, was the fact that they made the women cover up their legs and not their hair. I had always been under the impression that covering the hair was very important and everything else was not as important. What also stood out to me on the Turkish side was the fact that everyone we talked to spoke English very well. I did not expect this, as I figured that most tourists visiting did not speak English, but it was a pleasant surprise.

The main attraction of the day, though, was the abandoned city of Varosi. The entire city had to be rapidly abandoned following the Turkish invasion, and no one has occupied it since. What was oddly beautiful about the city was the fact that nature had reclaimed most of it. This got me to reflect on the lack of impact that we, as people, truly leave on the world. If we all vanished tomorrow, eventually every reminder of humans would be reclaimed, and it would be as if we never existed at all. This thought bothered me at first while we were walking through it, but eventually it was comforting in a way as it put into perspective how small all the issues I’ve faced really are. Importantly, what the city also serves as a reminder of is why there is so much hatred toward the Turks among many Greek Cypriots. It would be unimaginable for me to have to abandon a city that I grew up in because of a foreign invader, and I would certainly hate the invader. While this anger is perfectly understandable, it does make a permanent peace settlement impossible and causes prejudice against people who had nothing to do with the invaders. Today was a very important day for gaining a deeper understanding of the Turkish-Cypriot conflict.