Cyprus-Forum.com

[bobo]

I spent 2 years in Cyprus back in the fifties with the RAF. Loved every minute and now I am retired would love to go back for vacation.
I spent time in Nicosia and Famagusta and Kyrenia. As a Canadian is it pemissible to visit these places either from the North or from the South in spite of the fact that the island is now divided?

[lysi]

Hi bobo, you were lucky you didnt get your head blown off in the 1950s.
You can vist the occupied north of cyprus, but as you know all the greek cypriots were kicked out of the north during the turkish invasion in 1974.
The only greeks you wil see are those who are going to look at whats left of there homes and land, my advice is not to spend any money in the occupied north, why prop up the occupation.

good luck

[sk]

hi! the island has changed a lot since then,but i am sure that up in the mountains u can still find some areas that are not that "spoiled".
try to see the new cyprus,how it has developed and moved forward.....its not bad if you think what the island went through the last 50 years.....

[pumpernickle]

Cyprus is worth investigating and checking out for sure, but culture shocks and peculiarities beckon.

I've been to North. Notions that spending money there props up the regime is erroneous on so many levels, not to mention from an economists point of view.

if you ever want unification, better that the Turkish community is gutter poor than utterly dying dead in the filth bottom of the rung gutter poor. Kinda helps with stability and that little thing called 'the economy'.

Also, how does a few quid going into the pockets of hard working, decent, nice Turkish Cypriots with hundreds of years + family history on the island constitute a moral wrong? as if the Turkish economy is on the brink of collapse, and some bloke from Limassol buying 2 bottles of Efes and a pack of Rothmans suddenly came from nowhere to save the day.

Get real. Spending money up there aint no big fuckin deal, it dont matter.

if you want to worry, talk about the mugs who go up there and do their bollocks in dodgy casinos.

Both sides of the line are great, just the North is poor and isolated, and the South rich but overdeveloped.

Take my word for it, and ignore fools.

[lysi]

pumpernickle, the turks are making plenty of money from the sale of greek land, casinos, brothels and turkish heroin.
Its the greeks who lost there land, property and jobs in the turkish invasion that are poor.

[pumpernickle]

Granted, they are selling Greek land. But then if a country came along, took thousands of acres of land and gave it to you, would you complain? What do you expect them to do, turn the place into a hippy commune, and pronounce the area a dedicated living shrine to Romanian orphans?

Casinos - well, if they are legal over there, and prosper so handsomely on the back of the Greek Cypriot pound, then who is the victim and who is the bad guy? if that happens to be a choice of industry over there, why is it for us to take some kind of moral high ground? They are getting on with their lives, albeit in a rather odd and bizarre way.

Brothels - see my thread on cabarets and weep in your tears of hypocrisy my friend.

Heroine - dont know much about that. I guess drugs are a problem when it comes to poverty stricken lands that have access to poppy fields and gangsters. But then lets face it, loads of Greeks make money from selling E's to the English Hoards in Ayia Napa, so once again, who owns the moral high ground?

Poor Greeks who lost land - will not argue with you. Must have been horrendous and I feel for them. But it is a consequence of Greek Cyp stupidity as well as the fault of Turks, Brits and Yanks. Its complicated.

[lysi]

PUMPERNICKLE, STICK YOUR PRO-OCCUPATION PROPAGANDA UP YOUR KHYBER PASS.

[lysi]

No offence pumpernickle, but whose side are you on ? are you a cypriot or expat ?
Also it is wrong and illegal what the turks have done, how would you feel if you were kicked out of your home and it was then sold of cheap to some greedy bastard.

[pumpernickle]

I don't 'do' sides, sorry.

However, fair play to your comments about illegality and greedy bastards and injustice. I do completey concur with what you are saying.

Yes, the Turks did a very evil wrong, and continue to hold land brutally seized, which as I have said, is wrong and indicative of the savage, barbaric nature of the never-to-be-relinquished-from-the-dark-ages mainlander Turk. My harsh opinion, feel free to challenge...

But...there's no poit in trying to make the Greeks out to be like Snow White, with the EU and the UN the helpful little gnomes running round presening her with flowers and gifts and sh1t.

All I'm saying is that blame can be apportioned to all sides in the matter, and no-one has hands clean of blood or responsibility.

The faster people educate themselves and act to become friends with eachother the better.

[lysi]

pumpernickle, the thing is people like me are fed up with waiting to get are land & property back, its been 31 years now and all that is happening is that the turks and there pals are making a fortune selling greek owned land. its out of order.