This morning we crossed the Line.
After touring the monuments and historic sites of the Greek side of the city yesterday I wanted to go across the divide and document the Turkish side of the Green Line, possibly seeing if they had another view on the events of the 1974 Turkish Invasion. If they were anything like the Greeks, they would have justifying opinions on why the invasion took place and why they had the right to the land.
The Turkish Republic in Cyprus is not recognized by any other country in the world (with the existence of this fact, why they are still allowed to occupy the island is beyond my understanding...) and therefore crossing into their "province"requires some political juggling. There are still passport checkpoints and you still get a stamp, but they are not allowed to stamp your official passport. Therefore they copy your passport number, have you fill out a form, and then stamp your form as if it was an authenticated document. This is seriously a 8.5"x11" piece of paper that they have ripped into quarters. That is our "passport" during our time on the Turkish side.
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| buffer zone entrance |
It is strange spending two days on the Greek side of the city, crossing over a ditch, getting a fake passport and suddenly being thrown into a different culture. Different language, different way of life, different money (very annoying the money thing! What are we supposed to do with this change after we buy some water?! Argh. Guess it's going in my sketchbook...). Immediately one can feel the difference. Even though it is the continuation of the pedestrian street from the Greek side, the street feels smaller and more crowded. We went from a modern city street advertising fancy make up, shoes and a T.G.I. Friday's restaurant to a more market street, complete with kitschy souvenirs and crowded kiosks.
If one walks one block of the main pedestrian thoroughfare immediately she is thrown into dilapidated buildings, dirt streets and old cars lining the side of the road. On the Greek side there two or three streets running along the Green Line are in this condition, but once one passes a bit further into the city, the contemporary city takes shape again. Here this ramshackle state consumes the whole area. I am not sure if it is poverty, the lack of an official governmental funds, or just that this side was hit harder in the fighting, but it feels much more like a "war zone", one that is still active, even though there hasn't been a killing since the late 1990s.
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| view of line: turkish flags and greek sandbags |
The Green Line is well documented in modern day charts and even the city maps they give tourists. It shows the thickness of the zone that only the UN soldiers can access. My intention for this research was in part to document how broad the Green Line becomes when you include the streets and other areas that have been deserted because of the Line. How thick does that zone become? While on the Turkish side it was very evident that most of this side of the city can be included in that "zone", the Greek side has a clear end to the physicality of the Line.
The Turkish people are very concerned with their image. I'm not sure if it is that they recognize that the rest of the world doesn't approve of their actions, or if they are embarrassed by the fact that the Green Line even exists, either way they do
not like any photographs taken of anything other than historic monuments or mosques. I was caught a few times snapping a picture of the Line and was shouted at by regular civilians who did not appreciate my attention to the zone of contention.
When we first passed through the "passport checkpoint" we were told by a Turkish soldier to stay on the blue line that was painted on the roads, marking the way that tourists can go throughout the area. This "blue line" was more of a hidden brown line of street paint, covered in dirt and missing in most places; however, here again the citizens of the area insisted that you stay
directly on it. We were told several times to get back on the line or had someone frantically come up and point emphatically at the line if we stepped off of it. Being 5 million degrees outside we were walking on the shaded side of the street (as any
normal person would do) but had a store owner run out to us, cross the street and forcefully point down at the line that was right across the road. Literally 3 meters away. Until that point we couldn't decide if people were just trying to be helpful in identifying the blue line or if they were offended that we take a single step off of it. That pretty much blew away our optimistic outlook of their helpfulness...
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| commercial street |
The Turkish north side of Nicosia does have a commercial street running through it. It is busy with cars and trucks going to the center part of the city (of course stopped by the pedestrian street and then the Green Line), but it again is only one street wide. If one ventures of a block over on either side, she is immediately back on a street of crumbling buildings, dusty roads and homes with out common amenities. The commercial street is not new and would be considered shabby on most standards, but it does sport stores for cell phones, insurance and contemporary coffee shops. We stopped in for an iced tea (thankful to finally be off the stupid blue street line!) and ended up spending 10 euros ($15!!!) on drinks just because we couldn't use the cash they handed back to us. I hate spending extra money. Seriously. I might be the cheapest traveler ever. Grrrr!
We headed back over to the Greek side, thankful to see clean streets, signs in English and a generally optimistic outlook on reclaiming and renovating the city. I'm not sure how the transition would go if the Green Line were ever to be taken down. The two sides are in such a different state (seemingly such a different time period as well!) that the integration would be difficult to say the least. Unfortunately, I don't think anyone has to worry about that any time in the near future.
Tomorrow it's mapping and diagraming the Greek side and then off to Lebanon. I can't believe how quickly this part of the trip is going. We've definitely had to embrace the afternoon siesta, both because of the severe heat and also the store closings with lack of afternoon electricity and internet, but I still feel like I'm getting a lot done. It's nice to finally be able to see what I've been researching for so long. I love feeling productive!
