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[GeorgeV97qaue]

Hi my family are from the ghost town of Varosha. I just want to know why the TC's will not hand the town back so the GC's can return. I cant understand what the benefit is by keeping the town hostage.

Surely a thriving Varosha is good for the entire Island. This would benefit the TC's who live in the North part of the town with the extra trade it will bring.

The TC should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this once beautiful town to rot away. It's obvious to me that the TC's just don't care about their country. All you are interested in is holding the entire Island as hostage until you get what you want.

If the TC's did give Varosha back this would show good faith and maybe just maybe this might just trigger the solution we all desperately want.

[T_C]

I agree with you mate. I believe that the Turkey is holding onto Varosha in hope that one day GCs will want to negotiate partition so they can use it as a bargaining chip. If they give Varosha before negotiations then they are likely to give away even more when they finally do decide to sit down and negotiate.

I don't agree with it but I hope it answers your question.

[Nikitas]

Hello fellow Varoshiotis,

Varosi is the jewel in the crown. It is all to do about money first, politics second. It is a foregone conclusion that Varosi will be given back. But under what public and private understandings regarding the vast business its rebirth will entail? That, as Hamlet said, is THE question!

Just think- demolishing and removing 20 000 buildings (concrete buildings not maintained for years are dangerous becaue of steel corrosion). Then comes the city plan, imagine how many "internatiolly acclaimed architects" will want that contract. Then come the infrastrctural works- new drains, biolgical treatment plant, roads, electricity and phone grids, roads. And last come the private buildings, 20 000 of them at a cost of let us say 1000 Euros per meter square. We are talking about the biggest civil engineering project in the history of Cyprus and one of the biggest in the world. All to be paid for by taxing the victims of the crime and their descendants.

I would not be at all suprised to see that the companies that land the major contracts have in their shareholder and director lists some of the names we see featured in the news as spokesmen, negotiators, politicians and national personalities of one kind or another from BOTH communities as well as from our "Guarantors", all three of them along with a smattering of USA and Israeli firms.

MONEY- once that is figured out Varosi will be ours.Now we stand in front of the mirror and look at a malakas!

[GeorgeV97qaue]

Thanks TC just as though to be honest. It's a real shame as Varosha would certainly benifit both community's with the exta tourist it would bring to the Island.

I would love to be able to visit it as I've never seen it. Just pictures that my fathers family have. The beach looked stunning. I hope that one day the TC's will be bold enough to give it back.

[Nikitas]

George,

If we declared tomorrow that half of the contracts would be awarded to Turkish Cypriot and mainland Turkish construction firms, the town would be given back the same day. Politics is noble, but business is lucrative.

[Jerry]

The other main reason is the shame it will bring on Turkey, can you imagine the propaganda advantage it will give the GCs - "Look what theTurks have done to our beautiful city"
Remember the Varosha was systematically looted by Turkey, It was estimated that £20 million of goods was removed from the warehouses alone, not exactly the ideal qualificaction for an EU applicant.
Varosha will only be returned as part of a comprhensive final agreement - if there ever is one!

[Nikitas]

Personally I think that Varosi will always be a side deal independent of a final agreement.

The money factor makes it a special and unique deal, too good to pass up. A conservative estimate for the reconstruction is 5 billion Cyprus pounds. At a profit factor of ten per cent that comes to half a billion pounds on private pockets. And the collateral economic growth the reconstruction will bring is vast, all those jobs creating more jobs etc.

[Jerry]

Nikitas the TCs may welcome the employment opportunities offered by the reconstruction of Varosha but what's in it for Turkey. Do you honestly think the ROC would award contracts to Turkish companies. I have always wondered what would happen to property prices on the island in the event of Varosha being returned. Just imagine the effect on property prices in say Limassol if 10,000 people left in the space of two or three years.

[GeorgeV97qaue]

Some how I dont think we need to worry about the house prices in Limassol. The Turks will not give Varosha back in a hurray. As you stated this is a major embarrasment for Turkey & the TC's. They wont want the world to see what they have allowed to happen.

[Nikitas]

Jerry,

You put your finger on another sensitive button there. The effect on property prices once Varosi comes on line.Also the effect on other lesser tourist destinations. I think that prices will come down, and some resorts like Ayia Napa will be relegated to a secondary status. There is no way a village can compete with a sophisticated city like Varosi, not to mention the novelty it will attract as the "Resurrected City" etc.

In any event Cyprus will have to restructure its real estate market because the EU will demand clear town plans, prohibition of building outside those plans, protection of the environment through schemes like the Natura 2000, SSIs, AONBs, and SPAs, all prohibiting any kind of new building. The free for all you have now and the constant development of land will cease. In the future the money will not be in construction but Re-construction like the renewal of urban centers and the demolition and rebuilding of areas within the town plan. All these developments favor Varosi which is already built and has a town plan.

As to granting mainland Turkish companies the contract, if the situation is settled they will probably demand participation through competitive tenders. In any case, the actual employees on the ground will be locals, hired by sub contractors.

A long time ago Mr Prodromou, a member of parliament and economist, analysed the economics of rebuilding Varosi, and it was staggering. It is a goldmine. No doubt the idea will reach those rusty political brains sooner than we expect.