Cyprus-Forum.com

[rigsby]

I was there two years ago where the beach narrows is a wire fence to stop the public going any futher.but you could see further along the beach maybe 1klm sun shades and people on the beach and in the sea.We were told it was turkish army officers who had refurbed part of a hotel and were using it

[cymart]

You are quite right because the Turkish Army and their families have been using it(and another hotel next door) since the late 1970's as a holiday centre.
If you visit the site: varosha-flick com you can find some photos of it which have been taken since then and it is in good condition.
But don't bother asking if you can get in there because there's no chance-I have asked several times and learned that only senior British Bases personnel occasionally get permission,along with a few diplomats and other persons who the Turks decide to let in.

[rigsby]

if you stand on the beach and look south the is avery large hotel in the distance does any body know what hotel it is

[cymart]

Opened in June 1974 under Trust Houses Forte management and closed again in August when Varosha was evacuated!Until the company was dissolved they used to send an inspector once a year to check that the premises were still intact,even though the Turkish Army had already looted the bungalows and the exterior.As David Carter wrote in has chapter 'enter the forbidden city' of the book 'The Cyprus Tapes' about his two hour visit to Varosha which he was allowed in 1983 due to high-level contacts with the Denktash regime,much of the hotels internal contents were still intact and he even found the last guests belongings still in some rooms he went into!!If you visit the site:varosha-flick.com and then the return to Varosha group in the photos section you can find some of Davids pictures he took,including the Golden Sands foyer with dusty 1970's furniture and some speedboats piled-up etc!!!The 'marie celeste' of Cyprus but which very few people can access...

[rigsby]

thank you for the infomation Cymart very interesting I did look at some of the pictures on vorosha-flick.com you mentioned on your previous posting be looking at some more later

[cymart]

The provisions in the Annan Plan said that within 100 days of it coming into force an area of Varosha extending east of the road where the hospital is and including the whole section including the Palm Beach Hotel southwards from the harbour road would be returned to the Greek-Cypriots so could that be why the accomodation at this hotel has closed and only the casino is in operation?
Erdogan has made some interesting gestures on the Kurds and other matters in recent days so is he going to hand-over Varosha too as a goodwill measure to show he is serious about solving the Cyprus question?

[Nikitas]

Do not hold your breath for any goodwill measures to anyone.

Erdogan was the person who boasted that he got what he wanted with the Annan agreement without returning one inch of territory or removing one single soldier.

And Gul, then foreign minister, claimed that under the Annan plan the GCs were to lose their sovereignty.

With statements like that you can see where thy are coming from and where they are going.

Famagusta is the biggest bait there is in this business. Look at it another way, if Famagusta did not exist would we be talking territory percentages of 32-68? Or even 29-71? Famagusta being in the mix, it makes it all seem worth it.

[cymart]

I have never believed that Turkey would give up their biggest trump-card,which is Varosha, without an overall deal on the Cyprus issue and I held this view from my many visits to the north,even before they opened the border to Cypriots in 2003,the only possible exception being in 1978 when the Western Plan was submittted to start negotiations but rejected by Kyprianou largely because of Moscows instructions to AKEL who did not want the Cyprus issue to improve at that time for their own strategic reasons during the cold war,because in their mind it would strengthen Nato.Of course if the G.C.'s had been clever and accepted it Turkey could not have refused to hand over Varosha and at that time in was not in an irreparable condition either.There were also far less Turkish settlers here than now...
But it's all history anyway.Not forgetting that there are also powerful political and economic interests on this side as well who do not want Varosha to be returned and in fact would be quite happy to see the status-quo made permanent for a number of reasons which are of course very selfish and short-sighted!Ghalanos has recently started to openly speak about this and I think Christophias is well aware that he has a major task to convince public opinion why a compromise solution is essential for the future of all Cypriots....a good start would be to 'name and shame' some of these circles with vested interests and they are quite influential and wealthy-e.g. private media bosses including the owners of the most widely read Greek-Cypriot newspaper etc etc,not to mention quite a few developers, especially here in Paphos, and the head of the church !