Oracle wrote:denizaksulu wrote:The last time I went there it was full of Greek speakers.
The fish was good.
The
whole of Cyprus should be full of Greek-speakers!
Because of Oracle's what they thinks !!!!!!!!!!
NOT everyone in Limnitis [Yesilirmak] is excited about this Thursday’s opening of the all-important Limnitis crossing.
“Nothing will change,” says 40-something Emir Yesilirmakli prophetically. “There will be nothing but more traffic in the village. We won’t see any benefits.”
Such a view is a safe bet for someone has who has seen little or no change in his village, or district for that matter, since childhood. As the hardworking residents of the village have done for generations, they continue to tend to their fruit trees, strawberry bushes, olive groves and Kolokas plantations. When things have been the same for time immemorial, it’s hard for some to imagine them any different.
It is not that Yesilirmakli does not want the crossing to open, but it seems life has delivered him few pleasant surprises. His older brother, the former mukhtar and staunch proponent of the crossing, died prematurely and unexpectedly last year.
Orhan Ibrahim, a retired man in his seventies, however would prefer that the crossing didn’t open at all.
“The Greek Cypriots did bad things to us, so I don’t see why we are doing them this favour by giving them this road.” Ibrahim recounts the horror list of violence that took place during the intercommunal violence of the 1960s. “It was the Greek Cypriots that closed the road in the first place,” he insists. Ironically, in spite his nationalist stance, his Turkish is heavily accented, having grown up in a time when Greek was the lingua franca of the region. Amazingly, despite the decades of separation, almost everyone in Limnitis still speaks at least some Greek.
“I don’t hate the Greek Cypriots,” Ibrahim adds hastily, concerned that I should think badly of him, “but we can’t live together. In our minds we are different. We can’t forget the past”.
Overhearing Ibrahim’s words, Mehmet Ozbilenler, the 30-something owner of the shop on whose veranda we are sitting, interjects with an understanding smile to the old man.
“The old folks talk like this because they can’t forget what happened to them in the past. But talk to the young people too; they think differently,” he says.
Ozbilen’s view is that the opening of the crossing will bring life to the local economy.
“Right now this is a dead zone. When it comes to tourism we have a three-month season. When the crossing is open it could become an all-year business. There will also be the opportunity for villagers here to go and work on the Greek side, and this will bring in money to the local economy,” he says.
Gunes Babaran, a farmer in his mid 50s who has grown fruit and vegetables in the village since his youth, agrees that the crossing will bring economic benefits to the village and the region overall.
“But only as long as free trade is allowed to take place. If this is not the case, the crossing will be mean nothing more than a traffic corridor to Nicosia,” he says.
Currently, a significant proportion of Kabaran’s crops of Kolokas, strawberries and apricots end up in Greek Cypriot kitchens. However most get there via Turkish Cypriot traders who buy the produce and sell them on to Greek Cypriots in Nicosia. Kabaran hopes that with the opening of Limnitis, Greek Cypriot traders will buy directly from local farmers on their way to Nicosia.
While many talk of the possible future benefits to tourism the crossing might bring, few are yet to put their money where their mouths are and invest in the industry. Bilgen and Cemal Yorulmaz, an energetic and industrious middle-aged couple from the village, have however. Two years ago they built a fish restaurant next to the beach, and now they are building an 18-room boutique hotel nearby.
“We have great expectations,” Cemal says. “When the Ledra Street crossing [in Nicosia] opened, we knew it was a matter of time before Limnitis opened too,” Cemal says, adding that while he and his wife already host many Greek Cypriots, they hope to be “a lot busier” from next week on.
“For the village, the tourist season, as things are now, runs from June 15 to September 15, and that’s only at weekends,” Bilgen explains. For the rest of the year we get only a trickle of trade. “Yesterday we had two Germans. That was it.”
“Whichever way you look at it, this area has been a cul-de-sac for 40 years, and this has made it very hard to do good business,” Cemal says. “And we are about to be delivered from this. That’s why my wife and I have been in support of the crossing being opened since the very beginning.”
A true believer in bicommunal cooperation, Cemal says he hopes to work with tourism agencies on the Greek Cypriot side.
“Tourists coming from the other side will want to see the ruins at Soli and Vouni, and will naturally want to stop somewhere beautiful for lunch. Hopefully, they’ll stop here,” he says optimistically.
The couple do however have one or two reservations about practicalities concerning the crossing.
“The road from the village towards Gemikonagi [Xeros] is in a terrible state. It’s so bad that tourist groups coming from Kyrenia sometimes cancel if the weather is bad,” she explains.
But whether or not the infrastructure in the north is ready for the crossing, Cemal and Bilgen say they are.
“Our fish is always locally caught and always fresh,” Bilgen explains with pride. She adds that many of her customers are discerning enough to want to inspect the fish before it is gutted and cooked.
Cemal adds that the long-term isolation of the village means that locals, including himself and his wife, are always happy to see strangers in town.
“In other places people have grown indifferent to visitors, but we still value them,” he says.
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/features/bri ... e/20101010
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