Cyprus photographs. CyprusStory. CyprusMiddle East Cyprus photographer, Translator, fixer. Photographer, translator and fixer in the Middle East. Stewart Innes works as a freelance photographer, translator and fixer for media organisations throughout the Middle East and Africa. Cyprus
Cyprus: One Island, Two Nations
Tensions between the predominantly Christian Greek and mostly Moslem Turkish communities on the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus festered for years. In 1974, amid fears of Enosis (call for uniting Cyprus with Greece), Turkish forces intervened, taking the northern part of the island and forming the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus. Since then, Cyprus has been separated by the "Green Line" - a UN administered neutral zone. The Turkish Republic of North Cyprus has never been recognised as a sovreign country by the international community and lives in economic and political isolation.
A referendum on re-unification was called on both sides on April 24, 2004, based on a UN sponsored proposal. Some 85% of Greek Cypriots voted against re-unification while some 65% of Turkish Cypriots voted for re-unification. The plan was ultimately rejected and Cyprus remains a divided Island. Stewart Innes visited Cyprus from April 4 to April 15, 2003 to document the divided island and its peoples prior to the referendum. Photos by Stewart Innes
Images from Greek Cyprus (south of the island)
Images from Turkish Cyprus (north of the island)
Peeking through the Greek side of the wall separating Greek Nicosia from Turkish Nicosia. At this point the buffer zone is about 500 metres wide. The Turkish wall can be seen in the centre distance. The sign in the middle says UN monitored area, no photography. This checkpoint has become something of a tourist attraction.
Gate at the end of Sh Salahi Street in Turkish Nicosia indicates the end of the road and the start of the Green Line that separates the city.
Greek Cypriot running a pulses warehouse up aginst the wall. The back wall is the separating line between the Greek half of Cyprus and the dividing Green Line. The window at top looks over the Green Line into the Turkish North. A large calibre shell penetrated the centre of the back wall during the fighting in 1974. No-one was hurt and that is all the damage done to the building.
Turkish Cypriot resident of Sh Salahi Street in the Turkish part of Nicosia only a few steps away from the dividing Green Line.
A sore site for Greek Cypriots. The Turkish flag and the flag of the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus are imprinted on the hillside in the Turkish side of Nicosia. The huge flags are visible from the main highway into Nicosia and from many vantage points within the City. This photograph was taken from a two storey building in the Greek half looking into the Turkish half of Nicosia.
Billboard on the main highway into Greek Nicosia proclaims "OXI" (NO). The sign, put up by a Greek Cypriot nationalist party, calls on Greek Cypriots to vote against the upcoming referendum on re-uniting the Island with the Turkish North.
Flags of Turkey and the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus outside a mosque in the port town of Kyrenia. Although religion does not factor prominently in the tensions between the two nations, it has become a conduit for polarisation.
The Greek flag flies outside a church on the oustkirts of Limassol signifying the Greek Cypriot affinity with the Greek identity. Flags such as this have appeared all over Greek Cyprus as the April 24 referendum on re-unification approaches.
George Mavromoustakos, 37, who runs a hotel and bar in Limassol, points out his village of Morfou deep in Turkish held North Cyprus. Although re-unification may regain him access to his property there, he says that he will vote against the plan as presented by the UN. His family fled Morfou during the war of 1974.
Turkish Cypriots relax on the beach in the shadow of abandoned buildings damaged during the war of 1974 in the divided city of Famagusta. The fence diving the city passes alongside the first building - which is effectively in the Green Line.
Museum on the Greek Cypriot side of the Green Line in Nicosia portrays pictures of Greek Cypriot refugees after the 1974 war.
Flags of The Republic of Turkey, The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and that of a Turkish political party draped outside the party headquarters in old Nicosia. Many Turkish Cypriots have a strog affinity with Turkey and are suspicious of re-unification with Greek Cyprus.
The issue has attracted a great deal of international media interest. CNN in Nicosia, April 8, 2004, prior to the referendum of April 24, 2003.
