An article in todays Observer brings back memories of my stay in Southern Cyprus. It was more than 10 years ago and I still communicate with a good friend I met as part of my job; I was the senior consultant with a consultancy on a project to completely rethink the IT systems of the Electricity Authority there.
The guys in the Electricity Authority were great – they joked that the Authority was drowning in red tape – tape left by the British.
But the key feature was the Green Line – the line that divided the Turkish North from the South. The island’s population is small and many friends bemoaned that they could no longer have an evening coffee in Kyrenia – the old city on the north coast – just 20 miles from Nicosia. The Green line is an International Dividing line set up in 1974 by the UN and in my time we could not cross it without piles of paper and no guarantee that you could get back.
Since 2003 the Cypriots do cross but there has been no break through in re-integration – till now; but hope may be on the way. There is a new Leader in the North, Mustafa Ankinci , and Nicos Anastasiades in the South is more amenable to talk. Here they are drinking coffee – you may know Turkish Coffee but you won’t find in the South – there it’s Cyprus Coffee but it tastes the same and you can take in withour sugar!
For the full article see
If you enjoy a good travel read then you could do a lot worse than read Lawrence Durrell’s Bitter Lemons – a bit old now but setting out the problems that lead to the island dividing – Turkish North and Greek South
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitter_Lemons
And if you’ve not been to Cyprus , in February you can swim on the coast at Ayia Napa and drive 20 mile and ski on Mount Olympus at 6000ft.
And did you know the UK still has two sovereign bases in Cyprus – Akrotiri and Dhekelia.
Cyprus Leaders drink coffee together
Mike Vickers' Blog 