Nicosia

An Old Gent in Nicosia

Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, has one unfortunate distinction - it is now Europe's only militarily divided city. It is also a constant reminder of the tragedy and injustice which Cyprus suffered in 1974. In the summer of that year Turkish troops, using the pretext of a coup orchestrated by the Greek junta against the Cyprus Government, invaded and occupied over a third of the island. Despite the efforts of the United Nations and repeated condemnation by the international community, that occupation continues to this day.

Nowhere is this injustice more painfully apparent, even to the casual observer, than in Nicosia. The cease-fire line which marked the southernmost point of the Turkish advance in 1974, and which today scars the island from East to West with armed fortifications, runs straight through the capital and divides Greek Cypriot from Turkish Cypriot. In the old city in particular, the line - the Green Line as it is popularly known - meanders through a maze of old streets. Armed Turkish soldiers patrol along the dividing line which surrounds the old city, only yards from Greek Cypriots going about their everyday lives - a chilling reminder of that fateful summer twenty-two years ago. At the end of shopping streets stand sentry posts, sandbags, oildrums and rusted barbed wire often separating Greek Cypriot National Guardsmen from Turkish troops only by a few metres. Observing this uneasy peace are the soldiers of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), who control a buffer zone.

Nicosia Shopping

The island's strategic position on the great trade routes, linking Europe to Asia and the Middle East, made it inevitable that Cyprus - and its capital would come under external domination. The list of conquerors and regional powers who have controlled the island at various times is endless. Phoenicians, Assyrians, Persians, Egyptians, Romans, Arabs, the Frankish Lusignan dynasty, Venetians and Ottoman Turks all held sway over Cyprus before the inception of British colonial rule in the 19th century. These various powers have all left their mark on Cyprus.

 

The most significant influences upon modern Nicosia date from the 15th and 16th centuries. Under the Lusignans, the capital saw the erection of a number of palaces, mansions, churches and monasteries. Unfortunately, however, few survive, since the Lusignans' successors, the Venetians, destroyed most of this architecture. Faced with the imminent prospect of invasion by the Ottoman Turks, the Venetians' military planners decided to withdraw from the Lusignan military fortifications and create a new, more compact, defensive line around the city. The buildings standing outside of this new line, including most of the inheritance from the Lusignan period, were torn down and used to underpin the vast earthwork of a new defensive wall. Impressive as Nicosia's defences were, however, they were unable to keep out the Ottoman invader. After seven weeks of desperate resistance, Nicosia fell in 1570 and a period of Ottoman rule, lasting until the arrival of the British in 1878, followed.