The enclosed area of Famagusta, has an area of about 6,2 square kilometers and constitutes about 17% of the area of the municipality of Famagusta. Most Greek Cypriots lived there out of the approximately 43 thousand, which was in 1974 the population of the Municipality.
After the occupation of Famagusta on August 16, 1974, by the Turkish troops, the area, after being looted, was "sealed" and cut off from the municipal borders with barbed wire and other obstacles. The enclosed area is under the responsibility of the Turkish army, which bans access to it for all. Exceptions were made for some soldiers, who were allowed by the Turkish army to settle in some parts of the country. The enclosed area is called a "ghost town", as described by Swedish journalist Jan-Olof Bengston, who visited the port of Famagusta in 1977 with his country's detachment at UNFICYP in the Pacific Force. . From the port he saw the enclosed area and wrote in the newspaper Kvallsposten: “The paved road was filled with cracks and bushes sprouted on the sidewalks. Today - September 1977 - the tables served for breakfast are there, the laundry spread out on the ropes, and the light bulbs lit. Varosi is a ghost town. "
The barbed wire of the enclosed area starts from the roadblock of Deryneia, follows the entire Deryneia Avenue to the church of Agia Zoni and passing by Agamemnonos, Promitheos and Captain Kapota streets ends at the church of Maronites. From there it heads to the Savoy Hotel - Nikis Square - passes through Agia Eleni Street and ends at Alevromylos at the end of the street. He then heads to the grocery store, near the NAAFI complex, passes and touches the west and south walls of the stadium of the Evagoras Gymnastics Association and then following the coastline east of the hotels Salaminia, known as "Florida" and "Florida micro and Aspelia", ends up ».
The United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus has five observatories, which conduct daily patrols on pre-arranged routes. The occupying forces have 12 manned observatories inside the fenced city, while soldiers in civilian clothes are watching from many houses. Until 1974, Famagusta was inhabited by Greek Cypriots, except for the part of the medieval city where a pocket of Turkish Cypriots had been created.
The return of the enclosed area to its Greek Cypriot legal residents has been the subject of negotiations between the two sides.
In April 1978, Turkish Cypriot proposals provided for Famagusta to remain under Turkish Cypriot control. Those who returned (mainly hoteliers and other tourism entrepreneurs) would be subject to the laws of the "Turkish Cypriot State Federation". The proposal was rejected by the Greek Cypriot side. The map, which accompanied the proposals, stated that: "Greek Cypriot owners will be located south of Dimokratias and Asteroskopi avenues and east of Deryneia avenue." Based on information from the Cypriot government, the Turkish side wanted to keep: 16 hotels with a capacity of 2,500 beds, the only hospital, the police headquarters, government buildings, the telecommunications building, the Electricity Authority building, the main banks, the mall, the court, the City Hall, the port of Famagusta and the marina, two stages, two municipal tennis courts, seven churches, seven public and private schools (high schools of classical and economic studies, high school for commercial studies and foreign languages, as above and for tourism businesses, eleven primary schools and thousands of homes and apartment buildings).
In 1978, in the US-British-Canadian plan, there was a clear provision for the resettlement of the people of Famagusta under the auspices of the United Nations with the simultaneous start of negotiations for a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem. The plan was rejected by the Cypriot government in December 1978. The rejection was based mainly on the view that "the Western-inspired plan would remove the Cyprus issue from the United Nations and could not be the basis for negotiations." As Matthew Nimetz admitted in the US Senate, "the Turks were not happy with the plan and were trying to reject it. They were relieved when President Kyprianou rejected it. "
On May 19, 1979, in the agreement between Spyros Kyprianou and Rauf Denktash, which took place in Nicosia in a joint meeting with the then UN Secretary General Kurt Waltheim, priority was given to the return of the region regardless of the outcome of the negotiations. Specifically, he states: "Priority will be given to reaching an agreement on resettlement in Varos (Famagusta) under the auspices of the United Nations at the same time as the interlocutors begin the study of the constitutional and territorial aspects of a comprehensive settlement. "Once an agreement is reached on Varosia, it will be implemented, without expecting the outcome of discussions on other aspects of the Cyprus problem." The Turkish side not only violated the above agreement, but also took actions aimed at the settlement of Famagusta.
The Cypriot Government appealed to the Security Council in 1984 and denounced the Turkish provocations. The Security Council adopted on 11 May 1984 its Resolution 550, which in paragraph 5 states:
"It considers attempts to colonize any part of the Baroque by individuals other than its inhabitants to be unacceptable and calls for the transfer of this area to the United Nations administration."
The return of Famagusta to the United Nations as a "dead zone" for reintegration is also required by Resolution 789 of 1992. The same is required by the resolution of the European Parliament, which was adopted on 10 February 2010 and subsequent resolutions on Eurotourism. .
In 1992, in the "package of ideas" of the then secretary general UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was accompanied by a map adopted by the United States. and provided for the return of Famagusta to the Greek Cypriots.
The Annan plan of 2004, which the Greek Cypriots rejected in the referendum, provided for the return of much of Famagusta, the Morphou area and several villages.
Former President Tassos Papadopoulos had proposed the return of Famagusta and the opening of the city's port, co-managed by Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots under the control of the European Union. Several contacts took place behind the scenes, but in the end the proposal was rejected by the Turkish side. Former President Dimitris Christofias proposed that the enclosed area be returned and that in return the Republic of Cyprus freeze some of the funds of Turkey's accession negotiations.
President Anastasiadis' proposal for the enclosed area of Famagusta is largely a continuation of the proposal submitted during the reign of Tassos Papadopoulos in 2005 and Dimitris Christofias in 2010. It provides for the return of the area with the operation of the port of Famagusta for direct trade, always European supervision. The Turkish side has called for the legalization of Erdogan's airport, which the Cypriot government is not discussing. Former US Vice President Joe Biden also mediated, but his efforts were unsuccessful.
Since 2003, when the illegal Turkish Cypriot regime allowed the opening of the roadblocks, the legal residents of the enclosed area cannot return to it. A barbed wire fence and the occupation army continue to illegally occupy their land and property. Only from the Aktai outpost can they gaze at what their city once was. The coastal front, famous in the then Middle East, is now a ruin, houses are crumbling, empty, most without windows, without doors, empty, trees growing on the streets. The enclosed city, instead of inhabitants, has snakes, mice and patrolling soldiers.
(With RES-EIA information)