By Marilena Panagi *:
You stand under the first ghost apartment building. July has burned us this year. The thermometer is stuck at 40 degrees, you are not there as a tourist, nor do you wear your swimsuit to enjoy the sea of Famagusta. You are there to see. To see a city living trapped through a fence.
To see the dozens of dilapidated apartment buildings now threatening the heads of foreign tourists, who either do not know why the buildings above their heads are ready to fall and flatten them, or they know but slowly do not care.
In the background the well-known image. From your young years you see this picture with the empty apartment buildings. Sometimes with faded colors in photos of the '70s, sometimes in black and white photos in your textbooks and notebooks.
As far as the eye can see, the dilapidated apartment buildings arrive. They look like sleepless guards on the precious golden beach. Now, 43 years later, there are no doors and windows and where they are, the shutters are broken and ready to fall from the second, third, fourth floor and become pieces.
"I walk, the edge of the street is far away…" you start singing from inside you. The voices of tourists lying on the sand do not let you fly with your mind to the other end of the fence and your song is cut in half.
The edge of this beach is far away and they now say that somewhere on the other side, towards the free areas but always behind the fence, in August only Turkish citizens and citizens of the pseudo-state will be able to enjoy their swim.
It will be located near the roadblock of Deryneia where the excavation works continue on both sides…
You, who are not me and maybe you were born in one of these apartment buildings, have the right to see the beach only from a distance and not even to cross your mind to approach it.
Since the beginning of the summer, the news has been coming and going about the decision of the "municipality" of Famagusta to open the beach that for 43 years has been alone with the sound of the waves crashing sometimes furiously and sometimes calmly on the shore.
The "municipality" says, signed a protocol of cooperation with the "security forces"…
"Security forces", that is, the Turkish army, you, who are not me, forbids you to go to your house and me, who is not you and I was not born here, forbids me to see and learn half of my homeland.
Everything was designed by the "mayor". The beach which has a length of 240 meters, will have 240 cots and a buffet for food… The buffet withered this beach. Her soul died in the summer of 1974… Her carcass just stands there for 43 years… dead.
You are still standing just one meter away from the fence. You are in occupied Famagusta. The Regina of the story that accompanied you for so many hours on your walk through the city within the walls… that passed you by the tower of Othello and the imposing Franciscan church, has abandoned you. She can't stand to see the spectacle either…
On our side they say that if the pseudo-state proceeds to open the beach, it will go against the resolutions of the Security Council and the United Nations καλά Yes καλά And we will take action, if they do… yes…
You are always in the same place. The first dilapidated and dilapidated apartment buildings stand menacingly above you. Most buildings in the 70s were probably new when their rightful owners abandoned them for fear of Turkish invaders.
Foreign tourists who enjoy the sun of Famagusta are in the same position.
You look at them and you do not know how you feel. To cry? To be angry? And if you cry and get angry, that is… and if you start shouting to explain to them…
Countless thoughts pass through your mind. You stand there for a few minutes to take two digital photos from a modern camera. With your mind you walked the fenced beach and reached the other end and went out into the free areas, uprooted the prohibition signs and the fence, put people in the sea and Greek voices in the air…
A noise brings you back. According to the protocol signed by the "municipality" with the occupying forces, the beach will be open between May 15 and October 29, from 8 am to 10 pm and admission will be controlled and identification will be required.
Yes, it καλά As if the beach is a commercial store and they will schedule it. It is as if the sky and the sea never close… "as if they can quench the thirst of the sea with water for half a dram." Yeah right…
The Municipality of Deryneia reacts: "Such actions increase the distance that separates us"
The Municipality of Deryneia in a statement condemns "any actions taken by the Turkish Cypriot side to open part of the beach in the enclosed area of Famagusta near the occupied beach of Deryneia". At a time when the frustration of the people for not reaching a solution is great, the municipality says, "such actions increase the distance that separates us from a sustainable and functional solution to the Cyprus problem." Let us show, the announcement continues, "Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, how much we want the reunification of our homeland and let us all oppose together this provocative action of the" municipality of Famagusta ".
As a local Authority "we will try to contribute to the preservation of stability, peace and solidarity in our place, to the best of our ability". "Such actions," he adds, "only bring indignation, discomfort and frustration to the Cypriot people and do not contribute to the promotion of peaceful coexistence between the two communities."
These dark days "are reminiscent of the bitterness of 1974, which should set an example to avoid mishandling the past." Let's all prove together that we want to live in a Cyprus free of barbed wire and checkpoints by reacting to this unacceptable action that hurts efforts to consolidate trust between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. "
Source: * Phileleftheros / Marilena Panagi