And now that I'm home with nothing else to do, I might as well work on wrapping up this blog. Don't worry; it'll be a long time before I actually finish this thing. I have way too many photos to show you all.
First off, I realized that nobody really knows about Cyprus, so I wanted to at least give you some idea of where in the world it is. See that little island just south of Turkey and west of Syria and Lebanon?
Besides that, nobody (outside of our PCR class) really knows anything about Cyprus - not that it's anyone's fault. But the conflict was our main case study, so I have to give you a little bit of background, okay?
So, in the image below, you'll see that the island of Cyprus is divided in two. The southern 2/3 of the island is mostly populated by Greek (-speaking) Cypriots under the government of the Republic of Cyprus. Theoretically, the whole island should be governed by the Republic of Cyprus, but in the north, there is a government (recognized only by itself and Turkey) known as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). Since 1974, this division has remained, due to the invasion/intervention (depending on your point of view) by the Turkish military in the same year. And so, the UN Buffer Zone stretches across the entire island, dividing even the capital city of Nicosia.
Back to our adventures!
Our adventure into the mountains and the following day were both so-called "free days," which our professor was supposed to provide for us with the idea that we could recover from our busy class schedule. This was false. These were really excursion days. Where we still woke up just as early as we did for our busy class days. Don't get me wrong; these were wonderful experiences. But I could have used a little more sleep. (The cold I got before the trip got worse and eventually required antibiotics in Athens...)
For excursion day 2, we were on the coast all day, with our first stop at the archaeological site at Kourion (on the Greek Cypriot side).
We had an extremely nationalistic tour guide who told us of the evils committed by the "Turks" against the Cypriots (meaning the Greek Cypriots). It's practically impossible to get a good grasp of Cyprus' history when told by a Cypriot because both communities have such selective memories and are extremely biased in their interpretations of history (not that we don't have selective memories in the US, but Cyprus is such a complicated case that it became really apparent and frustrating for us).
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| Our tour guide at the Greco-Roman amphitheater at Kourion |
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| Mediterranean Sea! |
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| Yes, I made them pose as gladiators. No, there was no gladiatorial combat held here. Does that matter to me? Nope. |
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| The whole clase (Courtesy of Lefty's camera) |
After Kourion, where we frolicked and took many, many photos (shocker, I know), we drove along the coast to our next stop at the Rock of Aphrodite. As in, the actual place where Aphrodite rose from the sea - according to legend. Cyprus itself (in addition to being the island of cats) is also the island of Aphrodite! And the Greek mythology nerd in me was very excited...
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| Gina, me and Carolyn in front of the Rock of Aphrodite (It's the rock on the right of the tiny one above Carolyn's shoulder) |
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| Gina and I look ... for something! (Photo creds to Todd) |
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| Again, we looking for something. (And again, photo creds to Todd) |
For the most part, the rest of our time was spent in Nicosia (whether south or north), generally in meetings or at meals. WE ATE SO MUCH FOOD. Even after a semester in Spain, I had problems dealing with the amounts we were expected to eat. At multiple dinners, Lefty had to stop the waiters from bringing out food halfway through the meal because we were already too full.
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| Near the walk-across checkpoint on the buffer zone in Nicosia - Kristin,TJ, Gina, me, and Kristina (Photo creds to Todd) |
We met with nongovernmental organizations, politicians, everyday people - in all, more than 60 speakers in three weeks! We had so many great opportunities that no one else could get in a visit to Cyprus. For example, we actually got to enter the compound at the UN Buffer Zone multiple times. For security reasons (there are apparently active landmines still within the Buffer Zone), most people can't even get on the compound, let alone get the time that we got.
One of our meetings was at the Committee of Missing Persons, a UN-sponsored bicommunal project to identify bodies found in mass graves all over the island. This is the kind of reconciliation effort that is actually making progress in Cyprus (as gradual as it may be), rather than the standstill at the political level.
We also had the very special privilege to visit the former airport of Nicosia, which has been closed since 1974. It's relevant nowadays as the location for many of the peace talks (or efforts at peace talks). I wonder where these talks take place, though, because the airport, like the rest of the Buffer Zone, has been completely abandoned and unmaintained.
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| So powerful, I can stop a plane with one hand. (Photo creds to Laura) |
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| The entrance to what used to be a terminal at the airport (Photo creds to Lefty) |
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| At the United Nations' Development Program |
On the more political side of the matter, we had a number of official meetings and meals with Cypriot politicians and advisors. The first of these was held at the Presidential Palace of the Republic of Cyprus. Though the Greek Cypriot President Christofias was not in town for our visit, we got to speak with his top policy advisor.
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| And again, Archbishop Makarios |
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| The Presidential Palace of the Republic of Cyprus. This building has street cred: there are bullets that have been left in the building since the Turkish attack in - you guessed it - 1974. |
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| We're really cool. |
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| Free orange juice! More useful than pretty much anything else we got from these political meetings. |
The rest of our political meetings in Cyprus were in the TRNC, where we met with its three presidents as well as the Speaker of the House. These meetings were covered by the press and actually got us in a little bit of trouble with the Republic of Cyprus...
Oops.
Here are articles about us. If you use Google Translate, it should be pretty entertaining, regardless of the actual subject matter...
- http://www.brtk.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=24708%3Aleaders-met-yesterday&catid=5%3Akktc&Itemid=28
- http://www.kibrispostasi.com/index.php/cat/35/news/50559/PageName/KIBRIS_HABERLERI
- http://www.brtk.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=24781%3Aus-university-students-visit-bozer-today&catid=5%3Akktc&Itemid=28
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| Waiting to get into the Presidential Palace of the TRNC |
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| Waiting for President Eroglu |
Denktash: Okay, who has the next question?
Me: Excuse me, Mr. President, I would like to ask-
Denktash: (interrupting) You'll have to speak a little louder - I'm 86 years old.
Me: Sorry, Mr. President... (repeating my question at a higher volume)
Denktash: (interrupting again) Oh, you missed your chance.
Me: Excuse me?
Denktash: (completely serious) You missed your chance to tell me that I don't look like I'm 86 years old.
Me: Oh, um, well (cue stupid stammering)
Denktash: You were saying...
He proceeded then to not even respond to my question. And he was semi-hostile with most other people for the rest of the almost-silent most formal luncheon of my life. Yay tension!
And he looks like he's 86 years old.
The dinner we had that night was much less formal and much more enjoyable - aside from the fact that cut short, it was still six hours long. This was with the previous president Talat, who was certainly the most human of the politicians we met.
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| Liberty, me, and Kelly at the dinner with Talat |
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| One night, we got the most delicious dinner of our lives - durums in the TRNC. |
Our last day, as mentioned in a previous post (http://kimsfantasticyear.blogspot.com/2011/04/i-know-i-know-im-behind.html), was spent in the TRNC around the town of Famagusta.
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| These images of the Turkish flag and the TRNC flag are practically visible all over Cyprus. They light up at night, too! |
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| The castle that inspired Shakespeare to write Othello - now aptly titled Othello's Castle. |
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| I think this may be the first example on the trip that I noticed of a cathedral that was turned into a mosque. In my mind, I kind of see it as revenge for the Inquisition. That's the kind of thinking that occurs after a semester of taking the Culture of Hispano-Jewish Culture and learning about the expulsion... |
(If you're interested, I found these photos of the "Dead Zone" through Google: http://www.urbexforums.co.uk/showthread.php/10306-The-Green-Line-UN-Buffer-Zone-Cyprus)
Ultimately, I loved Cyprus. It was a beautiful place. The history is crazy. It made us all quite sad to hear how jaded all the politicians and practically all the people are about hopes for the future. What was reassuring was to hear about the projects that are more successful - whether the Committee for Missing Persons or bicommunal efforts to bring kids and teenagers together from both sides to actually see the "other side."
I've left out a lot of stories, both because I can't think of them right now and because this post is long enough. So this will be the tentative end to Cyprus... But wait - we've still got Greece, Turkey, and my final weeks in DC before I really wrap up this blog. So stick around!
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