August 15, 1974, in war-torn Famagusta… On that day, no one was celebrating…
The churches in Famagusta’s nine parishes were not filled with people; the people of Famagusta were unable to celebrate the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, and the children were unable to play on the golden sands of Famagusta.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
It was August 15, 1974—the day the memories of the people of Famagusta were buried beneath the black clouds of the bombings.
Turkish ground forces entered the city at 5:30 p.m. to join up with the troops in the Turkish Cypriot enclave within the city.
At the city’s exit, toward Deryneia, thousands of civilians walked for kilometers before someone helped them get away. Everyone took with them whatever they could—a few clothes, a little food—and left Varosha.
“We’d rather die than live under Turkish rule,” a refugee told British television.
Everyone was looking for a safe place until the turmoil subsided. And then they would return, as they said, only if they could live freely. In Famagusta, Turkish Cypriots welcomed the Turkish army with olive branches.
Fifty-two years later, not a single legal resident has returned, despite the diplomatic and political promises they received from that very day, at the very moment when the Turkish “Attila” was sealing off the city.
Varosha was put on life support that August 15, only to be subsequently turned into a diplomatic weapon at the negotiating table.
Fifty-two years later, Varosha has become a tourist attraction…
