Turkey ‘had planned to hand over Varosha’

THE GOVERNMENT yesterday confirmed reports that Turkey had been planning to hand over control of the ghost town of Varosha to the Turkish Cypriot regime last month and that Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash had offered to allow Greek Cypriots to return and live under Turkish Cypriot administration.
Since 1974 Turkish troops have had control of the abandoned town, but under a United Nations resolution the status quo must be maintained in the absence of a Cyprus settlement.

In July Denktash announced that he was willing to give back part of Varosha to the Greek Cypriots under UN auspices if Nicosia Airport was reopened. When the Greek Cypriot side declined the offer he then threatened to resettle the area.
The news that he had offered to allow Greek Cypriots back under Turkish control was confirmed by Communications and Works Minister Kikis Kazamias at a news conference yesterday.

Reports said the government had been aware that Turkey was planning to give up Varosha around August 14, but had decided only 24 hours beforehand to delay the move because the proposal had been leaked to foreign governments.
The Cyprus government found out about the proposal through its own sources, an official speaking on condition of anonymity told the Sunday Mail. “We found out early enough what was going on,” the official said.
Kazamias told reporters yesterday that the government was ready to deal with any possible scenario of Turkey handing over the closed area of the occupied town of Famagusta.

”The government was informed about this scenario by its own sources and was ready to deal with this development”, he said.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.