Varosha rumours a Turkish bluff says mayor

Famagusta mayor Alexis Galanos said the Turkish side was bluffing in relation to opening the fenced-off area of Varosha.

In an interview with the Cyprus news agency, Galanos also said that he saw Turkish financial interests behind the move.

“We insist that the only viable and functioning development with regard to Famagusta … is the return [of the fenced-off city] on the basis of Security Council resolutions 550 and 789, under UN and of course Greek Cypriot administration” Galanos told CNA.

The mayor embarked on a series of contacts with government and UN officials on the matter and met on Wednesday morning with the negotiator of the Greek Cypriot side, Andreas Mavroyiannis.

On Thursday, he is expected to meet with Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides and government spokesman Nikos Christodoulides, while on Monday we will see Elizabeth Spehar, the UN secretary-general’s special representative in Cyprus. He is also expected to address the media on Friday.

The issue is also included in the agenda of tomorrow’s municipal council meeting, he added.

According to Galanos, plans aim to promote Turkish financial interests and designs to colonise the part of the city that was sealed off following the 1974 Turkish invasion.

The Turkish side is playing games with the feelings of Greek Cypriot refugees, but logic dictates that this is all “a bluff, a game, a tactical manoeuvre” said Galanos, who believes that the vast majority of refugees will not return under these conditions.

Reports in the Turkish and Turkish Cypriot press appeared recently, referring to various scenarios over the future of Varosha.

These range from the opening of Varosha under Turkish Cypriot administration to its return to the UN.

 

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.