Cyprus plus 50

This month marks exactly half a century since my father's native island of Cyprus was divided. Read about it here: Cyprus plus 50. An excerpt:

After half a century of division, ordinary Cypriots have grown accustomed to what has hardened into a protracted stalemate. When I first wrote about the issue in graduate school, only a few years had passed since Turkey’s military had forcibly partitioned the island. It still seemed reversible. Most of the city of Famagusta, where our family had lived, had become a UN-patrolled buffer zone. Its Greek-speaking inhabitants could still return home if Turkey would only permit it.

Today, that seems decreasingly likely. Famagusta’s once thriving streets and buildings have fallen into decay, and billions of dollars would be required to restore it to habitable condition. Ankara still controls 37 percent of Cyprus through its proxy regime, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

Read the entire article here.