Turkish Cypriot coast of Maras to reopen on Thursday
The coastline of Maras will be open for public use as of Thursday morning, the prime minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Ersin Tatar, said in a joint news conference with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The coastline of the abandoned town of Maras in the Turkish Cypriot city of Gazimagusa will reopen for public use on Thursday, the prime minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) announced on Tuesday.
Maras is currently a ghost town where entry is forbidden, except for Turkish army personnel stationed in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).
"The Maras issue is a national cause above all political competitions and debates," Tatar said while addressing a joint news conference with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the capital Ankara.
"It is a fact that Maras is a TRNC territory. We fully support the decision to make Maras' coastline available to the public," Erdogan said.
Turkey is also ready to support the Turkish Cypriot administration to fully open the town of Maras, Erdogan stressed.
“The objections of the opposing party have already been in vain, as there will be no victimization due to the absence of any private property [in Maras],” Erdogan said.
The TRNC had announced the opening of Maras to tourists in 2019.
The move displays the commitment of the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC) to developing the region marred by political uncertainty due to unresolved issues between Cypriot Turks and their Greek counterparts.
In a crucial move to develop the region, Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC) has announced the opening of the divided island’s ghost city, known as Varosha by Cypriot Greeks and Maras by their Turkish counterparts, set to support the catering and tourism industries.
In 1974, Turkey's military intervened in Cyprus to prevent a change in the island’s political status quo following the Greek Cypriot military coup against the internationally-recognised government of the Republic of Cyprus. In the following years, Maras, which was once a popular tourist spot, experienced a major population drain with Cypriot Greeks completely abandoning the city.
The island, which is located in the middle of Eastern Mediterranean Sea, has two political entities, one led by Greek Cypriots in the south and another led by Turkish Cypriots in the north, which became the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC) in 1983, recognised only by Turkey.
With the latest move, the TRNC has signalled that Maras will regain its lost glory and people will once again call it the Las Vegas of the Mediterranean.
“Time has come to take a tangible step about the closed Maras [Varosha],” said Kudret Ozersay, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the TRNC, on Tuesday, after a cabinet meeting.
“No steps have been taken in regard to Maras' status until now. Such a step is about the future and our projects will be materialised more and more [in time],” said TRNC Prime Minister Ersin Tatar.
“South Cyprus [the Greek Cypriot Administration] could object to our decision, but at the end, Maras is under our governance. We will surely evaluate the situation along with the Republic of Turkey. What must be done will be done. This is the beginning,” Tatar added.
As expected, the Greek Cypriot Administration (GCA) protested the TRNC decision, finding it “completely unacceptable."
Maras used to be one of the favourite hangouts for major celebrities including Hollywood heartthrobs such as Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Richard Burton and Brigitte Bardot.
Located in the southern part of the city of Gazimagusa (Famagusta), Maras had 45 hotels with a 10,000 capacity, 60 apartment hotels, 3,000 trade entities, 99 entertainment venues, and 21 banks, as well as 24 theaters, 25 museums and 4,649 private houses before it became a ghost city. It also had a medium-sized library with 8,500 books, which were in English, Greek and Turkish.
According to recent estimations, the redevelopment plan for the city could be around $10 billion.
“I think that [[the TRNC] step in regard to Maras] could facilitate a process, which could help overcome the existing status quo over the Cyprus issue,” said Mustafa Lakadamyali, Turkish Cypriot Ambassador, representing the TRNC in Washington, DC.
For more than 50 years, both Turkish and Greek Cypriots have negotiated with each other for a federation based on political equation with two communities and two regions, but they could not reach a concrete resolution because the Greek side does not want to share the island’s power and wealth with Cypriot Turks, according to Lakadamyali.
Greek Cypriots still claim to represent all the territories of Cyprus, even though Britain, Turkey and Greece are the guarantor states for the entire island, which was established in 1960 as the Republic of Cyprus. The area in the south of the island is run by Greek Cypriot Administration (GCA).
“GCA has continued to be benefited by the existing status quo through unilateral actions, using [the Cyprus] deadlock to their favour. In order to change things in Cyprus, this status quo should be shaken,” Lakadamyali told TRT World.
“The recent Maras initiative could do the job.”
In 1994, Cypriot Turks and Greeks discussed opening Maras to settlements in exchange for both sides using Lefkosa (Nicosia) International Airport as part of confidence building measures. But the talks eventually failed.
Maras has always been an important aspect of the Cyprus issue and both sides have aggressively negotiated the city’s political status under lands titles.
According to UN Security Council resolution 550, dated in 1984, Maras could only be opened to settlement to its original inhabitants, who were living there before 1974.
However, Tatar has assured that the property rights of Maras' migrants will be respected at any cost.
“The rights and interests of old owners and the Evkaf (an Islamic trust) will be taken into consideration when Maras opens,” Tatar said.
TRTWORLD 7 Oct 2020
https://www.trtworld.com/turkey/turkish ... sday-40346
