8 October 2020
Varosha Partially Reopened
Turkish Cypriot authorities open part of the Varosha beachfront, fenced off since 1974, to the public. The UN Security Council voices deep concern.
Before 1974 Varosha (Maraş) was the modern resort quarter of Famagusta (Gazimağusa), lined with hotels along the beach. Its Greek Cypriot residents, estimated at around 17,000, fled in 1974. The area was then fenced off with barbed wire, and for 46 years it stood empty, a closed military zone that became known as a ghost town. In Resolution 550 of May 1984 the UN Security Council declared any attempt to settle Varosha by people other than its inhabitants inadmissible and called for the area to be transferred to UN administration.
Turkish Cypriot officials had discussed reopening the area for some years, and in June 2019 the Turkish Cypriot cabinet ordered an inventory of its buildings. The Turkish Cypriot foundations directorate argues that much of the land belongs to an Ottoman religious foundation, a claim that bears directly on the property rights of the Greek Cypriots who lived there.
On 6 October 2020 the Turkish Cypriot prime minister, Ersin Tatar, stood beside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara to announce that Varosha would open. Two days later, on 8 October, part of the beachfront was opened to visitors for the first time since 1974. The move came days before the Turkish Cypriot presidential election, in which Tatar was a candidate, and it contributed to the collapse of the Turkish Cypriot coalition government.
The step drew wide criticism abroad. On 9 October the Security Council issued a presidential statement expressing deep concern and reaffirming Varosha’s status under its earlier resolutions. Turkish Cypriot officials said the property rights of individuals and foundations would be preserved.
In July 2021 Tatar, by then Turkish Cypriot leader, announced that a further 3.5 square kilometres would pass from military to civilian control. All fifteen Security Council members called for the immediate reversal of that step and of every action on Varosha taken since October 2020. Turkey rejected the statement as groundless, saying Varosha had not been opened to settlement. Under the Annan Plan of 2004, Varosha would have returned to Greek Cypriot administration, and its fate is still one of the questions any settlement would have to answer.