Visiting the Varosi Ghost Town in Cyprus
“That would have been my home if things turned out differently”.
Staring at the dilapidated and abandoned buildings in the Varosi ghost town of Famagusta in Northern Cyprus, my uncle points at a specific block of apartments set right on the beachfront (cordoned off by the Turkish military) and told me it belonged to my family.
In an alternative reality, this would have been where I would have grown up.
Every time I see the famed ghost town in Northern Cyprus I always wonder, “What if the Turkish invasion had worked out differently and I grew up herea as a gay man on the Famagusta beachfront instead of suburbia North London?”
In the summer of 1974, Turkish troops invaded Northern Cyprus and displaced 170,000 Greek Cypriots, which included all of my family. Most displaced Greek Cypriots either moved to Southern Cyprus or to the UK (Cyprus was a former British colony). My family was part of the large influx of Greek Cypriot refugees that fled to London.
Was in Potamos tou Kampou with an archaeological team the day of the invasion. Taken south by Danish UN troops and then flown out by the RAF. Famagusta was a wonderful city at that time.