We are staying in North Cyprus in a village called Bellapais which is small and beautiful. Set on a mountain-top, the main attraction here is the Monastery with a terrific view to the northern Mediterranean:
As this island is separated into two parts- North and the South- we were curious how day-to-day business works. In talking to the locals, the sense is that the North is truly a part of Turkey with all business transactions done in Turkish Lira. And we got a sense here of a very 'laissez faire' attitude of how the government is run and who pays for what. Just one example, the owner of a popular local restaurant we talked to says no one pays taxes, there are no exports but the roads are built and other infrastructure gets done with Turkish government money. It's just the way it is.
We ventured down to the middle of the island and to the capital of Cyprus which is Nicosia. This city of 300,000 people is physically separated by the NATO Green Zone. The separation is very much like the Iron Curtain with a wall and barbed wire right across the city:
You can't take a rented car across as the insurance is void, you have to park it on the north side and physically show your passport at the Border Control set up on Ledra Street to enter the 'Greek' side of the city:
It was weird going across for two reasons, i) this is the twenty first century and you wonder why this exists and ii) in the same 'city', you physically pay in Turkish Lira on the north side of the street, then Euros on the south side.
We also saw an interesting sign posted at Border Control highlighting the status of refugees. It said that refugees have all legal rights entering Cyprus as any other EU country 'with the exception of Northern Cyprus as it is not recognized'. It went on to quote the 1974 NATO Accord and per this agreement, refugees were not allowed into North Cyprus under any conditions.
Sometimes you just have to shake your head at the crazy things we have in this world.
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