North Cyprus

There are some benefits to visiting a country that the world says does not exist. For starters, there are no crowds. Beaches are clean. Ruins from times of antiquity can be explored in solitude. Without taking sides in the bloody conflict that has left Cyprus divided, I can say with certainty that the citizens of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus are happy with their own statelet. More than once people volunteered to talk of horror stories about what life was like before the Turkish military came to their rescue. Both sides of the island have been effectively ethnically cleansed, so in a very real sense the "Cyprus problem" that has vexed the UN for the past several decades no longer exists. I left the island feeling that despite what the world's leaders prefer to think, the island's future will continue to look very much like its present.

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Flags of Turkey & the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) flutter side by side everywhere.

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TRNC border sign. This one faces the UN buffer zone, conveniently written in English for the outside world.

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View from our hotel restaurant in the resort city of Kyrenia on the island's north shore.

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Cyprus is best seen by rental car. Driving from the northern coast to the center of the island to the divided capital city of Nicosia takes one across some dramatic mountain landscapes.

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Stunning Selimiye mosque. Built in stages from 1209 - 1326 in the French gothic form, this former cathedral was later converted to a mosque with the addition of two minaret towers.

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Close to the border area, this gigantic hillside flag of the TRNC faces southward to the Republic of Cyprus that occupies the southern half of the island.

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Near the city of Famagusta on the eastern coast of the island.
Shakespeare's Othello is said to have been set here.

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Ruins of Salamis, Cyprus' most important pre-Christian city.

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Another shot from Salamis. For reasons I can't quite put my finger on, I found this faceless figure captivating.

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Parting shot at those who think that the TRNC has no future...