Where do our borders begin and where do they end?

 

By Şener Levent

                   

The fact that in the negotiations that have taken place to date, the Greek Cypriot side has not put Kyrenia on the table at all is considered by some as paying the price for the crime it committed. That is, as if it were saying “I am to blame, I provoked your military intervention here. And I am paying the price for this by leaving you Kyrenia”. So. It asks for Varosha. It asks for Morphou. It asks for Karpasia. But it does not ask for Kyrenia. It does not mention Kyrenia at all. It wrote off Kyrenia. There are some who write and say that “our border is in Kyrenia”. However, such a thing does not exist in the government’s vocabulary! As if it is afraid that asking for Kyrenia will be considered an action against the solution and peace. As if it is no longer its right to ask for this. Besides , look at what Erhan Arikl i says, who takes courage from this: “Those who ask for Kyrenia back must risk losing Larnaca and Limassol as well”! The following question should be asked of Arikli: “Does this threat only concern those who ask for Kyrenia? In other words, does it not apply to those who ask for Morphou and Varos?” These can be asked for freely. Kyrenia is forbidden! To tell the truth, I also have a hard time understanding it. Why did they never ask for Kyrenia back? Why did they make it normal not to ask for it? Did they accept the division of the island in two from the beginning? Thus, they defined the map of a two-zone solution in the future? Or did they write off Kyrenia, deciding that paying a price is a necessary condition and that this could be the price in question? You see that asking for Varos or Morphou does not cause much reaction on the Turkish side. However, when Kyrenia is mentioned, a commotion breaks out. Kyrenia is not included in the bargaining. Why? Does anyone know the answer to this question?

  

Kyrenia. The beautiful Kyrenia that could not possibly belong to the Cypriots. Yes, it was beautiful, it was the diamond of this island once. It was lush green. The houses seemed lost in the greenery when you looked at them from the mountains. I don’t know how it can withstand so much concrete now. It used to relieve people, now it suffocates them .

  

The last time I went was twenty years ago one evening to that beautiful ancient port. And after that evening I never went for a walk there again. There were crowds , as always. But there wasn’t even a familiar face . No look said “I am a Cypriot”. It doesn’t belong to the Greek Cypriots. Nor to the Turkish Cypriots. This city is the truest proof of what a mess we have become in this country. And of course Varosha. We Cypriots are now foreigners there. Walking through those alleys, you feel like a tourist and not a citizen . Even its smell has changed. It is the most absolute document of betrayal towards our homeland. And that. And Varosha! Those who say that “this country is ours” are talking in the air, they are talking in the air. Not even Karpasia is left. Not even Mesaoria. This island has been turned into a huge barracks. A close friend of mine once came to me in Cyprus, who sought asylum from the Soviet Union in the West and then settled in the Netherlands.

  

He was sad because his family had stayed in the Soviet Union and was planning to return. After he came and saw Cyprus, he changed his mind. Why? Because the soldiers and armored vehicles that appeared before him everywhere reminded him of the Soviet Union. A militaristic order of things… “I did well to go to Cyprus. The militarism that exists in my homeland came alive before my eyes,” he had said.

  

Where do our borders end? Tell me, where? Where do the borders of our hearts end? Who owns this country? Who owns Kyrenia? Who owns Varosha? Who owns Larnaca? When will these walls, these roadblocks be torn down? Will we never be able to move freely again? Why doesn’t GPS navigation know borders? Can’t it read the “military area” warning?

 

  

This article was published on August 4, 2026, on Politis.com.cy. The Greek version of the article is available here:  https://www.politis.com.cy/apopseis/stiles/1023777/pou-arkhizoyn-ta-synora-mas-kai-pou-teleiwnoyn