Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is scheduled to make an official visit to Turkish occupied northern Cyprus tomorrow. He has announced that he will “picnic” in the city of Famagusta/Amochostos/Αμμόχωστος, which has remained a unoccupied no man’s zone between Greeks and Turks since the 1974 invasion. Turkey has refrained from settling Turks from Anatolia in this part of Cyprus and it has — since the invasion — been seen as a sort of potential bargaining chip between the island’s two communities. Erdoğan’s visit is a clear symbolic statement that that will no longer be the case.
The protest is a sign of hope (though yes, the second video below contains a lot of Turkish gloating). It’s also an indication of the moderately nationalist and genuinely secular and modern identity of Turkish Cypriots. It was a real mistake on Greek Cypriots’ part to harass them as they did in the 50s and 60s, alienating and painting them into a corner.
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Jadde: from Bosnia to Bengal 
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