Varosha, Cyprus - My day in no-mans land
Photo. Me into the ghost town Varosha, Cyprus - A day in no man`s land.
Crossed the military green line into Varosha with passport in my hand, and I knew I had return the same day (no overnight stay is legal). You must use an official checkpoint when entering and leaving. It can cause troubles if you are not a British citien.
Ahead of me lay Varosha. A city suspended between memory and silence. Walking into that no-man’s land felt like crossing into another dimension. The air changed. The noise of the world faded. And suddenly, there was nothing. No cars. No voices. No life. Only the sound of silence.
Walking through Varosha at the eastern coast of Cyprus was one of the strangest things I ever have experienced. The city looked like a ghost town, trapped between what was and what will never be again.
Empty streets stretched out before me, lined with collapsing buildings that once held dreams, laughter, ordinary lives. Hotels stood like hollow giants, their windows staring blindly at the sea. Nature had begun to reclaim what humans abandoned in fear and haste.
You could walk down the main street. Sit. Stop. Breathe. And feel time pressing in from all sides. It wasn’t just a ghost town. It was a time capsule.
A place where life didn’t end. It simply paused. Frozen in the moment when everything changed, when people fled and never returned. Even knowing the history—the division of Cyprus, the military presence, the decades of closure—nothing prepares you for standing inside it.
Military patrols were still there. Watching me looking around and taken photos. So I had to be careful what I took photos of. Reminding you that this silence is not accidental, but enforced. And yet, the deeper I walked, the more surreal it becomes.
I found myself imagining the nights.
How dark must they be?
How complete the silence?
What does a city dream about when no one is left to remember it?
For a moment, it felt like standing at the edge of the world. A place caught between what was… and what will never be again.
Turkey invaded Cyprus on 20 July 1974 in a military operation called “Operation Atilla,” following a coup backed by the Greek junta five days earlier. The coup removed President Archbishop Makarios III and installed Nikos Sampson, aiming to unite Cyprus with Greece.
In 1974, Cyprus was invaded in two phases, leaving around 36–37% of the island under Turkish control. The conflict forced massive displacement—about 150,000 Greek Cypriots fled south, while around 60,000 Turkish Cypriots moved north.
The island was divided by the UN-monitored Green Line, a separation that still exists today. In 1983, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was declared—recognized only by Turkey.
And still, the future of Varosha remains unwritten. That is what makes it so powerful. Not just a relic of the past, but a question mark in the present.
Stein Morten Lund, April 2026
Additional information
The aim of the coup that lead to the Turkish invasion was the union (enosis) of Cyprus with Greece, and the Hellenic Republic of Cyprus to be declared. Turkish forces landed in Cyprus on 20 July 1974 and initially captured about 3% of the island before a ceasefire. After peace talks failed, a second offensive in August expanded control to around 36%. The ceasefire line later became the UN Buffer Zone, known as the Green Line. The conflict displaced around 150,000 Greek Cypriots to the south and about 60,000 Turkish Cypriots to the north—marking one of the island’s most dramatic and painful divisions. Read more about the dramatic history on Wikipedia. Turkish invasion of Cyprus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_invasion_of_Cyprus
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