Only the Republic of Türkiye recognizes the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus as an independent state — so the island nation is divided into two parts: the southern part known as the Republic of Cyprus, whose primary language is Greek; and the northern part, which was invaded by military forces from Türkiye in 1974 and whose primary language is Turkish…
Sunday Morning Photograph December 18 2022: At The Border In Northern Cyprus.
…and the sign upon entering the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus proudly proclaims “How happy to say I’m a Turk” in both Turkish and English. Violating the terms of the rental car agreement — shh, please don’t tell anyone — I drove through the militarized border in the divided capital city of Nicosia from the Republic of Cyprus to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and stopped to take photographs.
Seeing plenty of barbed wire had me momentarily wondering if I was in a safe place at that point — but I suppose I was safe with all of the armed military personnel at the checkpoint.
“Peace at home peace in the world” is what is on the other side of the aforementioned sign.
Final Boarding Call
When I drove back across the border, a loose piece of paper was stamped instead of my passport itself — probably so that I would not get into any sort of trouble while in the Republic of Cyprus.
Please click here for a complete list of the Sunday Morning Photograph series of articles at The Gate, which include photographs taken of nature and sights of interest in many countries and territories around the world — including but not limited to:
- Andorra
- Argentina
- Bahamas
- Bahrain
- Belarus
- Brazil
- Bulgaria
- Canada
- China
- Colombia
- Cyprus — including the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
- Czechia or Czech Republic
- Dominican Republic
- Egypt
- England in Great Britain in the United Kingdom
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Kenya
- Latvia
- Lebanon
- Lesotho
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Mozambique
- Netherlands
- Oman
- Panama
- Poland
- Romania
- Singapore
- Slovenia
- South Africa
- South Korea
- Spain
- Swaziland or Eswatini
- Sweden
- Thailand
- United Arab Emirates
- United States of America
- Uruguay
All photographs ©2006 by Brian Cohen.
