NICOSIA, Cyprus — A rickety piano leans against the peeling wall of an apartment, pots of dust sit on a stove that has seen better days, and a book, its pages yellowed by time, lies open next to a rusty tin can. These are all signs of homes that once teemed with life but are now suddenly abandoned and frozen in time.
Fifty years ago, Turkey invaded Cyprus — five days after supporters of union with Greece staged a coup backed by the Greek junta then ruling the country — dividing the eastern Mediterranean island nation along ethnic lines. Turkey recognizes a subsequent Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence for the northern part of the island, where it hosts more than 35,000 troops.
The Associated Press news agency was given exclusive access to the 180-kilometer-long United Nations buffer zone, where its troops have been stationed since 1974 to keep the peace between Turkish and Turkish Cypriot forces on one side and the Greek Cypriot National Guard on the other.
The scars of war are everywhere, from the pockmarked walls of homes and businesses targeted by large-caliber gunfire to the hastily built brick and mortar gun nests that face each other. But the eeriest feeling comes from how the heart of a capital city stands still midway through the hasty exodus of people fleeing for their lives and leaving everything behind.
According to the UN, tensions in the buffer zone are rising again due to the arrival of hundreds of new firing positions and advanced surveillance technology with possible military applications.
Conversations on forming a federation of Greek- and Turkish-speaking zones have been deadlocked since the last UN-facilitated attempt seven years ago. Many failed attempts preceded it.
With the Turkish and Turkish Cypriot parties now abandoning a federation and moving towards a two-state agreement, which has been roundly rejected by the Greek Cypriots, this jeopardises a new attempt by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to bring the two sides back to the negotiating table.