During its heyday, Famagusta was considered a playground for the rich and famous on the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus.
Its golden sandy beaches and luxury hotels lured the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Brigitte Bardot, Paul Newman and Richard Burton.
But 40 years on, the bullet-riddled beach-front resort in Famagusta’s Varosha quarter lies eerily abandoned as it has for decades.
Yesterday marked the anniversary of Operation Attila - Turkey’s code name for its Cyprus operation.
It is sad that the island is no closer to a peace settlement today than it was four decades ago.
In a landmark visit to the island in May, US Vice President Joe Biden raised hopes that a settlement to the Cyprus problem finally might be within arm’s reach, if only the riches of newly-discovered natural gas in the region could be divided.
He secured promises from both the Greek and Turkish Cypriots to speed up slow-moving talks, restarted in February after a two-year hiatus, and to intensify efforts towards confidence-building measures, which include the return of Famagusta to its displaced residents.
Greek Cypriots currently live in the south of Cyprus and Turkish Cypriots in the north. Between them lies a UN-supervised buffer zone, or no man’s land, which runs through the island from east to west.
Endless rounds of UN-led talks have failed to make real headway on attempts to form a union of two autonomous regions with one central government. Serious differences remain on the issues of power sharing, redrawing property boundaries and the claims of thousands of displaced persons.
Many experts believe that unless progress is reached soon the division could become permanent.
“Time is not working in favour for the reunification of the island. The more time passes the more people from both sides will feel that division is permanent and thus will have no incentive to find a solution,” says Dr Thanos Dokos, director general of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy or ELIAMEP.
“The sooner a solution can be found, the better,” Dokos feels.
Any peace agreement reached will have to be put to separate referendums in Cyprus’ two communities, which Dokos says could prove to be an additional hurdle after previous talks failed.
But with the current phase of talks uncertain, the possibility of holding a referendum any time soon appears remote.
The two sides have tried in the past to solve their problem, most recently in 2004. At that time, the Turkish-speaking population voted for what was called the Annan Plan, named after the then UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, but the Greek-speakers voted against it.
Ten years ago the European Union under pressure from Greece also passed up a chance to require a resolution of the problem before allowing Greek Cyprus to become a member.
The Cyprus problem has been around long enough. Serious international negotiations seeking an end to the division are urgently called for.
