language courses. video. anytime anywhere. barricades in the middle of the city border posts un peacekeepers on patrol this is every day life on cyprus divided since 974. a demilitarized zone runs across the entire island there are empty towns and abandoned villages. with few exceptions turks live in the north of cyprus

greeks live in the south the 1st border crossings opened in 2003 but this little exchange. we traveled along the demilitarized zone known as the green line and many people whose lives have been affected by 45 years of political division what are the prospects for reuniting cyprus. our journey begins in the southern part of the island the republic of cyprus and e.u. member states since 2004 our 1st stop is the village of console pyrgos this is christophe's he's 30 years old and opened a convenience store here a while back new businesses are rare here.

to. many of the local residents have moved away. business is only good 2 months of the year during the summer holidays when we get tourists. that's the only time you see new people around here otherwise the place is pretty deserted the mood in the village is always the same we feel sort of isolated. around 700 people live in card gas in the 1970 s. the population was about 4000 but one of these dogs. around 700 people live in card gas in the 1970 s. the population was about 4000 but when cyprus was divided in 1974 the border was drawn directly between carter b. costs and a neighboring village caterpillar goss ends on a kind of dead in street like many villages christophe's also left he spent

a few years in the capital nicosia then he returned home and he used to come to this place often when he was a child the beach is a restricted military area and has been for years there's a turkish cypriot observation post on the hill christophe's only knows about the events of the 1960 s. and seventy's from his family and from his school textbooks. when we were children we knew that we were growing up in an unusual place and we knew about the other side as well. back then i thought that i'd never be able to meet a turkish cypriot. and i never understood why my friends and i couldn't play on that hill over there. the conflict began in the 1960 s. cyprus had just gained its independence from britain when tensions escalated

between ethnic breaks and turrets instigated by greek nationalists. the majority of casualties back then with ethnic turks un peacekeeping troops intervened. the island was divided in 1974. great cypriot military officers staged a coup against president makarios. on july 20th 1974 some 30000 turkish troops invaded the northern part of the island turkey said its goal was to protect the turkish cypriot population the. greek cypriot families fled to the south the troops remained and northern cyprus is still under turkish control to this day. a number of border crossings have been opened along the green line since 2003 including one

between cassiopeia goss and a turkish cypriot village on the other side. christophe and his friends sometimes cross the border to shop in the north of the turkish lira has weakened sharply against the euro in recent years so they get more for their money here. but they don't interact much with the local residents they feel more comfortable back home in qatar pierre goss. you know you. listen to court you but you don't actually have any contact with the turkish cypriots before the island was divided government there were closer ties between the 2 groups but not now. you know that woman a few years ago they made an effort to bring young greeks and turks together but it didn't work out very well when. i think that our village would be better off if they could solve the cyprus problem we wouldn't be cut off anymore

but it's going to take time a lot of greek cypriots here lost relatives during the turkish invasion and 1974 so i can understand why they want to keep their distance ready. since the border crossing was opened it now takes about an hour to try to make a c.r. instead of 2 and a half hours the road runs through the northern part of the island that means border crossings and passport checks many cypriots see this as a major inconvenience we aren't allowed to film the actual border crossing. we're now back on the road to make a c.r. knowing greek has left and in turkish has left. home to some 300000 people it's europe's only divided capital. the green line runs

right through the middle of the city. there are barricades. fences and walls. the so-called republic of northern cyprus is recognized only by turkey which also provides it with substantial economic support . the un supervised demilitarized zone separates north and south we have 10 special permission to film here a spokesman explains why peacekeeping troops have been in cyprus for more than 5 decades. so the buffer zone is the huge. area and patrolled by all peacekeepers day and night by fort by bicycle by vehicle and also by helicopter and they play an important. thing with the opposing forces to maintain the military status quo and prevent tensions between

the 2 sides from escalating. we filmed our interview of what used to be nicosia is international airport the facility was shut down during heavy fighting in 1974 and never reopened the site is now the headquarters of the un peacekeeping troops reunification talks between greek and turkish cypriot leaders broke down 2 years ago but both sides hope that they'll resume soon one of the main sticking points is the presence of turkish troops in northern cyprus. one of the longest and oldest peacekeeping operations. anywhere in the world and i think we share the hope. one day soon there will be a settlement that will facilitate the departure of the peacekeeping operation and see if we unified cyprus for the benefit of all cypriots in

2004 cyprus held a referendum on a u.n. sponsored reunification plan 65 percent of turkish cypriots voted for it many of them believe that it would set the stage 50 you membership at 76 percent of greek cypriots voted against it for a wide variety of reasons. aristos string deedes has committed himself to the reunification process. he says the politicians done nothing to help find a solution in fact he claims they don't even want to find a solution because they have built their careers on keeping the 2 sides apart. makes a personal appeal to the residents of cyprus forget that political nonsense forget nationalism just meet people for coffee i say just go over there and say hey let's have a coffee let's talk the media say that we're supposed to kill each other don't do

that go over to the other side and talk to people even if you think that they're morons even if you don't like them just talk to people just say hi. aristos often stages public protests to call attention to the continuing division in cyprus here he's trying to break into the demilitarized zone and he's invited some reporters to watch him do it if he knows he risks being detained i just started destroying things i didn't care i said i want to go over there and have a cup of coffee why do i have to show my passport at the border every day and all that nonsense that sux. when the most of the 1st attempt failed so arrest us tried another spot and managed to get into the demille tris desire and few follow him then the un authorities arrived.

i'm wondering now that up everybody out is the buffer zone everybody out of here do not enter here. you know that would arrest us was arrested but the police later released him after he paid a fine. arrest is also part of the peaceful group of young cypriots that promotes interaction between the 2 communities they say the toughest part of the effort is to eliminate prejudice on both sides today they're taking a bicycle to us through the old town some of these people grew up in this city but there are only familiar with half of it. says child you never three's a target us are like you don't have memories you got. any triggers and. you have it on just to live your life there so it's almost like the familiar i just actually show up. so far away from life. so the press is

really going to be. heading north the 1st stop is a border control post where the visitors have to show their passports. then they move on to what's the city's former amini and porsche which is making something of a comeback after decades of decline a 1st service was held again after 40 years. this. religious group of armenians moved to the south since the sixty's through the 1st conflict. episodes we had seen the 1st conflict events. because. these the western side of nicosia this like returning was very him it was like the core of the conflicts. aristos his family used to live in this part of the city a lot of the neighbors were turkish like many local residents the family lost their

home and their business joining the conflict and then the green line officially divided the city into 2 parts it used to be a traditional. and he mixed with the turkish beakers because he spoke turkish as well as a refugee from asia minor so my grandmother was around and she told me these were houses that were built for poor people. support antigone's says that efforts to promote understanding between the greats and turkish communities are slowly becoming more popular especially among people who've been directly affected by the divide. of course there is a lot of a lot of work to be done in order to create a breach that all the people and get especially the young people with human age each other. the 2 communities in conflict.

next we head to. a village in the north that is almost completely surrounded by the buffer zone. greeks and turks both used to live in this village back then it was called lucina. during the conflicts in the 1960 s. the greek residents lived and turkish cypriots sought refuge there among them was the family historian the yard. seen here on the left. yes he would light a study in germany he was 4 years old when his family fled to the village. heading from vision i was feeling a lot of turkish cypriots moved here including my family which we. are going to get

these people came from part tommy darley and other villages and we all ended up here thus it was almost like a ghetto. man house on battles was a child at the time he says that during the clashes up to 5000 people lived. here surely could the village was quite secure back then we had a lot of people and we could defend ourselves well because the village is surrounded by hills. the level of you it was difficult for the greek troops to attack us so they kept their distance of the market incidentally been. for the 1st 5 years following the conflict the village became part of the restricted military zone the residents were not allowed to leave the yards he visits the place where he and his family lived after they fled here. they moved away. so did many others today the village has only about 300 residents. he moved to

germany to study. on this writing and score so he the years that i spent in germany were quite valuable from a british i learned that germany was able to take a self critical look at its past and that helped me to ask questions and look for answers and that's when i started writing about peace and reconciliation for joining us for thoughts of her. earlier this year neons he was elected a member of the european parliament parties from the north are not allowed to take part in a un lections but its residents are allowed to vote they have to go to polling stations in the south and there's no border crossing neither village. they're clear in the light if we could vote right here all of us would be limited but to cast our ballot we would have to go to the capital or peel. and it takes at

least an hour to get there. but. the residents of i can speak a mixture of greek and turkish something very seldom on the island but the 2 cultures remain shoppy divided especially in the schools. yasi says he's concerned about that one often by them as i would and there's a lot of nationalism in the school system and quite a bit of serious prejudice on both sides of. the main shows a civilian area where fighting took place between gregson turks. this tank serves as a memorial has sam says he would like to be able to walk across to the next village but that it's just not possible. for them and all of the uk as long as i live i will have hope that we can make reunification work. the

politicians may not want it but i still have hope. we move further east to the village. much of the village lies within the de-militarized zone and the population includes both greek and turkish cypriots. a contingent of u.n. peacekeeping troops has been based here since 1974 about half of the village lies south of the green line and there's a border to the north but not to the south it is home to both greek and turkish cypriots there's both a church and a mosque street signs in great and turkish and 2 men one for the greeks and one for the turks. but there's not a lot of interaction between the 2 communities. that separation

begins at school and of course there are 2 of them. john at school is a teacher at the turkish school for many years critics said that the curriculum a would 2 nationalist oriented reforms were introduced on the turkish side in 2004. here. but john says that his greek cypriot colleagues have some catching up to do so i know that they still have some problems because unlike us they didn't carry out teaching reforms and i going to stand what i don't know the details but the greek cypriot teachers i know are definitely opposed to it. that some of the turkish pupils don't have much contact with the great children away from school and there's a good reason for that it has nothing to do with prejudice. your.

single then the greek kids don't treat me like i'm different i think you know that we have to talk to each other in english because i don't speak greek and they don't speak turkish but i have fun with the great kids anyway because even if you're in. the residence of pila used to speak both languages but that changed after the island was divided. a common cypriot culture was gradually replaced by separate greek and turkish cultures. the. teachers say that it's not a good idea for the 2 groups of school children to grow up isolated from each other . we don't want to repeat the experiences of the past so we all have to work together to change things. teachers can play a key role. a young tree is flexible and what the children learn in school will

probably influence them as adults and i mean that's why we teach them to treat others with respect and love. mariners or another all at their last. until the 1st border crossing in cyprus was opened in 2003 pilo was the only place on the island where greek and turkish cypriots could meet a new troll ground so to speak. ready ready ready ready ready ready ready ready un peacekeeping troops keep a close watch on the community. ready ready a number of intercultural events take place here and they usually attract politicians. today the local residents have gathered to watch a football match one team is from northern cyprus the other from the south

senior politicians from both sides a shed load to attend but even before the match begins there is some complications . students from both schools in also here the great children are wearing red shirts the turkish green ones. the president of the republic of cyprus nicholas anastasio addus has just arrived. but it turns out that the turkish later mustafa will not be attending. he was stopped at the border because he had a northern cyprus flag on his car. to get there that. it was originally planned for my dearest friend the stuff i can to our jane in order for both of us to send a message. for the reasons well known to fail to attend. despite any differences we might have we've now i. friend.

him and i share a common vision for achieving lasting peace. reporters don't pay much attention to the game the festive mood of the crowd or the positive interaction between the schoolchildren they'd rather focus on the negatives. ready later one journalist wrote we can't even manage to play football together how will we ever be able to achieve peace ready. ready now and for our final destination the village of tehran yeah the local mayor is working hard to bring greek and turkish cypriots together. man and us cut a young us really visits this small chapel because it lies inside the demilitarized

zone the local residents are allowed to attend services here just twice a year we had to get permission from the un to take the speeches. the chapel is located near the beach but that is off limits to the residents. whose it supports him for new forms that are fully how of yes for the after 97475 percent of the village ended up in the north including the beach. and it's a sandy area that's 2 and a half kilometers long it didn't have any hotels before $974.00 or. the village lies just south of the town of farmer in northern cyprus some buildings including some former hotels border right under in your until $974.00 follow goosed

it was a major international tourist resort. today the entire area is a restricted military zone occupied by turkish troops many locals say it resembles a ghost town. there is no border crossing here but the mayor is trying hard to change things and remains optimistic. you know it's a form varying you know the people of the renia and the turkish cypriots of farmer ghost who worked together they'll create a dialogue and find a solution. but some greek cypriot ultranationalists are opposed to it they often refer to the events of 996 when greek cypriot nationalist stormed the demilitarized zone between the 2 towns in the resulting clash with turkish cypriot nationalists 2 greeks were killed.

one was 26 year old solomons solomon. he climbed a pole to try to take down a turkish flag and was shot and killed. this is solomon says father spiro his house is located on a street that now bears his son's name the family used to live in farm but fled to the south after cyprus was divided the hated anti turkish feeling became part of everyday life miserable ready i used to stand on the terrace and look over it from augusta the whole family used to gather there and we said the entire city is ruined from. that solemn awestruck those comments very seriously or review. the living room is

filled with pictures of solomon's spirit himself a committed greek cypriot nationalist sees his son as a hero to that cause he doesn't believe that simply opening more border crossings will create trust and eliminate decades of resentment. i'm disgusted and ashamed just thinking about it. the checkpoint should stay closed until the cyprus problem is resolved. people shouldn't be allowed to travel from one side to the other at all or part amanda. many cypriots would disagree with those sentiments on the day that the new local border crossing opened hundreds travel move for the 1st time in decades some drive past the houses what they used to live. they got i'm

overwhelmed we ask him what he was he asked. i i or the opening of the crossing was a big step forward for. us as he tries to bring greek and turkish cypriots closer together. 3 years here and you see any violence here today people are hugging each other and that's just what we want. to be a wall of it i have the u.n. secretary general is trying to get negotiations on reunification stosh again many of the cypriots we met on this journey hope that he will succeed at a time when populous are questioning the need for a united europe the people here are demanding it. was. was. was.

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