Sunbeams Event in North Cyprus

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Ancient Past, Flourishing Present and Promising Future

Under a sky as blue as the sea, and on the coasts of a sea with sky blue waters, just off the northern eastern coasts of the Mediterranean lies quietly the Island of Cyprus.

A distinguished location and beautiful scenery are among the graces the Creator has offered Cyprus, as it lies in the heart of the ancient world –Asia, Africa and Europe- with only 40 miles separating it from the Turkish borders and 60 miles from the Syrian and the Greece borders. This unique bridge-like location between the east and the west is as much of a trouble as it is of a grace.

A position that invited problems to the island and its people and because of which Cyprus was a favorite strategic target for foreign conquerors, the Phoenicians invaded it and so did the Assyrians, the Persians, the Romans, the Byzantines, and the Venetians. Muslims led by Muaawiya Ibn Abi Sufyan (governor of Alsham at the time) invaded Cyprus during the rule of Khalifa Othman Ibn Aafan (radiya ALLAH aanhu). In 1571 it became a part of the Ottoman Empire. Turks and Greeks shared governing the island afterwards before the English used their renting contract to occupy the island.

The island got its independence in 1960 and under Turkish and Greek guarantees in the two agreements of Zurich and London the Republic of Cyprus was founded, one in which both Turkish and Greek ethnicities shared authority and political rights. Adopting the Enosis emblem (it branches off the Megali idea and calls to make the entire republic a part of Greece to revive the dream of the Greek Empire), the Greek Cypriots led a coup in 1963 by which they monopolized power and kept the Turkish Cypriots –the majority of which are Muslims- away from decision making centers, same as what happened in the island of Crete in 1920, and when extremist Greek Cypriot organizations began committing crimes, genocide and mass killings against Turkish Cypriots from 1963 until the middle of 1974, Turkey had to militarily intervene to protect Turkish Cypriots and prevent the repetition of what happened to Turks in Crete from 1897 until 1920.

As a result Turkish Cypriots established their own republic, repaying Turkey for its favour by giving the emerging republic the name of (the Turkish republic of Northern Cyprus) under the leadership of Rauf Denktash in 1983 after having waited in an unstable political situation for more than twenty years.

I didn't previously plan to visit it this summer. It was during the Real Estate fair in Dubai in the beginning of this summer that the section of the Cypriot Real Estate company (Sunbeams) attracted me by the simplicity of the engineering designs of the houses on display and the fact that those houses are actually existent on the ground and not only designs on paper. I was charmed by the breathtaking views of the mountains, plains, beaches and water. The most beautiful of cities are the ones that have their backs against the mountain and stretch their legs into the water. This is the breed of cities the ones of the new emerging republic belong to. That was what initiated in me the desire to visit it, see it and fill my lungs with its air. So this summer I decided to go and experience the island.  With engineer Isam Mohammed Ahmed in my company, a journey through Istanbul in Turkey took us to the Turkish republic of Northern Cyprus or province number (10) as Turks call it. Between the five Fingers Mountains and the coast of the Mediterranean I found cities dressed in tranquility and blanketed in a serenity envied by all the cities of the world that disturbance has infected. Nicosia or (Lefkosa) is among those cities, also Kyrenia or (Girne) as its people call it and Famagusta the largest city of the North. They're small cities; the population of each is less than any of old Cairo’s areas.

Engineer Abdelazim Karrar –the manager and also a partner in Sunbeams Real Estate Company was waiting for us at Ercan airport. In his Ford we rode through the green plains of the island. We passed the city of Nicosia which is divided by a green line similar to the wall of Berlin, a line that divides the city into two parts: the Turkish Cypriot part (Lefkosa) and the Greek Cypriot one that keeps the name (Nicosia). Despite the fact that there are two passage way to facilitate the movement of Cypriots from and to the parts, the reality remains that these are two capitals for two different countries. The first has innumerable mosques and the second filled by the tolling of church bells.

Casinos with flashing signboards and night clubs are scattered in the plains and the cities suburbs, their being there told that Northerners knew them to be the very noisy entertainers that attract the southerners and foreign tourists so they decided to keep them away from their tranquil cities. While the car zigzagged up and down through the hills, our eyes were treated to a picturesque sight of the mountain villages with their hunched red roofed houses, their low stone walls shouting the deal of safety and security they enjoy. With mountains towering high above them protecting and guarding them. The greenery of the mountains, the sea being so blue and scattered olive and orange trees paint an image that holds one's eyes captive. We eventually got to Kyrenia (Girne) when the sun was just setting though it was nearly 9 o'clock.

We got out of the car in front of Rocks Hotel, a five star hotel overlooking the sea. We were drowned in the hospitality of the hotel's administration, especially from the beautiful guest relations manager Sida, whose charm is a blend of striking eastern and engaging European presence. A large plate of fresh local fruits was their first gift, from which we have eating during our stay among them. Kyrenia isn't the north's biggest city, however it's the destination of tourists, and its port is alive with movement of arriving and departing fishermen boats, popular restaurants and fancy ones serving all kinds of foods, as do cafes and casinos. Kyrenia is where many tourist sites are to be seen and visited, the famous Kyrenia castle facing the port that’s been built during the rule of Byzantium; it's the place where Richard the Lion Heart, a leader of the Crusades once stayed. On top of the Five Fingers mountain sits the castle that inspired Walt Disney's (Sleeping Beauty), that's Saint Hilarion castle. Not far from Kyrenia is also the place where the biggest and the most important archaeological site is, Salamis ruins. Salamis was a city located three miles north of Famagusta.

Our host, engineer Abdelazim Karrar came the following morning after we had had breakfast at the hotel. With Mr. Karrar came the man whose name is the most famous in the field of construction and contracting in Northern Cyprus, a name that was being repeated all the time we stayed in island, Ali Yemeneci, a developer , a fairly tall man. He's Cypriot of Turkish origins.

Despite his being a contractor in a fiercely competitive market, this market struggle didn't conceal the human inside; he took us in his four-drive car in a journey through the hills to the accomplished housing projects and those under construction. Projects all of which belong to Sunbeam Company and executed by Ali Yemeneci, his print on them is obvious. In addition to the simplicity and the beauty of the design, we also find them distinguished from the other buildings by two things: the first is the kind of stone used in building which's brought from Karpaz area in the eastern part of the island. this kind of stones characterizes itself by having a high capacity to absorb heat and cold, a thing we verified in the houses we visited, they were as if being air-conditioned in the inside despite the high temperature on the outside, we also knew that these houses are warm during the biting winter cold. The second thing that characterizes them is the kind of tile roofs used, they are roofs that are removed from old buildings and renovated to be fixed afterwards on the new houses, these roofs offer the buildings some of the historic legacy of the past and inject a magic touch from the ancient times.

Our third day on the island found us climbing the Five Fingers Mountain that guards the cities of the north though it's practically located inside Kyrenia city. On the top of the mountain we saw Saint Hilarion castle and the memorial monument of the Turkish tank that was bombed during the Turkish intervention on the second of august 1974. Deserted villages and picnic places were among the things we saw on top of the green mountain. This journey swallowed nearly half our day, we spent the other half in an eastern-flavored evening full of eastern dancing to the tunes of ( dabka ) in a restaurant facing Bellapais Abbey, one of the famous archeological sites.

There's a thing about the Mediterranean cities, no matter how different the languages and the traditions are, their dishes are so similar that not one of us can tell whether (foul), (falafel) and humus are Egyptian, Turkish, Syrian or Lebanese dishes. Same dishes and sweets are colouring the menu in Cyprus, from the famous (baklava) to Turkish coffee. In northern Cyprus, however, we realized some dishes are unique in kind, and all are in quantity and quality. We came to know this when we went to eat out in one of the popular restaurants the city is densely populated with, my order was Chicken Sheftalia, this is chicken cooked with cheese and olive and served hot in wooden pot, the order of my companion's was Kebab, both meals were so large that neither of us finished what he had on his plate, we thought this was extra hospitality we were privileged with until I later found out that all restaurants in north Cyprus serve dishes that exceed in size what other countries serve.

Soups of different kinds is one of the most famous foods in Cyprus, Tarhana soup which's a mixture of wheat and rice is the most famed, and so are Noodles or Humus soup and Chicken soup. The food menu also includes pilaf (rice or wheat sometimes mixed with peas), and Mezes or the appetizers that are served in different kinds, steaming or cold. Except for seafood, Kebab and Kufta are the main meals that interest both the inhabitants and the visitors of that charming island.

One of the prosperous aspects of northern Cyprus is the enormous attention north Cypriots pay for higher education (universities). They have six universities that award the highest scientific degrees. In spite of the fact that these universities are new and the fact that north Cypriots had limited access to university education in the past because of having lived long years under the shadow of discrimination that was prevalent before the separation, now each one of the north Cypriot universities has become a destination for foreign students who come from 65 countries and make up 70 % of the number of students in these universities.

The biggest universities are: the east Mediterranean university, established in 1979 in Famagusta in the eastern coast of the island, and the American university of Kyrenia. There are also the near east university, the European university and the international university of Cyprus. So we find that despite being laid siege to, northern Cypriots were able to build one of the best higher education models in the Middle East.

One of the remarkable things about north Cyprus is the elegance and courtesy with which they treat foreigners, from customs officers in the airport to vendors, taxi drivers and hotel clerks and workers. Arabs enjoy special respect from northern Cypriots, I‘d never forget the tour engineer Issam Mohammed Ahmed and I had while wearing the full national Sudanese costume, consisting of a white jalabia, turban and scarf, we were met by welcome and admiration everywhere we went in the island, and the real estate social magazine (Property NC Magazine) carried out a lengthy interview with us, it’s a magazine issued in Cyprus and distributed in many countries in world .

Tolerance and stability-which are characteristics of this part of the island –are reflected on its security and safety, police cars and policemen patrolling on foot are rarely seen, they aren’t much needed because security is prevalent despite having a lot of casinos, clubs and night pubs, and despite the big number of tourists, Europeans and passers from the southern part of the island who are flooding the city.

This republic is new, however, it has a full sack of investment opportunities and many investment fields are there. Many success factors make north Cyprus attractive, like having a distinguished geographical location and encouraging economic laws such as the right of ownership of lands and projects for foreigners and also having laws facilitating the transference of money and profits. There are also several chances of investment in the field of real estate like building hotels, commercial centers and health spas. Chances of investment in the field of food industries are several and also in olive and fruit packing industries and in the field of water treatment, and energy as well.

Eventually, Arab investors should be very much interested in investing in north Cyprus and in strengthening commercial and cultural relations with northern Cyprus, they shouldn’t wait longer because then all opportunities will have been snatched away and will have slipped from within their fingers. Opportunities they should now exploit while they’re available, especially if we knew that the bulk of investors there now are Jews and citizens of the European union because they know how to make benefits out of opportunities. I hope Arab investors and politicians won’t be late to realize that because this island is going to retrieve its unity if not today then tomorrow and Arabs should realize this before it is too late