Columnist: the opening of occupied Varosha “on the basis of international law” should be considered
Writing in her column in Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen newspaper (14.08.12), Turkish Cypriot columnist Aysu Basri Akter reports that the opening of the occupied fenced city of Varosha would be an extremely vital step for the entire island and the future generations. Under the title “Varosha”, Akter refers to the economic situation and the population in occupied Famagusta and argues that there are much more things to be done for reviving the shrinking economy of both Famagusta and the occupied northern part of the island and for “making the hope for a solution to leaf out”. She goes on noting, inter alia, the following:

“…Giving life again to a city abandoned to collapse for half a century is an extremely vital step not only for Famagusta, but for the hope of the entire island and the future generations. When the hopes for a solution are at such a dark point, making a move on the basis of international law for the opening of Varosha will create a new page of gains, not a loss of a joker from the political point of view. This issue is at least an issue worthy of consideration. And the opposition parties as well should be able to stop saying that ‘Varosha is a part of the comprehensive solution’, something which they learnt by heart, and produce a policy with a vision on this issue. These are what came to my mind after reading some news published in Milliyet saying that a fund of 100 billion Euros is needed for rebuilding Varosha. Serdar Atai of the Initiative for Famagusta thinks that this number is too high. In the last study carried out in 2008 by a group of German experts, it is pointed out that the predicted number is three billion Euros…”

The columnist concludes by saying that the longer Varosha remains closed the more the cost of rebuilding it will be increased.