Talkin' Turkey

It's 9:40 am here (2:40 am EST) and it's time to get ready for our day trip to the Old City portion of Nicosia.  So I thought I'd share some facts with you from the literature I had to read last night (between dozing off).

Nicosia is also referred to as Lefkosia and is the Capital of Cyprus.  In 2008, Nicosia had a population of 313,400 Cypriots.  As I mentioned before, Cyprus is a divided country: part Greek and part Turkish.  The total population of Cyprus is a skewed number because there is no census taken on the Turkish side, so the estimated numbers reflect the population data gathered prior to the Turkish invasion of 1974.  With that in mind, there were an estimated 885,600 Cypriots on the island during the 2008 census.

The main districts in Greek Cyprus are Nicosia (Lefkosia), Limassol (Lemesos), Larnaca (Larnaka), Paphos (Pafos) and Famagusta (Ammochostos).  Towns under Turkish control are Famagusta (Ammochostos), Morphou (Morfou), and Kyrenia (Keryneia).

Greek and Turkish are the official languages but English is widely spoken (thankfully).

The Greek Cypriots are mostly Christian and adhere to the Autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus.  The Turkish Cypriots are Muslims, and some smaller communities of Maronites, Armenians and Latins belong to other Christian denominations.

There is a permanent UN Peace-keeping Force (UNFICYP) of 864 military personnel located in Cyprus.  The chief task of this force is to supervise the Buffer Zone and maintain the UN ceasefire between the Greek and Turkish sides of Cyprus.

The President of Cyprus (elected in 2008 to a standard 5 year term) has proposed some unification guidelines to the Turkish side, but from what I've read this seems like a highly unlikely idea.  The Turks seems to want control of Cyprus because of it's strategic location in the Eastern European trade routes.  But as of now, the European Union (EU) has declared that any goods shipped to or from any port in Turkish occupied Cyprus are illegal.

That's a lot of facts for now, and I need to get ready.  I need coffee before meeting the group at 10:45 to visit the old part of Nicosia and the "major archaeological museum" located there.

More to come soon!!