We are planning to visit two troubled countries with a history of conflict and both have had a "green line" to separate the warring parties.
Officially known as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, this country, which occupies the North East third of the island of Cyprus is only recognised by Turkey and will be our first port of call. We have friends, David and Anne who live there for a lot of the year and will be hosting our stay.
A coup d'etat in 1974 resulted in an attempt to annex the island to Greece and prompted the Turkish invasion. This resulted in the eviction of much of the north's Greek Cypriot population, the flight of the Turkish Cypriots from the south and the partitioning of the island. A unilateral declaration of independence was declared by the North in 1983. Subsequent to this a large number of Turkish citizens moved to the island, to say nothing of the presence of thousands of Turkish soldiers who remain stationed on the island.
This map shows the divided island. Good quiz question here, which city is capital of more than one country? Answer, Nicosia albeit that TRNC is not recognised by anyone except Turkey.
After a few days in Cyprus, David and Anne will join us on the 45 minute flight to Beirut where with benefit of a hire car, we will spend a few days exploring Lebanon.
This is another country with a chequered history.
As you can see Lebanon is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the west and Syria all round except for the border in the south, with Israel and the occupied Golan Heights. A very brief recent history of Lebanon goes as follows. 1920 Lebanon is placed under a League of Nations mandate having been under French control since the First World War and previous to that a part of the Otterman Empire since the C16. In 1923 a Constitution is drawn up and the Republic of Lebanon was declared. The unwritten National Pact of 1943 required that its president be Maronite Christian, its speaker of the parliament to be a Shiite Muslim, its prime minister be Sunni Muslim, and the Deputy Speaker of Parliament and the Deputy Prime Minister be Greek Orthodox. This power sharing arrangement survives to this day.There seems to be no period of the C20 when the Lebanon was free from strife. The civil war lasted from 1975 until 1990. A conflict between Christians and Muslims in their various guises, complicated by the cold war, Syrian and Isreali involvement and the presence of the PLO and Hezbollah. Syrian occupation was to continue from 1992 up until 2005. Life has not really been much easier since with endemic tensions that are seemingly irresolvable. The Syrian civil war has led to a huge influx of refugees. The population of Lebanon was about 6 million in 2015, since then the have accepted one million refugees from Syria, a unprecedented humanitarian gesture, especially when compared with the UK's reluctant acceptance of ten thousand refugees from the entire world in same time period. There is, of course the ever present Palastinian / Isreali conflict.
How all these things affect everyday life, we shall see and I will endeavour to report through this blog.
Officially known as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, this country, which occupies the North East third of the island of Cyprus is only recognised by Turkey and will be our first port of call. We have friends, David and Anne who live there for a lot of the year and will be hosting our stay.
A coup d'etat in 1974 resulted in an attempt to annex the island to Greece and prompted the Turkish invasion. This resulted in the eviction of much of the north's Greek Cypriot population, the flight of the Turkish Cypriots from the south and the partitioning of the island. A unilateral declaration of independence was declared by the North in 1983. Subsequent to this a large number of Turkish citizens moved to the island, to say nothing of the presence of thousands of Turkish soldiers who remain stationed on the island.
This map shows the divided island. Good quiz question here, which city is capital of more than one country? Answer, Nicosia albeit that TRNC is not recognised by anyone except Turkey.
After a few days in Cyprus, David and Anne will join us on the 45 minute flight to Beirut where with benefit of a hire car, we will spend a few days exploring Lebanon.
This is another country with a chequered history.
As you can see Lebanon is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the west and Syria all round except for the border in the south, with Israel and the occupied Golan Heights. A very brief recent history of Lebanon goes as follows. 1920 Lebanon is placed under a League of Nations mandate having been under French control since the First World War and previous to that a part of the Otterman Empire since the C16. In 1923 a Constitution is drawn up and the Republic of Lebanon was declared. The unwritten National Pact of 1943 required that its president be Maronite Christian, its speaker of the parliament to be a Shiite Muslim, its prime minister be Sunni Muslim, and the Deputy Speaker of Parliament and the Deputy Prime Minister be Greek Orthodox. This power sharing arrangement survives to this day.There seems to be no period of the C20 when the Lebanon was free from strife. The civil war lasted from 1975 until 1990. A conflict between Christians and Muslims in their various guises, complicated by the cold war, Syrian and Isreali involvement and the presence of the PLO and Hezbollah. Syrian occupation was to continue from 1992 up until 2005. Life has not really been much easier since with endemic tensions that are seemingly irresolvable. The Syrian civil war has led to a huge influx of refugees. The population of Lebanon was about 6 million in 2015, since then the have accepted one million refugees from Syria, a unprecedented humanitarian gesture, especially when compared with the UK's reluctant acceptance of ten thousand refugees from the entire world in same time period. There is, of course the ever present Palastinian / Isreali conflict.
How all these things affect everyday life, we shall see and I will endeavour to report through this blog.
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