Authorities probe Varosha hotels opening

The government will investigate reports that a Turkish businessman opened booking reservations for 2025 for hotels in the fenced-off area of Turkish-occupied Varosha.

It is claimed he bought four hotels, 86 apartments and 20 acres of land in the so-called ghost town resort.

The once-thriving resort has remained untouched and decaying for decades.

According to sources, the competent government authorities are fully investigating the issue.

They are double-checking the information, adding that the matter is serious and complex because it has financial and legal aspects.

This is not the first time that this issue has arisen.

In April, it was claimed a Turkish Cypriot businessman bought three hotels from their Greek Cypriot owners in the enclosed city of Varosha to reopen them.

The same source stressed the need to implement UNSC resolutions 550 and 789  for Famagusta, underlying that the only way to deal with the issue is by solving the Cyprus problem.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third.

UN Security Council resolution 550 (1984) considers any attempts to settle any part of Varosha by people other than its inhabitants as inadmissible and calls for the transfer of this area to the administration of the UN.

The Turkish Cypriot leadership announced in July 2021 a partial lifting of the military status in Varosha to allow public access.

A few months earlier, on October 8, 2020, the Turkish side opened part of the fenced area of Varosha, and work in the area has continued.