The sandy beach that has become a new front in the battle for Cyprus

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Varosha, now a ghost town, was one of the top tourist destinations in Cyprus before being closed after the Turkish invasion in 1974. A sandy beach near a ghost town in Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus is becoming the newest front in the battle to solve the island's division problem. With Ankara's support, the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus opened a beach in Varosha on Thursday, ignoring warnings that it could jeopardize attempts to reunite the island, Bloomberg reported.

Varosha, now a ghost town, was one of Cyprus' top tourist destinations before being abandoned and closed after the Turkish invasion of the northern part of the island in the summer of 1974. It was reached after a coup by the military junta in Athens. tried to unite Greece with Cyprus.

Authorities in the area now want to restore the city's old glory to help recognize control of the Republic of Northern Cyprus.

The government of the ethnic Greek-populated Republic of Cyprus has announced that it will accept a similar move by Ankara to violate international commitments and hamper reunification talks, which the UN wants to resume after the October 11th presidential election in Turkey.

Some representatives of the authorities in the European Union and Russia also opposed the opening of the beach. According to Brussels, Ankara's decision to open the beach will further strain already deteriorating bilateral relations with the bloc after Turkey began searching for natural resources in the disputed waters in the Mediterranean with Greece and Cyprus.

So far, attempts to reunite the island have failed many times, most recently in 2017. Cyprus is the only European country with UN peacekeepers on its territory.

Last month, Turkey again raised the issue of resolving the Cyprus crisis with the creation of two states on the island, saying it did not currently see a common basis or vision for finding another solution. The idea, as expected, was immediately rejected by the Cypriot government, which officially has sovereignty over the entire island.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan fully supports the opening of the beach in Varosha, saying the city itself is undoubtedly part of the Turkish Cypriot state.

"The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus will break the shackles of the embargo and become richer and stronger," Erdogan said on Tuesday. He said Turkey would dictate the terms of dialogue with its "political, diplomatic and military force".