Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.S09E20.1080p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-BTN_track3_[und] Subtitles

00:00:05,600 --> 00:00:10,[narrator]
Vestiges of opulence
in an active no-man's-land.

00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:13,This ill-fated coup
sealed the fate
of this summer paradise.

00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:22,[narrator]
Two moldering bastions
with a hopeful tale.

00:00:22,166 --> 00:00:25,[Michele Mitchell]
These structures
saw slavery at its worst.

00:00:25,266 --> 00:00:28,But, ended up becoming
constructions of freedom.

00:00:31,567 --> 00:00:36,[narrator] And, a frozen shell
built on a burning passion.

00:00:36,166 --> 00:00:39,The whole story had began
with one man's pursuit
of love.

00:00:43,767 --> 00:00:44,[narrator] Decaying relics,

00:00:46,767 --> 00:00:48,ruins of lost worlds,

00:00:50,500 --> 00:00:53,sites haunted by the past,

00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:57,their secrets
waiting to be revealed.

00:01:08,066 --> 00:01:11,In Eastern Cyprus
is an entire neighborhood

00:01:11,467 --> 00:01:13,closed to the world
for decades.

00:01:19,266 --> 00:01:23,[Lynette Nusbacher]
Famagusta is a lovely city.

00:01:24,467 --> 00:01:29,But, as you move along
the coast, suddenly,
you get wire,

00:01:29,567 --> 00:01:30,you get signs telling you
not to go any further,

00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:31,you get signs telling you
not to go any further,

00:01:33,900 --> 00:01:35,you feel like
you're in a warzone.

00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:42,[narrator] Inside
this forbidden zone is a mass
of crumbling concrete.

00:01:44,166 --> 00:01:47,Several high-rise buildings
face the sea

00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:49,with these spectacular
seafront views,

00:01:50,367 --> 00:01:51,they must have been hotels.

00:01:53,367 --> 00:01:55,[Geoff Wawro]
Behind them, you have these
extensive neighborhoods

00:01:55,667 --> 00:01:58,of beautiful
middle-class homes
all empty.

00:02:00,166 --> 00:02:01,[Sascha Auerbach]
Weeds now overrun
the deserted streets,

00:02:03,367 --> 00:02:05,nature is starting to reclaim
this town.

00:02:07,967 --> 00:02:11,[narrator] There are
no obvious signs
of war damage.

00:02:11,567 --> 00:02:15,[narrator] So, what happened
to this once jewel
of the Mediterranean?

00:02:16,467 --> 00:02:20,[Auerbach] One time,
it's streets were packed
with tourists.

00:02:20,867 --> 00:02:24,But, one summer,
they were gone and they never
came back again.

00:02:33,500 --> 00:02:35,[Ata Atun]
Two checkpoints
are still existing.

00:02:35,767 --> 00:02:40,And, without accessing
from the checkpoints
you cannot enter to Varosha.

00:02:42,567 --> 00:02:44,[narrator]
Beyond the barricades

00:02:44,266 --> 00:02:48,lies a warren
of deserted streets
and derelict buildings.

00:02:50,767 --> 00:02:54,Professor Ata Atun imagined
a very different future

00:02:54,867 --> 00:02:58,when he was
a young civil engineer
in the early 1970s.

00:03:00,100 --> 00:03:01,I had to work in this town,

00:03:01,567 --> 00:03:04,so there are lots of buildings
which I designed

00:03:04,467 --> 00:03:08,with my brother
who was an architect.

00:03:08,467 --> 00:03:13,When I come here
I always look at it
with pleasure

00:03:13,367 --> 00:03:15,with the memories of the past.

00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:21,[narrator] These are
the petrified relics
of Varosha.

00:03:21,967 --> 00:03:25,The closed off
southern quarter
of Famagusta City.

00:03:28,867 --> 00:03:30,[Wawro] Varosha was just
kind of a sleepy, back water,
fishing village.

00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:31,[Wawro] Varosha was just
kind of a sleepy, back water,
fishing village.

00:03:33,467 --> 00:03:37,And, because of
the tourist potential
of that stretch of coastline

00:03:37,467 --> 00:03:40,in the 1960s
it starts getting developed
as a beach resort.

00:03:42,300 --> 00:03:49,With its modern investment,
with its massive
first-rate hotels,

00:03:49,066 --> 00:03:53,it started to look
a lot like Miami Beach.

00:03:53,767 --> 00:03:57,This was where all
the A-listers went,
people like Brigitte Bardot,

00:03:57,166 --> 00:03:59,Richard Burton,
Elizabeth Taylor.

00:04:01,867 --> 00:04:05,[narrator] A shopping district
lined with designer boutiques

00:04:05,266 --> 00:04:07,catered to the rich
and famous.

00:04:09,300 --> 00:04:12,[Atun] There are
lots of shops,
very nice places

00:04:12,100 --> 00:04:15,which were selling products
of the well-known companies.

00:04:17,100 --> 00:04:22,So, Varosha became,
not just a resort,

00:04:22,667 --> 00:04:25,Varosha became the resort.

00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:29,[narrator] Yet, beneath
the glamour here,

00:04:29,667 --> 00:04:30,mistrust had been festering
across the island
for centuries.

00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:31,mistrust had been festering
across the island
for centuries.

00:04:36,900 --> 00:04:42,[Nusbacher] In the middle-ages
Cyprus was a Greek island.

00:04:42,667 --> 00:04:50,But, a sizable
ethnically Turkish population
comes to Cyprus as well.

00:04:50,066 --> 00:04:53,And, there is off-again,
on-again tension

00:04:53,467 --> 00:04:58,between the Turkish and Greek
communities in Cyprus.

00:05:00,567 --> 00:05:01,[narrator] Then, came a moment

00:05:02,133 --> 00:05:05,that threatened
to bring these tensions
to a brutal climax.

00:05:08,467 --> 00:05:13,For a long time,
Cyprus was effectively
a British colony.

00:05:14,700 --> 00:05:19,And, in 1960, Cyprus
gets its independence.

00:05:19,467 --> 00:05:24,And there is hope,
and there is promise,
and there is joy.

00:05:24,667 --> 00:05:28,And then, it all goes
a little bit dark.

00:05:32,300 --> 00:05:35,[narrator] A political
partnership between
the ethnic Greek

00:05:35,166 --> 00:05:37,and Turkish communities
was established.

00:05:41,467 --> 00:05:46,But, the islands first
president, Greek Cypriot
Archbishop Makarios

00:05:46,467 --> 00:05:49,wanted Cyprus
unified with Greece.

00:05:51,266 --> 00:05:56,In 1963, he proposed
controversial changes
in the constitution

00:05:56,667 --> 00:05:59,that would bring an end
to the power sharing
arrangements.

00:06:03,667 --> 00:06:07,The Turkish Cypriots,
naturally, opposed
unification with Greece.

00:06:08,266 --> 00:06:10,[narrator] A fuse
had been lit.

00:06:10,900 --> 00:06:12,And, both sides exploded.

00:06:14,667 --> 00:06:18,This ignited a killing spree
in the capital of Nicosia.

00:06:26,667 --> 00:06:29,[narrator] Armed factions
roamed the streets.

00:06:29,066 --> 00:06:30,And, homes and businesses
were looted and set ablaze.

00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:31,And, homes and businesses
were looted and set ablaze.

00:06:35,367 --> 00:06:38,In 1964 The United Nations
stepped in

00:06:38,967 --> 00:06:42,and separated
the capitals Greek
and Turkish communities.

00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:46,In the aftermath
of this bloody clash,

00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:48,a buffer zone was created
known as the Green Line.

00:06:48,867 --> 00:06:51,And, this was patrolled
by UN troops.

00:06:53,500 --> 00:06:58,[narrator] Like Berlin,
just a few years earlier,
Nicosia became a divided city.

00:07:01,767 --> 00:07:08,Varosha survived the conflict,
but the stage had been set
for its downfall.

00:07:08,367 --> 00:07:12,[Auerbach] The buffer zone
created the illusion of peace
on the surface.

00:07:12,667 --> 00:07:15,But, in July 1974,
when Varosha

00:07:15,367 --> 00:07:18,would have been
packed with tourists
tensions came to a head.

00:07:22,567 --> 00:07:25,[narrator] Frustrated
that Cyprus was still divided

00:07:25,467 --> 00:07:27,the government in Athens
decided to act.

00:07:30,567 --> 00:07:31,Greek officers lead troops
to the presidential palace
and burned it to the ground.

00:07:36,567 --> 00:07:39,Their target,
President Makarios,

00:07:39,367 --> 00:07:41,narrowly escaped
with his life.

00:07:43,567 --> 00:07:46,[Nusbacher] The people
who are taking over

00:07:46,367 --> 00:07:49,the Greek dominated government

00:07:49,567 --> 00:07:54,are openly saying,
that they're going
to seek unification

00:07:54,166 --> 00:07:58,with the military government
in Greece.

00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:00,[Auerbach] Five days later,
the Turkish government

00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:01,[Auerbach] Five days later,
the Turkish government

00:08:01,967 --> 00:08:04,responded by initiating
Operation Attila,

00:08:04,767 --> 00:08:09,sending in thousands
of troops to protect
Turkish Cypriot citizens.

00:08:10,367 --> 00:08:14,The Turkish armed forces
airdrop a thousand

00:08:14,567 --> 00:08:18,airborne light infantry
into northern Cyprus....