Subject: Re: Inner Cyprus bordersign in Nicosia<br/>
Date: Jan 04, 2002 @ 15:14<br/>
Author: shocktm (&quot;shocktm&quot; &lt;andrew@...&gt;)<br/>
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<div id="ygrps-yiv-1359320624">--- In BoundaryPoint@y..., &quot;Peter Hering&quot; &lt;hering@m...&gt; wrote:<br/>
<blockquote><span title="ireply"> &gt; Hello folks,<br/>
&gt; just read an interesting article on the Cyprus question...<br/>
&gt; The division of Cyprus might become a very difficult<br/>
&gt; issue for the EU when - and if - Cyprus  gains<br/>
&gt; membership of the Union in a couple of years...<br/>
&gt; <br/>
&gt; Attached a picture of two Turkish police officers at<br/>
&gt; the Inner Cyprus border...(why do they look so happy...?)<br/>
&gt; Peter H.<br/>
<br/>
 </span></blockquote>I wish a sign like this existed when and where my family and I <br/>
accidently (and illegally) crossed the border from the Republic of <br/>
Cyprus to the Turkish Republic of Cyprus.<br/>
<br/>
In November 1983 my family and I moved back to Saudi Arabia but found <br/>
out that the visas in our Passports were temporary resident visas and <br/>
not full time resident visas. The visa situation could only be <br/>
corrected outside of Saudi Arabia. So we went to Cyprus (the most <br/>
local European destination to us) during our Christmas holidays for a <br/>
nice vacation and time to get the visas fixed. While in Cyprus we <br/>
stayed in a place east of Larnaca<br/>
<br/>
While there my father rented a car and we toured most of the main <br/>
tourist attractions. One day we decide to go further east from our <br/>
hotel (rather than the usual west) to see what was over there. After <br/>
a while we passed through a village and notice that the flag flying <br/>
was the Turkish Cypriot flag, not the Republic of Cyprus that we were <br/>
use to. We determined that we must have inadverinatly crossed the <br/>
border via the Dhekelia SBA (No UN Buffer zone) and that we were no <br/>
in Turkish Republic of Cyprus.<br/>
<br/>
My father rather quickly turned the car around (This being the first <br/>
time he drove a RHD car and in a somewhat stressful situatuion, he <br/>
rolled down the window rather than swiched gears and stalled the <br/>
engine)and headed back to the hotel. Crossing the internal border is <br/>
illegal in most places in Cyprus and on top of that we were not <br/>
carring our Passports and it was forbidden to take the rental car to <br/>
the other side. Luckly for us we were not stopped and returned safly <br/>
to the hotel.<br/>
<br/>
A few days later we got our Passports back and headed back to our new <br/>
home in Saudi Arabia.<br/>
<br/>
In November 2000, my parents legally went to the Turkish Republic of <br/>
Cyprus for a similar reason. At the time my parents were living in <br/>
Turkey and my mother&#39;s temporary visa was about to expire, so they <br/>
went to the Turkish Republic of Cyprus for a weekend and got a new <br/>
visa when they returned to Turkey.<br/>
<br/>
-Andrew<br/>
(Legal border crossings by car about 10, illegal crossings 1)</div>