Turkish Cypriot ghost town nearly reopened: Official

ANKARA- Anadolu Agency

A senior Turkish Cypriot official said on July 2 that the reopening of the abandoned town of Varosha- empty for decades- was progressing and now at the final stage.

According to Turkish News Agency-Cyprus TAK, Deputy Prime Minister Kudret Özersay of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus said field efforts were at their last stage as part of an agreement signed with the Eastern Mediterranean University.

The statement by Özersay, who also serves as the Turkish Cyprus' foreign minister, came while he visited the mayor of the eastern city of Gazimağusa, Ismail Arter.

Varosha is currently a ghost town where entry is forbidden, except for Turkish military personnel stationed in the Turkish Cyprus.

Abandoned after the passage of a 1984 U.N. Security Council resolution, Varosha's reopening was announced June 18 last year by Turkish Cypriot authorities.

In 1974, following a coup aiming at Cyprus's annexation by Greece, Ankara had to intervene as a guarantor power. In 1983, the Turkish Cyprus was founded.

The decades since have seen several attempts to resolve the Cyprus dispute, all failing.

The latest, held with the participation of the guarantor countries- Turkey, Greece, and the U.K.- came to an end without any progress in 2017 in Switzerland.