Greek Cypriot visits Maraş after 46 years
A GREEK Cypriot who owns property in Maraş (Varosha) hopes to return “home” if the town is resettled.
Dimitri Lordos and his family visited the now opened part of Maraş on Tuesday, the first time he has been there since moving to South Cyprus at the age of 19, in 1974.
Mr Lordos, son of the wellknown Greek Cypriot businessman Andreas Lordos, who passed away in 2016, visited Maraş to see some of his former homes and hotels.
The Lordos family own six hotels and two apartment blocks in Maraş and had applied to the TRNC’s Immovable Property Commission (IPC) in 2011 seeking restitution.
However the IPC is unable to process his claim as Maraş remains a military zone and is therefore outside of its remit.
Speaking to CyprusToday, Mr Lordos, spoke to the Kıbrıs Media Group following his trip to Maraş, said it was his “dream to go home”.
He said he could not hold back his tears while walking through the town and seeing the dilapidated condition of the buildings his father had built.
“I am very excited, because I’ve had the chance to visit my home city after 46 years,” he said.
“I was very young when I left. Today I remember my parents, who have both passed away, and I have hope for the future that this city will be with Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots together, to develop the city, and live happily and peacefully.”
His son Andreas, 36, told this newspaper that it was always their “dream” to “visit the place of my grandparents and where my father is from”.
“We grew up with the dream that one day we would be able to return to [Maraş],” he said.
“It has been a very emotional period because we all wanted to go and visit the place we call home.”