Final words for the assignment

The reason that I created the blog instead of just writing this assignment in a word document is that I was hoping to share my experience with the others and I wish that they can find it useful. The visits to the blog shows that in a short time and with a very few posts it was quite successful :) I want to thank everyone who read the blog and the suggestions and the contributions that I got.  I appreciate all of them.

My journey here is not finished yet, and I hope to get the chance to write more entries and share more of the experiences. Many of them are still in line, but there is a time limit here and I cannot put all of them before the deadline of the assignment. The entries included so far, are just a handpicked version of many. In the past four month that I was working on this report, I traveled multiple times to all the  major cities in the Northern part, and a number of the villages on the way. I visited most of the historical places, which I haven't got the chance so far to write about, I have been to the cool spots in the town, famous restaurants and cafes and I wish to share that with you in a near future.

For now, I need to have a conclusion though. I have been in Northern Cyprus now for more over 9 month and I have learned a lot and have experienced many things. This has truly been an amazing experience. It is interesting that how much a place can change you this quickly, in a way that you do not even understand. One the examples that I have recently noticed, a very simple one, is the changes in my key-chain! 

The first picture is what my key chain style used to be! Then in the other two you can easily see how it changed in a very Cypriot way! and became very similar to those of my friends from Cyprus. 

This may seem like a silly example, but it was one of the instances that I really felt the change that I went through in this short time. There are of course other changes, I have learnt some Survival Turkish, added many items to my favorite lists, such as tavuk dolma (stuffed chicken) to my favorite food list, Oza to my favorite types of coffee and Grup Baria to my favorite performers. I have learned to even be calmer here and if someone who has not seen me in this time sees me, I am sure that they will notice that I have changed a lot.

The experience has been more than wonderful, and I want to thank everyone who has been involved in it so far. I have come to know this island as a second home, and there I wish all the best for it and its residence. One final piece of advice, if you have not visited Cyprus yet, do it as soon as you can, otherwise you will regret it.

All the best

Grup Baria

Grup Baria is a Turkish-Cypriot music group that sings different Turkish and Cypriot songs and performs in different events. They became one of my favorites in a very short time and I got to see their performance 3 times in the past three month. They are loved by the Cypriots that I know and the participation rate in their programs proves that they are a popular group. They are famous for their hats, which is the only mandatory part of their uniform. As a result many of the participants in the concerts and performances wear some sort of head-wear.

Their Facebook and twitter account contains announcements of the upcoming events. 

https://www.facebook.com/grupbaria?fref=ts

https://twitter.com/grupbaria

You can enjoy the following performances by the group.

Oza Coffee

As I promised earlier, I want to explain a little bit about Oza coffee. It is a Cypriot brand of Turkish coffee and some Cypriots even call it the Cypriot version of Turkish coffee. You may wonder why the brand of coffee gets a separate post for itself, and the answer is very clear! Because not only it is a very strong coffee which coffee lovers will enjoy, it is also one the most interesting brands that I have ever seen. Just take a look at this add:

It has a very cool start and then suddenly everything changes! You can see the same mentality and creativity in their website, http://www.ozakahve.com/, and their Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/ozakahve.

How can anyone not fall in love with this brand after just a couple of minutes? :) If you ever get the chance try this coffee and you will be surprised with the quality.

Specially in the city of origin, Magusa in Cyprus. 

The brand has been active since 1984, and was established by a person named Oza of course. The start was very simple and in a very small place, but soon the company grew and is now known even outside of the island and is very popular in the western part. 

Breakfast in Argonya cafe

The New Cyprus Magazine (NCM) describes Argonya as a taste of heaven. I think this is tempting enough on it's own. In the western coast of the northern part of Cyprus, on the road from Guzelyurt to Lefke, there is restaurant and cafe full of wonders. 

Argonya offers breakfast and lunch, and seems to be more famous for the breakfast that it offers. A breakfast so rich, that I am just counting the moments to get back there. The bread is freshly baked and offered in different varieties, the tea is made separately for each table in the traditional way, fried eggs, seasonal fruit, different types of homemade jams and honey, different types of olive and many other options that you may want to have, is served in a beautiful garden. (and I should add, with a great price) There is no surprise that this friendly place has a great 8.5/10 rating in foursquare. They offer Turkish coffee at the end of the breakfast and they are one ofthe few spots to offer oza in the eastern part of the island. oza is a Cypriot coffee which is more common in the west, because it is made in magusa, and I will write about it very soon. There are many other points that I can make about this restaurant but the following pictures are clear enough. If you are interested you can join their facebook page and enjoy their offers and pictures; https://www.facebook.com/ARGONYA.KIBRIS.

Entering Northern Cyprus

This will be a quick post which I hope will be useful. Entering Northern Cyprus is not a very easy task, and there are not that many options. The only airport in the Northern part is Ercan airport, which is not recognized internationally and is only recognized by Turkey, which means all the flights to and from Northern Cyprus have to stop in one of Turkey's international airports. 

There is ferry and sea buss services, again from Turkey to the ports in Cyprus between Mersin-Taşucu and Kyrenia and Famagusta. The only other way would be having the visa for the southern part and entering the country from on of the availbale airports or harbors in the south and then crossing the borders to enter the northern part.

Citizens of most countries, other than Armenia, Nigeria and Pakistan can get their visas upon entering the country. The three mentioned country need to visit one of TRNC offices and get a visa in advance. The procedure is fairly simple, once you tell the immigration officer the reason why you want to enter the country and justifying the number of days you want to stay they will stamp your passport and indicate the days that you are allowed to stay, which is maximum 90 days. For a longer duration, the immigration office in the city of residence should approve. 

A final tip, the airport and other entrance points to the country, offer the option of stamping a separate paper and attaching it to your passport temporarily rather than stamping the passport itself, which is useful for people who are planning on getting the southern parts' visa in a near future. Most passports holding the stamp of the Northern side are not eligible to apply for a visa of the southern part of the island. 

Being a Cypriot

In the time that I have had here in Northern Cyprus so far, I got the chance to talk with many Cypriots and I always asked my favorite question from them; "How do you define being a Cypriot?" 

I asked this question from the residences of both sides, and mostly received the same answer, "people who were born on the island and also who shares the Cypriot culture." I heard different variations of this response many times and most of the time I tried to ask about their points of views on being a Turkish-Cypriot and Greek-Cypriot, I received the response that we are all Cypriots and although we have differences but share more in common. There were a few people who did not like this idea and wanted a clear line between these two concepts! They did not however seemed to hold the majority.

Most of the people on the island are tired of the international interventions and just want to have their peaceful island back to themselves. Again, some people do not share this idea and actually do want the island to stay separated, but their ideas are being pushed away further and further everyday. Citizens of both sides seem to be ready to get back together and finish the rivalry that existed for a long time, long before the island was divided.

Some people are really idealist and they want the whole problem to be solved over night, but the realists know that this is not possible and the process is a lot harder than the separation. Most probably, if there is going to be any solution, it will be a federal system, rather than a complete unity, but again most of the realists agree that this is way better than the alternative, which is keeping the island divided and even fully recognizing this division. 

Going through many different groups and discussions, the Facebook group, Cyprus without borders, https://www.facebook.com/groups/1374660429530839/ , seemed to be the most democratic one and the message of the Cypriots were clear. Let the olive branch, global symbol of peace and an inseparable part of Cyprus, do its magic and let the peace come back to the last divided capital of the world.

On a personal note, I wish the best for this island and I hope they can find the solution that they want as soon as possible.

Zivania

Since the 15th century, zivania has been the island's local drink, used by both Turkish and Greek Cypriots. Grape pomace and local dry wines are mixed together and go through the production system to create a very unique and strong alcoholic drink. It's alcohol volume is usually 45% but different versions vary and some home-made versions get to more than 60% and are not very safe.Fun fact, when the presidents of both sides for the very first time went through the borders together, they had coffee in the North and then finished almost a bottle of Zivania in the south. 

It is usually drank as shots and in groups, served with fruit. 

Zivania has many uses other than just being an alcoholic drink, it is used to treat colds, sore body parts are massaged with it, cleaning wounds is another use and it is also used even for toothache. 

"For personal reason a brief part of the article before the ways of making Zivania is not available in the online version"

Finally, this is how zivania is made;

"In order to produce zivania of the highest grade, mature healthy grapes of the best quality are used. The grape must used for the fermentation should be of less than 13° Baumé, in order to get complete fermentation. As soon as the fermentation process completes (i.e. producing less or equal to 0° Baumé reading) the wine and pomace mixture is transferred to the main container of the distillation apparatus, called kazani (Greek: καζάνι) and the distillation process begins. The first zivania that comes from the distiller has the highest alcohol content, while the last taken out of the apparatus has a low alcohol content and it is called porakos (Greek: πόρακος). Depending on the pre-distillation mixture, different qualities of zivania are produced:

Zivania produced by using only wine the distillation

Zivania produced by using wine and pomace for the distillation

Zivania produced by using pomace, water and weak zivania" (retrieved from Wikipedia)

The following video is a demonstration of one of the methods;