Varosha: A Glimmer of Hope for Cyprus

A huge forest blaze in Cyprus has killed four people, destroyed homes and forced evacuations of villages as Greece, Israel and other countries deployed fire-fighting planes to the Mediterranean island.

Young wildlife vet Constantinos Antoniou, known in his country and among animal lovers as the "Birdman of Cyprus", passionately takes care of hundreds of wounded or sick wild birds every year before releasing them back to their natural habitat.

Gaynor Georgiou, 77, is a British national known as the 'cat lady' of Cyprus. Everyday she visits eight selected spots to feed the felines of Paphos, come rain or shine. Georgiou, who has consistently looked after around 160 daily cats for the last 32 years, relies mostly on her own money to provide the cat food, water and medical assistance. She also receives donations, but these have suffered recently due to the coronavirus and the lack of tourists.

Newly hatched Loggerhead sea turtles dodge micro plastic pollution littering the beach as they head out to sea in a turtle conservation area at Lara Beach in the Akamas Peninsula, in the west of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.

Facilities to encourage visitors to avoid the use of single use plastics are installed by several NGOs and the municipality at the Ayia Triada beach in Paralimni. The beach is now equipped with a water station for cold, filtered and free water. It includes an area for smokers and signs with information on how the visitors can become part of the solution, not the problem are also found at selected points.

The Mediterranean island of Cyprus is now the European country that receives the most asylum seekers relative to its population. In 2020, this nation of 875,000 registered 7,000 applications for asylum. With borders on the Balkan route largely closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and migration policies tightening, Cyprus now finds itself on the frontline. More and more migrants from Syria, Lebanon and sub-Saharan Africa are taking great risks to get to the island in the hope of reaching Europe.

Priests in Cyprus bless pets and their owners as they mark World Animal Day, an international day of action for animal rights and welfare celebrated annually on October 4.

A young couple from Cameroon has been stuck on the narrow border strip of the island of Cyprus for months. Their destination was the EU, but Cyprus wants to prevent any new escape route from forming and refuses to bend.

Occupied by Turkish soldiers for close to half a century, the former Cypriot resort town of Varosha lies in ruins. Known as Marash in Turkish, the town is situated in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, an entity only recognised by Ankara. It's also home to one of the two Turkish military bases on the island. According to a 1984 UN resolution, Varosha must be returned to its original owners. But neither the Greek Cypriot authorities, nor the Turkish Cypriot administration have taken steps to apply the decision. Our regional correspondents Shona Bhattacharyya and Ludovic de Foucaud report.

Greek Cypriot Andreas Lordos is fighting for the restitution of his family’s property, as well as for reconciliation with Turkish Cypriots. He has been regularly travelling to the island’s Turkish-occupied north.

Cypriot President Nikos Anastasiadis granted an interview to FRANCE 24 from the capital Nicosia. The northern third of the Republic of Cyprus has been under Turkish domination since 1974. Anastasiadis said that Russia's invasion of Ukraine uses the "exact same arguments that Turkey used to invade Cyprus". Asked about tensions with Turkey over hydrocarbons, he expressed hope that Ankara will not "will not attempt to do anything that will cause conflagration and risk peace in the region".

In Northern Cyprus, a booming industry in higher education has lured many African students with the chance to work in Europe. Unfortunately, many of these students end up saddled with debt and left vulnerable to loan sharks and human traffickers.