During the second phase of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus (14th of  August 1974), the Messaoria plain was overrun by Turkish tanks and in two days the Turkish army was in Famagusta.

The town had been completely evacuated by it's Greek Cypriot population who fled before the invading army after the town had been bombed by the Turkish air-force.
Unlike other parts of occupied Cyprus, the town of Famagusta was sealed off by the Turkish army immediately after being captured and no one was allowed to enter that part of the town - not even journalists.  The term "ghost town" was coined later by Swedish journalist Jan-Olof Bengtsson, who visited the Swedish UN battalion in Famagusta port and saw the sealed off part of the town from the battalion's observation post.
He wrote in Kvallsposten (24.9.77):

“The asphalt on the roads has cracked in the warm sun and along the sidewalks bushes are growing.

Today. September 1977, the breakfast tables are still set, the laundry still hanging and the lamps still burning.  Famagusta is a ghost-town.”

Over the years, Thakos Zissis has been collecting images of the 'ghost town'. These have been published in his successful book "Famagusta - A Town in Hostage" and now in the "Famagusta - A Town in Hostage" Digital Edition CD ROM & downloadable edition (both for Windows PC's)

 

Available for order on-line from this site.

Flash Version