At
the town of Pyla the United Nations Buffer Zone ends it main stretch in
the east towards the SBA Area of Dhekelia.
The
border marker is of standard Cypriot type. The village is special in the respect that it is the only settlement in Cyprus still inhabited by both its original Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot inhabitants
1). 850 of the inhabitants are Greek Cypriots and 487 are Turkish Cypriots
2).
A
border marker at the road right north of Pyla. From Kevin Meynell's 2003
report 3, 4, 5) we know this border marker was no. 28.
The
UK-Cyprus border marker is here completely marked with both Station
and Station Mark codes.
A
sign at the northern side of the marker informs that one enters a United
Kingdom territory.
A
piece of the United Kingdom on Cyprus. The UK sign was in English only,
as everywhere else on the island.
At
the southern side of the border a blue sign told "UN Bufferzone" in English,
Turkish and Greek.
Or
more accurate: "UN BUŦŦERZONE".
The
location of these photos are north of the town of Pyla; one of the very
few towns on Cyprus where Cypriots and Turks still are living side by
side as before 1974. The town is located inside the United Nation
Buffer Zone.
The
upper photos on this page were photographed here.
About
400 metres west of the location, in the middle of the UN buffer zone the
Turks had an observation post (called "TR OP" on this
image), just above the town.
The
OP was located on a small hill, a few hundred metres north of the city
centre.
The
Turkish exclave inside the United Nation zone appeared to have very good
communications systems.
A
few hundred metres north of the road border with entry signs we observed
a more ordinary UK-UN border marker; from concrete and unnumbered.
The
marker was about 60 cm tall. On this photo
this position is marked "UKUN bm".
Some
100 metres west of the mentioned marker we found a typical land United Nations
greenline with white painted
oil barrels marked with "UN" as well as No Photography and
No
Entry signs. The area anyway looked quite calm and with a number of new
built dwellings. But after almost 38 years, still under international
control.
"STOP
- NO PHOTOGRAPHY - UN AUTHORISED PERSONELL AND VEHICLES
ONLY." This is not an actual UN zone limit.
But
here the barrels marked a UN-UK boundary.
White-painted
barrels with "UN" in black. On this
photo this position is marked "UN barr".
