Cyprus

Phlegmwahn, were you there when the Turks invaded then?

I thought it was a grass strip, just shows what memory can do.

jim wrote:

Phlegmwahn, were you there when the Turks invaded then?

I thought it was a grass strip, just shows what memory can do.

I was there mid 1971 to end 1974.
The bondoo wouldn't support grass unless it was nurtured and well tended. Kingsfield was always well used by gliders and light aircraft. For a long time there was a Herc parked there with a big dent in its nose. I think it had turned into the building while manoeuvring.
Prior to June 74 the whisper was that the Greek Officers of the Cypriot National Guard had been 'tipped the wink' by Athens to depose Makarios so that the island could be aligned with Greece.
The coup kicked off in mid July. EOKA gunman and convicted murderer Nicos Sampson was declared President, but there were hostile factions within the Junta.
There was a brief pause then on the 20th the Turks, fearing for the Turkish Cypriot population, invaded and secured the northern half of the island.
Sadly the bitterness that divided the two communities came to the surface and atrocities were commited on both sides.
I have never been back.

Phlegmwahn wrote:

I have to laugh. We had a view people who didn't like Cyprus, it was too far from home, you couldn't get this or that, it was too hot or it was too cold. What really PMO was some whingers even complained, "There's nothing to do!"
Our family was young but there were fantastic beaches. Aya Nappa was still a sleepy village just an hour away. In and around Dhekelia there was dinghy sailing, scuba diving, water skiing, parachuting and a whole myriad of social clubs incuding Scottish Country Dancing!
As far as we were concerned it was our best posting, a two-and-a-half year holiday with minor interruptions for work.

Phlegmwahn wasn't that the case wherever people were posted. I knew of people who served in BAOR for most of their 22 years yet, hardly spoke a word of German. Life for them consisted of NAAFI, Mess and MQ Areas, they couldn't be bothered to get out and about.

In the hills above our place in Kyrenia is Makarios' old house, it is now used as a Soldiers home/Canteen for the Turkish Army - a sort of Turkish Round House!

Too true Shelldrake. An auld sweat once said to me, You'll get as much enjoyment out of a place as you're prepared to put into it." I made every effort to enjoy my postings.

Interesting that you've got a place in Kyrenia. I hope it's as pretty now as it was in the early 70s. That was a beautiful coast.

Shelldrake wrote:

Phlegmwahn wrote:

I have to laugh. We had a view people who didn't like Cyprus, it was too far from home, you couldn't get this or that, it was too hot or it was too cold. What really PMO was some whingers even complained, "There's nothing to do!"
Our family was young but there were fantastic beaches. Aya Nappa was still a sleepy village just an hour away. In and around Dhekelia there was dinghy sailing, scuba diving, water skiing, parachuting and a whole myriad of social clubs incuding Scottish Country Dancing!
As far as we were concerned it was our best posting, a two-and-a-half year holiday with minor interruptions for work.

Phlegmwahn wasn't that the case wherever people were posted. I knew of people who served in BAOR for most of their 22 years yet, hardly spoke a word of German. Life for them consisted of NAAFI, Mess and MQ Areas, they couldn't be bothered to get out and about.

In the hills above our place in Kyrenia is Makarios' old house, it is now used as a Soldiers home/Canteen for the Turkish Army - a sort of Turkish Round House!

Those people in BAOR you mention Shelldrake, sounds very much like 24 Missile !

Phlegmwahn wrote:

Too true Shelldrake. An auld sweat once said to me, You'll get as much enjoyment out of a place as you're prepared to put into it." I made every effort to enjoy my postings.

Interesting that you've got a place in Kyrenia. I hope it's as pretty now as it was in the early 70s. That was a beautiful coast.

In '69 there was a time when we were around Buffavento (have I got that right ?) and looking down on Kyrenia harbour. Sir Galahad was in there and, out to sea, was Bulwark. Hell of a view from there.

We holidayed in a hotel a couple of miles along the coast from Girne (didn't Kyrenia sound better ?)
in '98 and we felt threatened by the aggressive Turkish soldiery.

brum wrote:

Shelldrake wrote:

Phlegmwahn wrote:

I have to laugh. We had a view people who didn't like Cyprus, it was too far from home, you couldn't get this or that, it was too hot or it was too cold. What really PMO was some whingers even complained, "There's nothing to do!"
Our family was young but there were fantastic beaches. Aya Nappa was still a sleepy village just an hour away. In and around Dhekelia there was dinghy sailing, scuba diving, water skiing, parachuting and a whole myriad of social clubs incuding Scottish Country Dancing!
As far as we were concerned it was our best posting, a two-and-a-half year holiday with minor interruptions for work.

Phlegmwahn wasn't that the case wherever people were posted. I knew of people who served in BAOR for most of their 22 years yet, hardly spoke a word of German. Life for them consisted of NAAFI, Mess and MQ Areas, they couldn't be bothered to get out and about.

In the hills above our place in Kyrenia is Makarios' old house, it is now used as a Soldiers home/Canteen for the Turkish Army - a sort of Turkish Round House!

Those people in BAOR you mention Shelldrake, sounds very much like 24 Missile !

or 39 or 50 - take your pick!!

People are still like that. i have just finished a 4 year posting in jakarata, i loved it, but i know lots of ex pats who couldnt stand the place. just hung out in the local ex pat bars, drank imported beer and read the UK Express !!!!

Brum, it was probably from St Hilarion Castle that you had the magnificent view, apparently Walt Disney based his Castle in Snow White on St Hilarion but that could just be a Tourist Blurb! The Castle is now lit up during the hours of darkness and it looks fantastic. Most people still refer to it as Kyrenia and over the past few years the EU (although the TRNC isn't in the EU) have pumped a lot of money into upgrading the infrastructure. Can't say that I felt intimidated or threatened by the Turkish Army, most of whom are
NS Men, in my opinion if it wasn't for their presence the GC would have been back over the Green Line a long time ago - doesn't say much for the UN!! A little story. We were out wandering around Kyrenia one day when a Geordie guy and his family came up and asked us if we spoke English and then asked us where he was!! They were on holiday in the South and had decided to cross the border with the map that he had bought in Larnaca. On all Southern maps of Cyprus the TRNC is blank with the words "Turkish Occupied Zone" printed on it. When he got over the border he headed for Girne, and as most of the place name signs are now Turkish he didn't actually realise that he was in Kyrenia.

Ah yes, the guy who replaced me in HQ NI was horrified to be given an MQ on Harmony Hill, he refused it and took one of the crappy old ones in Thiepval. I heard later that apart from flying in and then out at the end of his tour, he and his wife never left the BKS. Sad really.