2022-2023
TRNC, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, fills the northern third of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, and remains legally unrecognised for the past 49 years, since the civil war in 2074.
Despite a bewildering array of rules and sanctions, the TRNC continues to function normally, it borrows a postcode from neighbouring Mersin in Turkey, the only country to officially recognise TRNC's sovereignty, and tourists from around the world are welcome to visit.
Officially still at war with the Republic of Cyprus, an EU member state, and the southern two thirds of the island, they remain physically divided by a UN buffer zone, a web of fences, and armed men on both sides. Psychologically too, there are barriers, with many still unable to forgive or forget about the war of 1974, scared and intolerant of those on the other side of the wire.
In recent years, there has been a political movement amongst some Cypriots to unite the island, through platforms such as UniteCyprusNow, and others, although politicians didn't reach an agreement, and Cyprus continues to be a pawn in a political game between Greece and Turkey, as and when needed domestically.