“Inside a former UN HQ in Nicosia, now abandoned. It used to be an apartment block but turned into a battleground, with the UN moving in after the war. It was a fascinating place, there was artwork all over the walls from the regiments of the home countries of soldiers serving to Premier League football clubs to The Simpsons animations. I guess soldiers over time got bored and decided to do some artwork. In this photo is an illustration showing sections in the heart of the capital city of how it is actually divided, showing the areas under Turkish control, the UN Buffer Zone and the Republic of Cyprus. Almost all of those areas I have also explored and photographed myself.
I took this photo in 2021 when I visited the Buffer Zone with UN peacekeeping forces, visiting an area frozen in time from 50 – 60 years ago. Accompanied by 3 soldiers with frontline experience in Afghanistan and other NATO and British army missions. When stepping into no man’s land, we went from a concrete jungle in the city to what felt like an actual jungle in the Buffer Zone because everything was overgrown and the noise faded to dead silence. On our route, the Turkish army was placed on street corners on the left and the Cyprus National Guard army to the right, tension filled the air during the patrol.”
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Source: Andreas Avraam photography
“Inside a former UN HQ in Nicosia, now abandoned. It used to be an apartment block but turned into a battleground, with the UN moving in after the war. It was a fascinating place, there was artwork all over the walls from the regiments of the home countries of soldiers serving to Premier League football clubs to The Simpsons animations. I guess soldiers over time got bored and decided to do some artwork. In this photo is an illustration showing sections in the heart of the capital city of how it is actually divided, showing the areas under Turkish control, the UN Buffer Zone and the Republic of Cyprus. Almost all of those areas I have also explored and photographed myself.
I took this photo in 2021 when I visited the Buffer Zone with UN peacekeeping forces, visiting an area frozen in time from 50 – 60 years ago. Accompanied by 3 soldiers with frontline experience in Afghanistan and other NATO and British army missions. When stepping into no man’s land, we went from a concrete jungle in the city to what felt like an actual jungle in the Buffer Zone because everything was overgrown and the noise faded to dead silence. On our route, the Turkish army was placed on street corners on the left and the Cyprus National Guard army to the right, tension filled the air during the patrol.”