By Chris Krzentz……..
This article and video about my visit to Buyuk Han in Nicosia with my dear friend Tuncer Bagiskan, the Turkish Cypriot retired archaeologist, contains a surprise which I will tell you about shortly.
Starting our walk in the Lokmaci area, Tuncer explained the origin of the name which originated from an Armenian tradesman who made Locma way back in the 50s when the shops in the streets sold mainly shoes or textiles.
Walking down the most prominent and famous Arasta Street past all of the fascinating little shops when we came to the end we turned left and walked towards the Buyuk Han which Tuncer told me was built in 1575 by the Ottoman administration as a resting place and trading center and the revenue collected here was used to refurbish the nearby St Sophia Cathedral which was being converted and became the Selimiye Mosque.
As we turned left again and walked into the courtyard of the Buyuk Han there was beautiful music being played by the Lefkosa Belediye Orchestra and as I panned my video camera round I spotted Tuncer talking to someone who he obviously new very well and then they started waving at me.
Moving in close to my surprise I found his friend was Eren Erdogan a Turkish Cypriot who lives in Australia where he has been since he left Cyprus in 1973. He had made a rare visit back to Cyprus to visit old friends and relatives and just wanted to rediscover memories of the past and find his Cypriot roots again.
Larger than life Eren Erdogan and his brother Sermen run a fascinating Facebook page called Frozen Cypriots where a membership of over 7,000 people of different nationalities and religions share their love of Cyprus past by sharing so many historical photographs.
Tuncer and Eren talking together shared many memories of Cyprus past so please sit back and enjoy the video from the Buyuk Han and if you like my videos, feel free to subscribe to my global youtube channel click here and you can also find me by clicking on the following links Facebook, Chris Krzentz Presents, Cyprus Culture Group, Twitter, LinkedIn,
To read my previous Kyrenia walking tour article, please click here
Thank you for the opportunity Chris and Tuncer.
Thank you Eren. It was a pleasure to meet you, and talk to you on camera as well.