The Road to Zodia – An Uncomfortable Truth | Cyprus

The Road to Zodia – An Uncomfortable Truth | Cyprus

We are sharing here an introduction by UK‑based Oz Orman about the latest video he has produced on Cyprus’s past, available on the YouTube channel Morton Park FC, which features many fascinating historical videos about Cyprus, as well as UK faces and places.

“No one chooses to be a refugee. We all deserve to have a home and to be safe.” — Hangama Amiri

Readers’ Mail……
From Oz Orman……

My next video project, described as an interesting and thought‑provoking film, highlights the impact of the Cyprus Crisis of 1974 and the chaos that followed on both Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots. Initially, many believed their stay in the village of Zodia/Bostancı, near Morphou/Güzelyurt, would be temporary.

The film tells the story of Savaş, a ten‑year‑old child embarking on a dangerous journey northwards with others, evading Greek forces along the way. He lived in the village of Agios Ioannis (St John), northeast of Paphos in the south of the island. The Turkish Cypriot community referred to this village as Aydınköy or Ayyanni.

Savaş and his family were relocated to the buffer‑zone village of Bostancı (Zodia) in western Cyprus. Having lost their home in the south, they also lost the familiarity and routine of daily life, their livelihood as farmers, and their sense of place in the world. The family had to adapt quickly while living under the constant threat that the property they occupied after 1974 might be returned to Greek Cypriots as part of a future peace settlement.

The story then transitions to life in an unfamiliar town and the political realities that followed. Turkish Professor Kerim M. Munir, writing in the Cyprus Mail in September 2025, observed that for many Greek Cypriots, history begins with the Turkish intervention of 1974, with little willingness to confront the chain of events from 1963 onwards — including the breakdown of the Zurich–London Constitution, intercommunal violence, and the 1974 Athens junta coup.

Beyond Munir’s observations, there was also a humanitarian emergency on the island from the late 1950s into the 1960s, caused by government policies and the drive for Enosis. Munir further notes that, for Turkish Cypriots, 1974 is remembered as salvation, often with limited acknowledgment of Greek Cypriot displacement and trauma, alongside changing landscapes that increasingly reflect Turkey’s economic, cultural, and political influence—sometimes at the expense of a shared Cypriot identity.

This dual amnesia, now deeply entrenched, serves neither truth nor reconciliation. It inflates victimhood, deflates empathy, and prevents either community from recognising itself in the mirror the other holds up.

While researching this video project, I explored the Greek Cypriot perspective and discovered material relating to Zodia, now known as Bostancı. I felt it was both appropriate and important to highlight this viewpoint within the context of the film.

I know the village of Bostancı (Zodia) well, having relatives who live there and having visited the settlement during trips to Cyprus.

The Road to Zodia – An Uncomfortable Truth (Part One) is a story of refugees, displacement, and perseverance during a turbulent period in Cypriot history—the effects of which are still felt today.

By Oz Orman

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