Restoration work is under way in more than 70 Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot cemeteries across communities on both sides of the island, as part of a bi-communal drive to safeguard Cyprus’s shared cultural heritage.
The scheme, coordinated by the island’s Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage with the support of local community authorities, aims to transform sites that officials say have suffered decades of neglect, vandalism and the ravages of time.
“As a technical committee, having received the mandate from the leaders of the two communities, we are attempting to reverse the course of things and, with the assistance of the communities, restore these sites to a dignified state,” said Sotos Ktoris, the committee’s co-chairman, in an interview with local TV.
The work encompasses the rebuilding of perimeter walls, the clearing of overgrown vegetation, and the repositioning of crosses, Muslim tombstones and other funerary elements that had been destroyed or lost over the years.
“We are attempting to make a substantial shift that will contribute to improving the climate between the two communities,” Mr Ktoris added.
Restoration is also under way at churches and other religious sites looted during and in the aftermath of the 1974 Turkish invasion, with officials saying the ultimate aim is to restore every cemetery on the island.
