This year marks four decades since the Cyprus National Guard staged a coup that led to Turkish military intervention and escalated the civil war between the Greek and Turkish communities on the island. After the ceasefire, a heavily restricted buffer zone, controlled by the United Nations, was established between the north and south. It stretches 180 km (112 mi) across the whole island measuring 7.4 km (4.6 mi) at its widest and 3.3 m (11 ft) at its narrowest point. The demilitarized zone is restricted to the general public and no Greek or Turkish Cypriots are allowed inside. Reuters photographer Neil Hall recently visited the buffer zone, which still contains crumbling relics of times gone by - abandoned houses, businesses, and even an airport - crumbling snapshots of Cyprus in 1974.
Frozen In Time: The Cyprus Buffer Zone
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The abandoned Nicosia International Airport near Nicosia, Cyprus, on March 10, 2014. For 40 years now, a buffer zone - a no-man's land controlled by the United Nations - has split Cyprus from east to west, with Cyprus's ethnic Greeks living in the south, and its Turks in the north. The buffer zone still contains crumbling relics of times gone by - abandoned houses, businesses and even an airport. In 1960, a power-sharing government crumbled soon after independence from Britain, and the island has been divided since a Greek Cypriot coup was followed by a Turkish invasion of the north in 1974. #
Reuters/Neil Hall -
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A sign marks the boundary of the United Nations buffer zone in the village of Pyla, Cyprus, on March 11, 2014. Pyla is one of a few villages in the UN buffer zone, and it is home to a mixed community of both Greek and Turkish Cypriots. #
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An abandoned house with bullet-holes, defensive sand bags and firing positions, seen behind barbed wire inside the UN buffer zone in central Nicosia on March 12, 2014. #
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Cars sit abandoned in a former shopping center inside the UN buffer zone in central Nicosia on March 12, 2014. The cars were imported from Japan to be sold at a Toyota dealership. They were stored here during the 1974 conflict and have not been moved since. #
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Cars from 1974 sit abandoned in an underground garage in UN buffer zone in Nicosia on March 12, 2014. Some of the cars, idle for four decades, have only 32 miles (52 km) on the odometer. #
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Travelers pass through passport control to enter northern Cyprus in central Nicosia on March 13, 2014. Across the island of Cyprus there are six border crossings allowing movement between the north and the south of the island. There are passport controls on the borders, although the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is not officially recognized by the UN Security Council. People cross the borders for both work and leisure and both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots can move freely. #
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Children play in a park next to a fence marking the UN buffer zone in a partially restricted area in the Turkish Cypriot controlled area of central Nicosia on March 15, 2014. #
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