It became quite obvious to me after just a short time in the
army that much of my military career would be spent guarding, patrolling and
living at times in some strange places - and no stranger than the 'Border Lands' , or often described as 'no man lands', 'green
zones'. Various names, but all similar in ways.
A recent book, “Off the Map” by Alastair Bonnett has a whole
chapter on them, from a strip of land that exists between Guinea and Senegal to
Nahuaterique via a traffic island in Newcastle. All places that we know exist
but not sure who owns them, lives there, runs them.
My time in the Green Jackets would take me to many places
like this and to borders on a map that politicians may thing exist but in
reality very other few people take any notice of.(Irish border) Or the dependencies
that live beyond a border and exist and flourish but may not if the border was removed
(Gibraltar) .
We (as the military) have occupied, worked and lived in
these often strange zones, from the partitioned Berlin (1945-89) to more recent
Green zone that exist in Baghdad. Even
when working (and living in Germany) we existed in some sort of limbo land –
part of the UK, with some British laws that existed in another European sovereign
country, not that we acted like the Americans and made their bases feel like a
cross between ‘Little House on the Prairie’ and the town square in ‘Back to the
Future’ and used dollars rather than the German Mark. It must have been the
same for those garrisoned in Hong Kong.
Then there was Gibraltar, argued over with Spain but the
border is now open, with many of the locals now moved onto the Spanish mainland
but Gibraltar still exists as some British enclave, but what would happen if
Spain took control, I am sure the peak and the apes would still be a tourist
attraction, but would the airport survive? Would the ferries to Tangiers bother
pulling into the harbour, would British tourists bother taking the coach trip from
their Spanish resort to just another Spanish resort? So in fact it benefits
both Gibraltar and Spain to leave it as it is.
However my first taste of these strange 'Border lands', was in
Cyrus in 1980, when as a member of 3rd Battalion Royal Green
Jackets, we were to spend 6 months on this Mediterranean Island, we were to
spend 3 months in the Eastern Sovereign Base at Dhekelia, then 3 months as part
of a United Nations force to the west of Nicosia.
Dhekelia was ( like the Western Sovereign Base at Episkopi) also a strange place in its own right, part of
the UK, our own police force but with a Cypriot road going through it as ( in those
days, very few) tourists made their way from Larnaca to Aya Napa. The road still
exists, however a new dual carriage way now by-passes the base to the north.
Plus within the Sovereign Area were three Greek Cypriot enclaves (one is the
local power station) and then to add to the confusion, most of the civilian
workforce were bussed in from the Turkish controlled zone to the north.
Not all work - Regimental birthday on the beach in Dhekelia - Sgt Smith - Provo Sgt- to be avoided!
We knew that when we went to the United Nations Force we
would be living in, operating in and guarding a buffer zone between the Turkish
Army in the north and the Greek Cypriot Army to the south, but what we did not
know that even whilst working in Dhekelia we would end up living and operating in
a green zone.
The buffer zone in Cyprus was created by the British Army in
the early 60’s to help stop feuding between the Greek and Turkish population,
after the Turkish Army invaded Northern Cyprus in 1974 it became to responsibility
of the United Nations, the zone is known as the Green line ( Turkish often call
it the Attila Line)
The UN resolution that created the buffer zone – the Green Line:
A security zone of a size to be determined by representatives of Greece,
Turkey, and the United Kingdom, in consultation with UNFICYP, was to be
established at the limit of the areas occupied by the Turkish armed forces.
This zone was to be entered by no forces other than those of UNFICYP, which was
to supervise the prohibition of entry. Pending the determination of the size
and character of the security zone, the existing area between the two forces
was not to be breached by any forces.
— Tripartite Conference & Geneva
Declaration,
The Green Line stretches for 112 miles, and includes a small Turkish
enclave on the west coast of the Island, but what I did not know ( might have
been told but probably was not listening- was only 18) is that part of that
Green Line does not exist as a buffer between Turkish and Greek Cypriot forces,
there was part of that line where Turkish troops faced directly British troops,
not in UN Blue berets, but in our Green beret and it was Turkish controlled Cyprus
bordering the UK – as the Dhekelia sovereign base may have had Greek Cyprus to
the east and west of it but to the north it was Turkish controlled – I think at
that time the closest UN troops were Swedish both to the east and west of us (
now I believe it is a Slovakian force) and there we were 90 British troops
protecting just one small part of the sovereign area- Ayios Nikolaos a small
piece of Britain that jutted out to the north east.
So there I was a young soldier finding myself armed, and patrolling this
arid land or living in a small hut on a road from Ayios Nikolaos to what seemed
nowhere- a couple of buses passed in the morning, bringing in the Turkish work
force and then in the evening it took them home, this little hut (home) was
called Black Knight – fortunately a small shop was next to it, to keep us
supplied with cold coke and water melon.
We knew we would be doing something similar when on the UN part of the
tour but could not understand why we doing it now, then it slowly dawned on us
but also at the same time threw up many strange questions that were never fully answered. Ayios
Nikolaos was a Signal base, many large masts, with their job to listen into the
Soviet fleet as it left the Back Sea – listening in on behalf of NATO – which we
like Turkey were /are a member of – so we guarding a NATO base from another
NATO member country, even stranger (maybe an urban myth) we were told that the
NATO General responsible for the Eastern end of the Mediterranean was Turkish, so he was probably
the beneficiary of the reports and intelligence collated at compiled at this
small part of the UK, surrounded by his own army!
It was still fun, one young officer had an idea of patrolling this arid
land on horses, luckily for me not our officer, and as the Royal Signals
soldiers were very well trained/ paid and so well looked after, we found the
food far better than what we were used to- a big shock was that you were even
allowed to fry your own eggs on a griddle at breakfast!
I enjoyed living at Back Knight with 12 other mates, it cost us some money
as game of street cricket on the road ended up with a broken shop window –
however we also had to patrol the Green line by vehicle coming across deserted villages
and as you came over a small ridge, in front of you was Famagusta, once a
modern Mediterranean resort, high rise hotels, beach bars, but now deserted, the
Greek citizens were living (in 1980) in refugee camps outside Larnaca, and the
Turkish army stopping local Turk Cypriots from moving in – now you can see it
from the sea as just the other side of the buffer zone a once deserted coastline
is now full of hotels – with mainly UK and Russian tourists that has stretched
up the coast from Aya Napa.
It was on one of these patrols that we came across a small group of
Turkish troops on the other side of the barbed wire, and we were beckoned over
by a loud voice with what seemed a cockney ( or as we often described the
accents of those in our own regiment who came from Hertfordshire/Essex- as Mockney)
accent, we found then that this young Turkish soldier was in fact from North
London, dual passport and whilst on a business trip to the land of his parents,
he had been conscripted! His father said he had to spend his year on national
service as he did not want to lose his business interest in Turkey!
He gave us his father’s address and we sent him a letter and then for
the next few weeks we delivered him cigarettes (by the hundreds) that his
father had paid for and other gifts – as this young soldier did not have a
great grasp of his parents language, at least being flush in both cigarettes
and other luxuries- it could make his life much more bearable!
So this was my first experience of living in the ‘Border lands’ - a place
that was governed by no one , ownership was disputed and we often found ourselves
as the only inhabitants but that did not mean that we did not see anyone, for a
place that no one lived in, we still had many people making their way across
this border that was not really a border, the deserted villages were now full of
flora and even if no one was meant to visit, you often found some family had
made their way back to their ancestral home, often to remember a late relative
or celebrate some anniversary.
40 hears on I guess it may be very different, the border is now open in
a number of places, the border is now a tourist attraction, those Greek
families who fled Famagusta in 1974 now live in small towns and villages that
service the tourist industry and coastal resorts, Famagusta is no longer deserted but still no where near having the 40,000 population it had in 1974 and the British still operate out of Dhekelia and Ayios Nikolaos but not sure
if Black Knight and the little shop (and the broken window from a stray cricket
ball) is on the little used road into Famagusta. – Heard since, that it still exists, and now is used by locals from both
sides and tourists to cross the border, it looks busier and not sure a game of
street cricket would be possible now.!
Black Knight 2019
After our stint operating on the Green Line between ourselves and the
Turkish forces, we would now move north to work and live in a real buffer zone,
the Green Line, west of Nicosia, between the Turkish Army and Greek Cypriot
forces. To be continued in part 2.
