THE DREAM THAT BECAME A NIGHTMARE THROUGH THE LENS OF YIA CHRISTODOULOU

 Filenews 9 October 2020 - by Myrto Zoubidou  Yia Christodoulou/ CYPE

She imagined it differently on this day when she would set foot in the enclosed area of Varosios along with her camera. A day that would be festive after the return of the city to its rightful inhabitants and would be there to capture the shocking developments. She has often had the same dream, that she lived the opening of the city of Varosios, as a celebration of return.

Kia Christodoulou, photojournalist of the Cyprus News Agency, was found on Thursday morning very early in occupied Famagusta to cover the events in Varoshi. One day of those hurting, she tells us, "but you can't be absent from the event. It's a deep stab in the heart..."

She waits for the barricade to open as hundreds of thoughts pass through her mind. Without not understanding it, as soon as the cue was given, she found himself among the first ten to pass. "If I had wings at my feet I would fly... I'm going to go in first," she says.

Behind her settlers and other supporters of Ersin Tatar, as well as many other colleagues from various media. "It's a strange feeling." She felt alien among strangers in a place familiar.

Without any control, they enter the closed city. New fait accompli.

The whole thing, with its corrected streets and ruins, reminds her of an open-air museum. "You walk, you observe, and you can't help but be shaken, even if you're not a Varosiotis, even if you're not a refugee."

The walk with images creates incredible sadness. A deeply wounded city, left in the decay of time... He sees and records images of abandonment in the sometimes vibrant city that was full of life. Friends and well-known Famagusta had described where their homes are. Some of them manage to locate and photograph them.

The street signs, the signs of the hotels of shops and hotels, left at the mercy of voracious time. Forty and a half years of destruction in one click.

The gaze stands on the buildings swallowed by nature. In one house, the branches came out the window looking for the light. "Like the veins of man looking for ways to stay alive."

A day of cruel, torturous, painful. But Kia was there with her camera, an eyewitness once again, capturing with her lens and heart all these images and emotions.