Nicosia belongs to the Republic of Cyprus in its entirety under international law, but since the occupation of Northern Cyprus by Turkish armed forces and the proclamation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in November 1983, it has de facto no sovereignty over North Nicosia. Since then, the city has been divided by a "Green Line" (English Green Line, Turkish yeşil has), which is monitored by United Nations peacekeeping forces, the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP).
The almost five-kilometer-long Venetian fortress wall was built in 1567/1568 and encloses the old town in a star shape with eleven bastions. Five bastions are in the south (clockwise): Caraffa, Podocataro, Constanza, D'Avila, Tripoli, five in the north: Roccas (Turkish: Kaytazağa), Mula (Zahra), Quirini (Cephane), Barbaro (Musalla), Loredano ( Cevizli), the Flatro bastion (Sibeli) is finally divided, with border guards on both sides and a UN post.
Within our project we visited Lefkosa / Nicosia, the still divided capital of Cyprus, which is at the same time and despite of that the largest city on the island of Cyprus with about 73,000 inhabitants.
The Selimiye Mosque is one of the most important mosques in Northern Cyprus, as almost all of the major Muslim festivals on the calendar are celebrated in it.
The owner and planner of this two-story 19th century residential house was Dervis Pascha, the editor of the first Turkish daily newspaper in Cyprus.