October 20, 2003	Monday	Sha'aban 23, 1424

BAHCELI (Cyprus): It is a timeless scene — elderly folk hobbling to prayers at the local mosque while the Mediterranean sun beats down on the lush olive groves and cypress trees surrounding their tranquil village.

But this is no ordinary village. Its residents are haunted by fears they may be turfed out of their homes, if Cyprus’s hostile factions clinch an elusive peace settlement in time for the island’s entry into the European Union next May.

The residents of Bahceli in northern Cyprus are mostly mainland Turks from the city of Trabzon on Turkey’s northern Black Sea coast, who came to Cyprus’s breakaway north in search of a better life.

Turkish troops invaded the northern part of the island in 1974 in response to a brief Greek Cypriot coup backed by the military junta then ruling Greece.

Three decades later, leader Rauf Denktash’s Turkish Cypriot statelet — recognized only by Turkey and targeted by international trade sanctions — is under heavy pressure to cut a deal with the majority Greek Cypriots to the south.

Under a United Nations-brokered blueprint for peace, the Greek Cypriots would be allowed to take back some of the territory seized by the Turkish army in 1974.

Bahceli — or Kalogrea as it is known to Greek Cypriots — does not feature on the UN maps outlining territorial transfers, but many of its 430 residents still fear the Greek Cypriots would return to claim what was once theirs.

ISOLATED: Denktash has already rejected the UN blueprint, but US and EU officials are urging Turkey to use its influence to force the veteran leader back to the negotiating table.

A settlement would allow Cyprus to enter the EU reunited. Without a deal, the internationally recognised Greek Cypriot government will join the EU anyway, cementing the island’s division and leaving the Turkish Cypriots even more isolated.

Many of Bahceli’s buildings are abandoned, including the village health centre. The mosque is a converted Greek Orthodox church. Most residents scrape a living from rudimentary farming.

Turkish Cypriots will have a say on their future in a general election set for December 14. —Reuters