Kyriakos' View

The Furniture Maker

Anna and I entered the city of Limassol on the downhill run(walk) of our journey. We walked on the narrow roads winding through the old city looking for our AirBNB. Old buildings of wood, concrete and brick lined the streets, some decaying, others restored to their original beauty.

We quickly walked past a wood shop before I stopped and walked back.

In the shop we met Kyriakos.

He is a refugee of the 1974 conflict and he fled to Limassol from Kyrenia in the North. Kyriakos has been building furniture since he was 12 and still loves creating from scratch. We spoke for a while. He made us coffee, showed us how he makes furniture, offered us a seat in chairs he made, and talked to us about Cyprus.

I asked if he thought a unification of the island is possible.

“I don’t think a solution can happen the way things are now. They just found oil off of our shores, and now Turkey will not leave.”

“The only way a solution is possible is for the Turkish military to leave, and the Turkish immigrants must leave.”

“I cannot go to my home! Someone lives in it. I went six years ago and I can’t go now, it’s too sad. I was asked to leave. From my own home.”