Richard And Jo Demeester's photos with the keyword: border

This ridge defines part of the border between Georgia and Azerbaijan. An ancient tower looks down to the plains that are unseen in this picture but are laid out to the left of our point of view. The mountains and ridges to the right, behind the tower, are in Georgia.

Spread out from our photo location through to the city on the other side are abandoned houses that now sit in “No Man's Land”. These were abandoned when the Turkish troops were advancing in the north. Now, they are in the United Nations Buffer Zone, a strip patrolled by white helicopters and men in blue berets. This particular spot was the scene of particularly events. An unarmed man from the Republic was kicked and beaten to death in the late 90's. And a week later, a man protesting about the event was shot climbing a Turkish flagpole. Both events were witnessed by many, and captured in many photos and videos.

We are going to try and avoid getting political. In fact, we can't, because truth be known, we don't really hold an opinion as to what is “right”. The northern third of Cyprus call themselves an independent country, “The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”. The rest of Cyprus stands by the statement that the area is part of the “Republic of Cyprus” and calls the northern part the area currently held by Turkish forces. If we inadvertently anywhere make some sort of statement that implies we support the legitimacy of one over the other, then we apologise now. This photo is taken near a town called Deryneia, where the tensions are still perhaps a little higher than elsewhere.