Famagusta, Cyprus: The ghost town lies near the very center of the city, just outside the Venetian walls. It is home only to snakes, scorpions, and rats of a hundred varieties. Signs on the fences around the ghost town show armed Turkish soldiers threatening those taking photographs with arrest or worse. The crumbling buildings inside the perimeter are frozen in time in 1974, as if in an episode of "The Twilight Zone." Nothing has changed since central Famagusta was converted into a ghost town - called Varosha - by the invaders. It is said that the car distributorships in the ghost town even today are stocked with vintage 1974 models. For years after the rape of Famagusta, people told of seeing light bulbs still burning in the windows of the abandoned buildings. Hollywood studios could clothe whole movie sets with the 1974 fashions still in the closets of the homes. Three years after the invasion, the scene was described by Swedish journalist Jan-Olof Bengtsson: "The asphalt on the roads has cracked in the warm sun and along the sidewalks bushes are growing. Today - September 1977 - the breakfast tables are still set, the laundry still hanging and the lamps still burning. Varosha is a ghost town." The Turks currently at the forefront of the assault against Israel for its "illegal occupation" of its own Jewish homeland, and for supposedly mistreating Palestinians, are the very same people who continue the massive crime against humanity in the form of the Famagusta ghost town. Born in ethnic cleansing, it is the enduring testimony to the illegal land grab on Cyprus by Turkey, the mass expulsion of the ethnic Greek Cypriots from the northern 40 percent of the island, the theft of their property, and an unknown number of murders of Greek Cypriots by Turkey. Advertisement The illegal "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" is recognized by not a single country besides Turkey itself. Since its brutal invasion, Turkey has moved countless thousands of its citizens/troops onto northern Cyprus. This is the same Turkey that venomously denounces Israel when it builds "settlements" in the suburbs of Jerusalem for Jewish civilians on lands they have purchased legally. Famagusta was first erected in the 13th century BCE. Phoenicians came and went, as did the Assyrians and Persians. Greek settlers came to dominate its population. Some Jews migrated in from their homeland, producing the wine used in the Jerusalem Temple described in the Talmud, and later learning to manufacture silk. Respect for human rights in Turkey is notably absent. The Turkish military police routinely kill civilians. Journalists have been assassinated. Islamofascism is growing stronger and local Islamic fundamentalist terrorists filled the Gaza "peace flotilla" sponsored by Turkey. Those are the terrorists whose suppression by Israel has now become the focus of Turkey's demand for an Israeli apology. When Israel invaded Gaza to put a stop to massive rocket attacks against its civilians by Hamas terrorists, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced Israel for "massacring innocent women and children." He accused Israel of "mass murder" in Gaza, ranting at length about how Israel had turned the Gaza Strip into an "open-air prison." But, in fact, the largest ongoing "open air" human-rights violation and crime against humanity is on display for all to see behind the barbed wire and fences of the ghost town of Famagusta. Steven Plaut

There is an excellent book (excerp below) Entitled, "26 Reasons Why Jews Don't Believe In Jesus" READ IT ! The Jewish prophet Jeremiah cursed King Jeconiah (and his descendents) because Jeconiah was an apostate king. According to the curse NO descendent of King Jeconiah may sit on the throne of Israel. Matthew and Luke both appear to have been aware of Jeremiah’s curse and the fatal problem it created for Jesus. So Luke eliminated King Jeconiah from Jesus’ geneology. However, both Matthew and Luke blundered by leaving Shealtial (Jeconiah’s son) and Zerubbabel, (Jeconiah’s grandson) in Jesus’ genealogy. Historically, none of Jeconiah’s descendents ever again sat as a Jewish king, although one of his righteous descendents sat as governor. Matthew failed to remove King Jeconiah fom Jesus’ genealogy. Instead, he eliminated King Jehoiakim, King Jeconiah’s father. Apparently, Matthew was confused by the similarity of their names and eliminated the wrong king by mistake. Luke’s genealogy from David to Jesus is 15 generations longer than Matthew’s genealogy from David to Jesus. This undermines the Christian claim that the Gospels are the “word of G-d”, because G-d certainly knows the genealogy of King David. Some Christians attempt to solve this fatal problem by claiming that Luke’s genealogy is actually that of Mary, although Mary is not even mentioned in Luke’s genealogy. Further, this claim is rendered meaningless by the fact that Jewish law only recognizes tribal affiliation through the father. Even ‘if’ one could consider the genealogy of the mother, if one assumes that a generation is at least 20 years, this means that Joseph was at least 300 years older than his wife (15 extra generations X 20 years per generation = a 300 year difference in their ages. This gives a new meaning to a “May-December” relationship. The two genealogies do not agree of Jesus’ grandfather. According to Matthew, Jesus’ grandfather was Jacob and according to Luke, he was Heli. This creates another devastating contradiction, further undermining the credibility of the genealogies given for Jesus by Matthew and Luke. The apostle Paul, realized that Matthew’ and Luke’s genealogies were problematic for Jesus, so he said: “But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless.” “…nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than Godly edification which is in faith.” Paul had good reason to be concerned about the very flawed and contradictory genealogies in Luke and Matthew, since genealogy is the only authentic messianic criterion that the Christian bible claims that Jesus fulfilled. Jesus is eliminated from messianic consideration because of the myriad of errors and problems in both Matthew and Luke’s genealogies, in which they attempt to connect Jesus to David. Matthew said, “So all the generations from Abraham to David are 14 generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are 14 generations, King Jeconiah was taken into captivity in the 28th. generation, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are 14 generations.” Why were the 14 generations important to Matthew? In the Jewish Bible, Chronicles 1:3 lists the genealogy of Abraham to King David. It was 14 generations. Further, in gematria, which is the numerical sum of the letters of a Hebrew word (each Hebrew letter corresponds to a number), the Hebrew name “David” equals the number 14. Apparently Matthew decided that there should also be 14 generations between King Jeconiah and Jesus to match the 14 generations from Abraham to David and to match the gematria of David’s name. In order to create this 14 generation interval,

She should cry for 1.5 million Armenians Turks murdered in 1915. And thousands of Kurds they keep murdering as we speak.

there is an Arab saying 'ALKALB (DOG) DONT BITE HIS BROTHER

please don't forget the british establishment feeding opium to the chinese (from afghanistan in 1900's). or better yet, the indian mutiny, 1850's, when indian crops were taken to britain resulting in the deaths of over 10 million indians, the largest, numerically, mass murder, ever. one can learn a lot from the british establishment, especially double standards. when hitler says he admires the british empire in mein kampf, i don't think he's kidding. ps. the last major colony of the empire is britain itself, or could be. lol.

Because your whole life is based on lies.

Turks covered your ass for 500 years and welcomed you in their land when no one wanted you saved you distruction , and this is how you react to them, as a Turkish-Jew I am a shame of this, Israel is full of hate mongers and thie govrement reflect that, I have a news for you in Israel it is not onlt Turks you better weake up, this is all over the World, in the streets which l hear every day, silent but could be very disturbing, Turks just are more vocal, you better worry the ones are silent, Turks never harmed Jerws, remeber that it was the cross you suffered under you are dirrecting your anger to wrong group

her family immigrated to Turkey.

Why doesn't she cry about the illegal Turkish occupation of Cyprus? Why doesn't she cry for the Kurds, who are denied self-determination by Turkey? Why doesn't she cry for the victims of the Armenian genocide?

Easy for you to say living in the US! WHO ARE YOU to judge the Israelis or anyone else, as a matter of fact?? There are no haters in Israel but people that are constantly trying to defend and protect themselves.

You state that, "There are no haters in Israel"...perhaps you need to re-read the majority of the talk backs on this forum! Sadly the land is rancid with hatred and mistrust. Whether one accepts the proposition or not that: Israel is just defending itself , there is no denying a widespread hatred and disrespect for Palestinians, Arabs and Islam in general.

And it's effective and frightening

Has she cried for the 1500000 killed Armenians and 40000 murdered Turks by the hands of Turks? If she wants to have a reason to cry, than why she cries first for what is happening outside Turkey, instead of the own guilt what happened inside. What has happened with the genocide of 1500000 murdered Armenians that Turkey still has not recognised? And what about the over 40000 Kurds that have been eliminated by the Turks since 1986, only because they wanted a whiff of independency? When will the Kurds receive aid supplies by the Turkish government with or without peace action? This permanent arrogance and provocationof Erdogan is indurable. They really believe the world is stupid. Turkey is a member of the Nato and wants to become one of the EG.

mark, you should read the history of the jews living under the ottoman empire and later under turkish republic. You will be suprised to learn that jews lived as second class citizen in turkey. During WWII Turkey would not let the jews running away from hitlers death camps into turkey. Just google the Struma affair. A popular saying is "The Turk has no friends other than the Turk." The non muslims, mostly jews had to pay "Varlik Vergisi" and " Harac" Tax to live in turkey.. So much for the turkish hospitality. You are an ignorant american.

Cry about all of the Kurds you are currently slaughtering! Then maybe your crocodile tears might have a little meaning!

ignorant ... absolutely! American? definitely not! But thanks for clarifying things for those who don't know here.

hatred. It is even more unfortunate that the longest hatred on eart is as virulent now as it was 60 years ago. I am talking about anti-Semitism, be it as classical anti-Semitism (Jew hatred) or as the modern day anti-Semitism (through the delegitimatization of the only Jewish state in the world). Yes, I have faced the hordes of animals, bared teeth and malicious glistening eyes, chanting "death to the Jews" and "Hitler should have finished the job ... we'll do it for him." That, Sean, is rancid, putrid, virulent hatred!!!! Enabling Palestinians to access academic institutions, health centers and medical care, etc., etc. is definitely not hatred for Palestinians and that is what they get in Israel ... even as they cry for the death of the Jews, in the only Jewish state in this world. There are over 20 Muslim countries....most of them owners of the oil fields in this world.... intelligent people should do the math rather than idiotically blabber the anti-Semitic propaganda so prevalent in today's Islamic and communist worlds....

As I follow The Turkish media daily, I must say that the same Mrs. Erdogan so far never shed a tear after the Turkish soldiers killed by the PKK. . She never attended their funerals. It only shows that Erdogan and his family and his party only cry for Hamas but they don't care for their own Turkish people.

Mark: I am a Turkish born Jewish American 60 years old. I speak Turkish fluently. Not only I don't hate Turks but in fact in general I love Turks. However I also know my history and it is not as you mentioned. James mentioned some but there is more. You must learn why Ottoman's welcomed the Sephardi. Not just for being charitable but to create a counterbalance against the Greek majority of the Western Anatolia and Thrace that was recently gained. While Turkey did open its doors to some elite Jews from Germany in WW II who were the professors that opened new faculties at the universities (I personally knew Dr. Nissen) they did not open their borders to ordinary Jews. The only exceptions are the few Turkish diplomat's such as Ulkumen who saved some Jews in Rhodes and one in Marseilles. BUt thre is mor that you must know. In 1936 Jews were attacked in Kirklareli with the knowledge of the government. There was Varlik vergisi and the 20th military draft in 1941, ther was the 1955 September 6-7 incidents when Jews and all none Muslims were attacked in Istanbul and Izmir. Israeli ambassador Efraim Elrom was killed in Turkey in 1972, My friend's son in law dentist Yasef Yahya was brutally killed in Istanbul by Islamic extremists, Industrialist Uzeyir Garih also was killed. If you still can read Turkish I recommend you to read some of the books Rifat Bali wrote such as 'Devletin Yahudisi ve Oteki Yahudi" also one from Erol Haker "Bir Zamanlar Kirklarelide Yahudiler de Yasardi" Unfortunately they are not translated into English.