Can you spot the insult to King Charles in an image that has caused a huge diplomatic row?

When Express.co.uk revealed previously unpublished plans by a consortium of billionaires to turn the abandoned town of Varosha (Greek name) or Maras (Turkish name) into the “Las Vegas of the Mediterranean”, there was an international furore. The UN will object and the President of the Republic of Cyprus has ordered an investigation.

The seaside resort – once the play area of Hollywood stars and the super rich – has been empty for five decades since the Cyprus civil war split the island into two.

But, even more intriguingly, the authorities in the internationally unrecognised Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), who control the town, claim that one hotel in the resort is owned by King Charles.

When the Golden Sands Hotel opened in 1974 for a few months before it was forced to close when the civil war broke out and never reopen, it was said to be the world’s first seven star hotel. It was so big that it had an internal mini railway to take guests around.

The Royal Household has said it “does not recognise” the claim of ownership but the hotel has been empty for almost 50 years.

Now images of the plans to redevelop the whole town in two phases appear to contain a subtle insult to the King.

The insult

As can be seen in the blown up image above, the image of the proposal for the second phase, which would potentially replace the Golden Sands, contains provocative flags. The flag of the TRNC is a red crescent moon and star on a white background, while Turkey is the reverse white emblems on a red background.

The images contain the flag of Turkey not the TRNC, but why might this be an insult to the King?

The answer is simple. King Charles has Greek connections. His father the late Prince Philip was born on the Greek island of Corfu to Prince Andrew of Greece and his great grandfather was the last King of Greece. The division of the island in 1974 was caused by a coup by Greek Cypriots who wanted to unite it with Greece and began what the Turkish Cypriot believe to be an attempt at ethnic cleansing. This led Turkey to send its military in and remain there for the last 50 years.

It could be that the presence of the flag is purely coincidental with the disputed claim the King owns the hotel but there are reasons why the TRNC may want to show its resentment to the King and British state.

Turkish Cypriot frustration

The plans to turn Varosha/Maras into the “Vegas of the Med” come after 50 years of diplomatic stalemate where attempts to reunite the island have been rejected around 15 times – always by the officially internationally recognised Greek Cypriot side of the island.

Most egregious, in the view of Turkish Cypriots, was the 2004 Annan plan which the Greek Cypriots rejected at the last minute but were still rewarded with EU membership. Former UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who took part in the talks, to this day says it was a mistake to allow Cyprus into the bloc.

Even as a so-called guarantor power, the UK has sat back and let the status quo play out with the original deal allowing us to keep hold of our two sovereign territory bases on the island.

Now UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has sent a special envoy to the island to investigate if there is any common ground and plans to visit himself. But the TRNC President Ersin Tatar, with the backing of Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan, has insisted that only a t state solution is now possible after five decades of separation.

Tatar reopened Varosha/Maras to the public from both halves of the island in 2020 and invited Greek Cypriots to reclaim property but now he is backing plans to build a whole new resort including potentially on the site of the hotel he claims belongs to King Charles.

A complicated history

The Greek Cypriots with the backing of the international community claim that Turkey is an occupying power in the north. However, the Trurkish Cypriot believe that there international isolation, including no direct flights from anywhere by Turkey, is complete unfair. This provides some of the background to the possible resentment to the King and British state.

When Cyprus was part of the Empire, the Greek backed EOKA terrorist group targeted and killed 371 British soldiers. The worst culprit,a journalist Nikos Sampson, would later become Cyprus’ president in 1974 ahead of the civil war. Turkish Cypriots at the time say they were loyal to the British and remained part of the police and military on the island.

Then when independence came on August 16 1960 the deal was that the island would have a government which reflected both communities. In 1963 the Greek Cypriot President Archbishop Makarios is alleged to have reneged on that deal and militia groups went round on an infamous Christmas Eve killing Turkish Cypriots.

Most infamously of all that night was the murder of the sons of a Turkish Cypriot military doctor who were machine gunned in their bath at home where they hid when the militia broke in – an image which has represented the divisions of the island for Turkish Cypriots for decades. The site is now a museum in the TRNC but it is important to note that many Greek Cypriots maintain the image is “Turkish propaganda”.

Then in 1974 Makarios was forced out by a military coup by army officers whose intention was to unite Cyprus with Greece. There appear to have been attempts at ethnic cleansing of Turkish Cypriots with people hurded into trenches and gunned down. Turkey – a guarantor power with the UK and Greece – sent in the army, occupied the north of the island as a protection force and never left.

Modern day beef with the King

The feeling that they were not the ones at fault for the division of the island, that the Greek Cypriots were the real initial agressors and the resentment over Britain, as a guarantor power, not treated them fairly is an important part of the anger felt now towards the King and UK in the TRNC.

President Tatar was offended that he was not able to represent Turkish Cypriots at the funeral of the late Queen Elizabeth and later at the coronation of the King.

They have been angered by the King’s and His Majesty’s government’s representative on the island, the High Commissioner Irfan Siddiq making what they see as offensive remarks, suggesting they are a problem for “black Russian money” and suggesting they had lost their rights under the original treaty.

It may be probably that the flag on an image of a proposed building to go on what appears to be the site of the so-called King’s hotel is not really meant as an insult. But if it was then the Turkish Cypriots probably feel they had good reason for it.