Pokémon are banned across a sizable swathe of Cyprus. There isn’t a physical wall to keep them out – at least not in most areas. But in Pokémon Go a large area across the width of the Mediterranean island is still a Pokémon no-Go area, thanks to the country’s past.
Before being contacted by Pokémon Go players based in Cyprus, I admit to being pretty ignorant of the island’s recent history, and how its geography remains shaped by the after-effects of the country’s 1974 Greek-backed coup and subsequent Turkish-led invasion.
History lesson aside, the country remains divided by a United Nations Buffer Zone, a red ribbon on maps that cuts across the middle of the country. The internationally unrecognised Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus lies to the north, while in the south sits the island’s larger Greek Cypriot-dominated region. Between the two sits the Buffer Zone – an area which on paper sounds like a hazard, but in reality is home to 10,000 people – where Pokémon cannot spawn naturally.
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The Buffer Zone was marked out almost 50 years ago as an area where military personel and equipment from both sides of the island were banned, in order to soothe tensions. 7km wide in some areas, it has long been home to a number of towns and villages, where residents were never removed. Today, those towns and villages remain, and can be visited easily. Where the zone passes through the country’s capital, Nicosia, it shrinks in width to a few metres, and can be crossed at various checkpoints.