Cyprus Turks Share Pain as Banking Crisis Revives Talk of Unity

For five years, Ertan Ercantan made a living selling Turkish rugs to Greek Cypriots coming across the border that splits Cyprus’s capital Nicosia in half. Overnight, they’re gone, he said.

“If things are bad for them, they are bad for us too,” Ercantan, 70, said as he smoked a cigarette and sipped traditional Turkish coffee in his empty shop on March 27. “Look at the street here. Normally these streets are full of people. Now, they are empty.”