Time Split

From USA Today:

"This is the only world capital with two time zones"

Tanur Tsiknakis and her husband, Michalis, now have two sets of clocks in their home they must follow — each on a separate time zone one hour apart. “My phone and all my digital appliances are set in southern time,” said Tanur, 35, a diving instructor who lives in the south but works on the north side of this divided island of Greek and Turkish Cypriots in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. “Our (TV) satellite box and my car clock are set to northern time.”

Last month, like the rest of Europe, Republic of Cyprus officials who have ties to Greece and govern the south side of the island moved their clocks back an hour with the end of daylight savings time. But leaders in northern Cyprus opted against the switch and followed the example of Turkey, which scrapped the change on the grounds that it causes needless confusion. As a result, Nicosia now holds two distinctions. It is the last divided capital in Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall — a United Nations buffer zone separates the Greek southern part of Cyprus from the Turkish-Cypriots in the north — and it is also the only world capital that follows two time zones.  The situation might sound humorous, but it reflects more than just a difference of one hour. A long and bitter division between the island's ethnic Greeks and Turks erupted in violence in 1974, when Turkish troops captured more than a third of the island after a military junta in Greece overthrew the Cypriot leadership and tried to unite the island with Greece. Afterward, Turkish Cypriots declared an independent country recognized only by the Turkish government. While violence between the two sides hasn’t flared for decades, bureaucratic confusion remains. Today, Tanur, who is Turkish-Cypriot , and Michalis, who is Greek-Cypriot, might use one time zone for meeting a friend in the north but another for remembering when their favorite show airs on the south’s TV schedule. And no one is quite sure what to do on New Year's Eve. The time-zone quandary is yet another stumbling block in U.N.-brokered peace talks between Greek and Turkish Cypriots that recently resumed after both sides rejected a reunification plan in 2004.  The director of Cyprus’ Peace Research Institute, Harry-Zachary Tzimitras, said the issue is a symbol for continued division. “For some, the time zone change in Turkey means distancing themselves not only from Europe and the Western world, but also from the Cyprus of the future,” Tzimitras said. He added that there is a practical reason behind the two time zones: Many Turkish-Cypriots lives are intertwined with the Turkish economy, and every financial transaction that occurs in the north goes through Turkey, whether it's a wire transfer or adding credit to a mobile phone.  “Following the Turkish time zone was a practical necessity for the north, particularly for the banking sector and transportation,” he said. “I don't think it was a choice of joining Turkey and abandoning Cyprus.” Many Turkish-Cypriots dislike the situation, saying it makes life tough. “Personally, I don’t know what time it is these days because my clocks are turned to Cyprus time, but officially here in the north we’re on Turkish time,” said Saimon Bahceli, 49, the Turkish-Cypriot owner of a café. He joked that he’s often stumped about when he should schedule performances to accommodate his Turkish-Cypriot and Greek-Cypriot patrons. In one case, the change has had serious consequences.  Shortly after the north kept its clock unchanged, two teenage girls and their bus driver died in a pre-dawn collision that might have been averted if the bus had left an hour later. Hundreds of Turkish-Cypriots took to the streets to protest. Students held signs reading: “We shouldn’t go to school at night.” The Turkish-Cypriot government recently decided that schools and public services would start a half-hour later so children and public employees start their days after sunrise. Michalis and Tanur say if they can make their mixed marriage work, the politicians should be able to mend fences between the two communities. The couple is organizing two street parties on New Year’s Eve to celebrate but also to protest the time difference. After midnight in the north, they plan to pass through the buffer-zone and celebrate the New Year again in the south. “It's ridiculous,” Michalis said. “It’s like two brothers fighting over a ball. Grow up and share it.” Of course, everyone can just wait for spring and the return of Daylight Savings Time, when all Cypriots will be back on one time zone.

^ It is pretty dumb. East Berlin didn't use Moscow Time even though the Soviet Union ruled them until 1990. I have been to Cyprus and tried to book a tour to Nicosia and the Turkish-part of the island, but it was cancelled by the Greek-Cypriot run tourist company at the last second - as I was literally standing outside waiting to board the bus. Cyprus (both parts of the island) have a lot that they need to work on in order to bring the island to a unified, Western state. ^

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/12/14/cyprus-two-different-time-zones/95197044/