Nicosia International, Cyprus
Wikimedia CommonsTaken over by political insurgents in the 1970s, this abandoned airport now sits in decay.
Built in the 1930s, Nicosia was intended to be a military airfield, but its use was gradually expanded. Now, it’s primarily known as being the focal point of a military coup by Greek Nationalists in 1974.
When Turkish forces invaded Cyprus with the intent of uniting the country with Greece and declaring the Hellenic Republic, Nicosia airport fell into the second sector of the demilitarized zone, commercial travel halted in 1977, and it became one of the world’s bleakest abandoned airports.
Wikimedia Commons
The chairs in the terminal stand eerily in rows as the rest of the building falls down around them. Floodwaters creep in. The once-thriving hub of travel now continues to crumble down as time marches forward.
A huge passenger jet still sits on the edge of a runway. Everything else is coated in layers of rust, dust, and bird poop, with weeds growing wherever there is enough rogue dirt and sunlight to nurture them.
Today, the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus uses the airfield for its helicopters and one of its sites for inter-communal peace talks.
