Map of the current buffer zone in Cyprus. Can Cypriots manage to reunite?

BBC World Service

A resort in Northern Cyprus has been abandoned since the island divided in 1974. Can Cypriots manage to reunite? Hear World Questions in the UN Buffer Zone, Nicosia: http://bbc.in/29sKcAy

Map of the current buffer zone in Cyprus

Czechoslovak sign dating from the beginning of the 1980s, informing of entry into the frontier zone. The sign reads, "WARNING! Border Zone. Enter only with authorization."

A buffer zone is generally a zonal area that lies between two or more other areas (often, but not necessarily, countries), but depending on the type of buffer zone, the reason for it may be to segregate regions or to conjoin them. Common types of buffer zones are demilitarized zones, border zones and certain restrictive easement zones and green belts. Such zones may be, but not necessarily be, comprised by a sovereign state, forming a buffer state.

Buffer zones have various purposes, political or otherwise. They can be set up to prevent violence, protect the environment, protect residential and commercial zones from industrial accidents or natural disasters, keep prisoners intent on escaping from rapidly acquiring hostages or a hiding place, and have uses in several other scenarios. Buffer zones often result in large uninhabited regions which are themselves noteworthy in many increasingly developed or crowded parts of the world.^{[examples needed]}