On the surface, it appeared to be a hero’s welcome for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan when he touched down in the breakaway Turkish republic in the north of Cyprus earlier this month, as Turkish flags and a gun salute greeted his arrival. Away from the cameras however, there is a very different reality, as locals grow ever more opposed to what they see as the systematic overthrow of their secular values.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 following nationalistic waves in both the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities which culminated in partition. A Greek military coup saw Turkey respond with an invasion of a third of the island which is today the de facto state that houses the Turkish Cypriot minority.