Dipkarpaz is nowhere near the buffer zone. It is located at the very very far end of north cyprus and I went there as it is a village where supposedly Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots live together. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dipkarpaz
The area has got wonderful beaches and a natural park with wild donkeys, and I stayed in a gorgeous guesthouse however the village looks rather poor for an area which has such resourches.
There are next to each other a greek cafe and a turkish cafe. The greek community is extremely small and I noticed how the orthodox churches were in a really bad state of repair, with one completly shut and with rubbish and building materials piling up in front of it. I have seen this situation in some border areas, such as Greece/Turkey where on each side, the monuments of the other culture has been left in a state of abandonment.
Around this area there are various orthodox churches and monasteries, and passing one I noticed how a turkish flag had been put on it: surely a monastery should belong to the believers, not to a government. If the Vatican plonked its flag on every catholic church of this planet there would be a riot.Another thing was the presence of “projects” sponsored by the EU, such as for ecotourism. As “de-jure” the whole Cyprus is part of the EU, the Republic of Cyprus and the EU take care of It, similarly to the part of Nicosia in North Cyprus where all mainteinance and recovery of historical buildings is financed by the EU. Hopefully at some point they will reach fixing those gorgeous orthodox churches?

Furthermore, my turkish-cypriot friend pointed out how almost no one living in the village was actually from cyprus, even the turkish speakers were not turkish cypriots but from mainland anatolia. The government of Ankara promotes immigration toward this area to establish a stronghold and ensure that,  low population rural area can become turkish.
This is the paradox of Cyprus: Nicosia is a city divided in half, yet crossing over the divide does not present a big change. Yes, the language changes, but the streets, the way people dress, the way people look remains roughly the same. Dipkarpaz on the other hand felt like another country: geographically still mediterranean and cypriot (very similar in landscape to certain area of sicily) but inhabited by people from anatolia.

Some interesting links on the greek and maronites living in north cyprus:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleni_Foka
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rizokarpaso_Primary_School
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kormakitis