Konuk Yazar, 22 Mart 2004 Mary Southcott | ||
That Janus Moment That Janus Moment Mary Southcott reports on the chances of a Cyprus settlement in 2004(*) A new year creates opportunities for new thinking, no more so than for 2004 and Cyprus. People looking at divided communities often conclude that the majority were not involved in violence, that "ordinary", in this case, Cypriots could get on, left to their own devices. But for a solution, outsiders need to stop talking of bloodshed and enemies who could never live together and begin to see common desires and actions, the pluralism within each community. Truth and reconciliation cannot be left to Cypriots, the international observers need to move on, stop relying on a single visit, an interview set up by a press officer, reinforcing the old paradigm, while the future awaits. Going native, in the sense of empathy and understanding, is not such a sin. Of course all Cypriots are affected psychologically by division and propaganda but 2003 was the year that they had a chance to demonstrate that they were neither bloodthirsty nor incapable of seeing how similar they were. On St George's Day, "Good Wednesday", the Turkish Cypriot authorities partially lifted the restrictions on the Green Line so, for the first time for 30 years, Cypriots from north and south could revisit places they left behind. Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash, had been told to open the barriers by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who took over as Turkish prime minister six weeks earlier, just as the United Nations process was abruptly brought to a halt at The Hague by Mr Denktash. We need to acknowledge Turkish Cypriot paediatrician, Djavit An, who brought a case against Turkey at the European Court of Human Rights. He was awarded 15,000 euros because Turkey prevented his meeting Greek Cypriot medical colleagues. His success in establishing his rights as a Cypriot were overshadowed by mainstream Turkish Cypriot civil society opposition to the Denktash position that brought the majority of their community out on the streets of Nicosia. Passports were insisted upon by those who wanted the separation to continue and judged, wrongly, that Greek Cypriots would not in their thousands overcome their objection for the greater good of seeing their "ancestral homes". Crossings are being made by foot and then, after a road was built overnight through the buffer zone, by car, many Turkish Cypriots seeking Republic of Cyprus passports so that they will be European citizens in May 2004. Every Cypriot who went back had a different experience but their real dignity was illustrated by these contacts, as in "Sleeping Beauty" when the prince's kiss made everyone come back to life. Of course some Cypriots were caught in a time warp but the majority knew it was time to move on. Greek Cypriots have been genuinely surprised by the Greek, even Cypriot, that Turkish Cypriots greeted them in. They had to reassess their thinking about Settlers whom they had thought of monolithically, as colonists, part of a systematic attempt to create facts on the ground against Geneva conventions. Now they have met Kurds, Turks from the poorest areas of Turkey, who also showed them "Cypriot" hospitality. Some have learned Greek, the second language after English at evening classes in the north, or from the Greek Cypriots enclaved in the Karpas peninsula, the remaining families of the larger community cut off in August 1974. The mirror images are the Greek Cypriots in the Turkish Studies Department of the University of Cyprus. One Greek Cypriot specifically went to study Turkish in Sofia, in the 1980s, reasoning that they shared the island with Turkish Cypriots and learning the language would be an investment in Cyprus's future. The funeral of an "ordinary" Greek Cypriot undermines the clichés. She lived for nearly 100 years during which the British annexed the island from Turkey in World War I, and delivered a flawed independence based on a divisive constitution, 45 years later. She never supported Enosis, union with Greece, not wanting to be governed by "kalamarades" (penpushers), despite the alleged 99% support in the 1948 plebiscite. Her wedding in Famagusta had both Greek and Turkish Cypriot "koumbaros" (best men). Almost 40 years later, her husband had spoken perfect Turkish to the soldiers who stole her wedding ring and wristwatch at bayonet point. On being asked what she felt about these Turkish soldiers, when she escaped to Akhna Forest in the British base of Dhekelia, she replied: "they were just like our own boys". She read newspapers everyday and enjoyed Turkish films on Cyprus television, with Greek subtitles, and missed them after 1974. She did not hate Turkish Cypriots, if anything reserving her scorn for some bishops and politicians, EOKA B, who allowed the Greek Junta to overthrow President Archbishop Makarios. She stubbornly kept on living to return to Famagusta. Her relatives and friends who once lived around the corner in Varosha were scattered all over Cyprus, Greece and the UK. She like most other Greek Cypriots left their politicians to sort out a Cyprus settlement and EU membership although she did attend the first Women Walk Home demonstration in 1975. Turkish Cypriots have had to work harder to keep their Cypriot identity. The widow of Kutlu Adali, had to take a case to the ECHR because no investigation followed the murder of this Turkish Cypriot journalist, shot dead in 1996, whose "crime" had been to write in the newspaper, Yeni Duzen, exposing the Turkish military looting of Greek Cypriot property. Shener Levent, the editor of Avrupa, renamed Afrika after the bailiffs moved in, was imprisoned as a Greek spy for printing "This Country is Ours" on their front page when the Turkish President visited the island, and for his campaign "Aysha go home". "Aysha can go on holiday" was code for the Turkish army to take the whole north of the island in August 1974. Another Afrika journalist had a case taken out against him for illegal parking. He found the Greek Cypriot owner of the land and got his written permission. Journalists, including from Asil Nadir's Kibris, were charged before their December elections, for reporting on a referendum conducted in March, where violence was used by the authorities and activists arrested. Greek Cypriots need to recognise those heroes who faced physical attacks by Grey Wolves, phoned and written death threats, incitement by newspapers publishing names and pictures, bomb threats and explosions, arrest, detention, military and civil court cases for sedition and libel, inside a regime which Turkified people's and place names after 1974, refused permits and penalised those who attended bicommunal events. Turkish Cypriots need to reciprocate, recognising that without the EU application, and the economic recovery, there would be no solution, and no financial success makes up for loss of family homes, cemeteries, photographs or dispersal of friends and family that occurred in 1974. The December elections, with an estimated 65,000 Turkish Cypriots out of the 140,000 electorate, have led to Mehmet Ali Talat, signatory of the September protocol for EU and a Solution, becoming "prime minister". He has already had a bomb placed outside his home. Serdar Denktash is now "deputy prime minister" while his father is "president" and "negotiator" at the UN talks. Referendums may be held on 20 April, just a year after Good Wednesday. All is not lost if this timetable slips, because all Cyprus will be a member of the EU. Clearly a majority of Cypriots want reunification. Turkey's military needs to acknowledge the Copenhagen criteria in northern Cyprus as well as in Turkey if they are to achieve their own EU accession. Until 2003, individuals and groups, the bicommunal choir, Steps for Peace, Greek and Turkish Cypriot workshop alumni, covillagers, could only meet in Friendship House, Pyla, Pergamos Park or the Ledra Palace. The United Nations Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) celebrated UN Day each October, with growing number of Cypriots until 2003 when despite Haji-Mike and his Greek and Turkish Cypriot colleagues singing in rap "I am going to lay down my sword and shield down by the Green Line", Cypriots could arrange meetings for themselves. Many of them have two mobiles, for the north and south, but email was the real breakthrough that brought down the Cyprus wall. From 2003 the whole of Cyprus became Pyla, the meeting place of Cypriots. So with a European citizenship available for all Cypriots, they can recognise their Cypriotness in terms of the state they live in, something to make up for the nation building which was absent in 1960. This time, as long as secession is ruled out, the communities will find ways to make the future work. And when the roll of honour is read at the celebrations for a settlement, a victory for Cypriots, the EU, the United Nations, and for values, peace and democracy, a real vote of thanks should go to the ordinary Cypriots who contributed to this solution and their children and grandchildren who will make it work. Annan is afterall only the beginning. 2002
November
(*) This article was originally written for UK's Chartist magazine and slightly updated for distribution. The opinions expressed therein are solely those of the author and do not represent any organisation she is a member of. This article cannot be reproduced without consent of the Editor of the Chartist magazine copyleft (c) 2001-03 hamamboculeri.org
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