Stories of `property` and the smell of the jasmine… (*)

Back in 1974-75 whole villages were moving from the south to the north… People from Limassol, Paphos, Larnaca were moving to the northern part of the island… Population was being `exchanged` based on the new `division` of the island…

Around 200 thousand Greek Cypriots had left the north and the total population of the Turkish Cypriots was not more than 120 thousand… Greek Cypriots had left behind factories, shops, houses… Land, beaches and hotels… This was being distributed to Turkish Cypriots…

Whole villages were settled in empty villages… Some did not like it: perhaps they had spent all their lives by the seaside and now were put in the dry plains of Messaoria… Perhaps they were used to working in the factories of KEO and now they were settled in Karpaz… Some moved once again: Those who were settled in Akathou village moved to the Kyrenia area… They were used to towns, not remote villages…

You think that people must be crazy not to be able to fit 120 thousand persons in the houses that 200 thousand had left? But of course! This wasn’t a race of equality and equity… It wasn’t about sharing what was left… It was about who could get what, who could get more, who could get all! And don’t forget please, that there was another policy pursued by the regime in the north, together with Ankara: that `settlers` were brought in to raise the population and to put in the empty villages and houses that the Greek Cypriots had left behind…

So there began a huge problem that was extremely difficult to solve and which got more and more complicated over the years. First of all, in this part of the earth, that is the northern part of Cyprus, there was no `international law`… It was `beyond` international law. What did it mean than, in real life? It meant that some would get a lot and some would get nothing… It meant that those who were well-off in the south could become very poor overnight… It meant that some got a house for themselves, one for their daughter, one for their son, one for their mother-in-law… Perhaps they had left a small house in the south but that did not matter… Because perhaps they had a close relative high-up, who could overlook the fact that they had almost left nothing in the south but could get more than their `share` in this `sharing of the property`…

Greek Cypriots did not only leave houses, they had also left furniture, books, clothes, jewellery, photographs and cars… In the beginning it was simple `looting`… I remember a police commander who was not a refugee, had never been a refugee but truckloads of furniture would be sent to his house: his wife threw out the old furniture, to replace it with the furniture left behind by Greek Cypriots. Perhaps this had happened in some villages back in 1963 and 1974 to Turkish Cypriot homes as well… A Turkish Cypriot family had told me that when they had left their home in 1963, their washing machine and television were stolen from their homes. Later they saw these in one of the Greek Cypriot neighbor’s house… War meant looting, war meant getting what you did not deserve… War meant the spoiling of values and those who got `things`, got `spoilt` as well… You could see this in their behavior. They were pretending to be something they were not…

The regime set up shops to sell the `surplus furniture` - you could go and check what was there… Armchairs, tables, carpets… Bookcases, cupboards, vases… Anything and everything you could think of… In those days, such places were packed with people… Turkish Cypriots who were refugees from the south could not bring their furniture with them – they had left behind the beds they slept in, the sheets woven by their grandmothers, their curtains, family albums, clothes – everything you need in the house… So they had to recreate the `home` they had left behind, because of force of circumstances…

Until 1985, the property was only distributed to those who were refugees from the south… But after that date, a `new system` was created… Now, even if you were not a refugee, you could get property… If you had been a soldier, you were given a certain amount of points… According to the number of points you had, you could get Greek Cypriot property… Soon a `new market` was created for buying and selling these points… The property you wanted to take, say a house by the seaside would be calculated as worth `500 thousand points`… If you had only 300 thousand points, you could buy, in the market the rest of the 200 thousand points and get the property. The property you had left in the south would be valued at a certain number of points. Perhaps the house you left in the south would be worth 300 thousand points and say, you got a piece of land, worth only 100 thousand points from the north. You still had 200 thousand points: you could get some Greek Cypriot property by these points or sell these points in the market to make some money!

In the beginning, people were not given `title deeds` but only a document saying that they were getting the property in return to the property they had left behind in the south… But over time, the regime changed that as well: people would be given `title deeds` and could now buy or sell Greek Cypriot property…

In the beginning, the Turkish Cypriots who moved into Greek Cypriot houses were very cautious: for many years, they would not even paint the houses or make any changes. They looked at the situation as `uncertain` and were not sure if they would have to move again… But over time, with the policies pursued by the regime in the north, they became more comfortable living in their houses in the north. Gradually they started painting, repairing, planting trees, making changes or adding a room or two… Life did not stop, children grew up and needed a new room or two or maybe the family got a car and needed a garage…

Life did not stop: it moved on… The jasmine trees would blossom, young people would fall in love and get married, children would be born in this part of the earth… The grapes would be ripe in the middle of August and crickets would sing their song on hot summer days… On the weekends, it would be suflakia time and shish kebap would be cooked for the whole family… People would go to picnics and eat and drink and be happy for a day, putting aside the big question that was like a shadow following them wherever they went, even when they slept… The big question was: What will happen tomorrow? Will the Cyprus problem be solved? Will there be at last, certainty on this island and shall we continue to live in uncertainty?… It was like waiting for Godot to come – but the Red Riding Hood had long ago ran away with Godot, as my friend Murat said and they were not coming back, despite repeated calls… But people waited and waited as life continued and they looked for a way out of the deadlock called `The Cyprus problem`…

Over time, there was no more Greek Cypriot property left to be distributed… But then, the Annan Plan came… Perhaps the Turkish Cypriots felt that the Annan Plan was the Godot! Godot had at last decided to come to Cyprus to replace uncertainty with certainty, the illegality with legality and perhaps it would bring more democracy, more freedom, more opportunities… Perhaps Godot was the EU membership and people who had lived through wars and displacement and whose children had gone abroad and did not want to come back saw something – a light at the end of the tunnel where at last, they could breathe more easily… Perhaps their children and their grandchildren would return to Cyprus if there would be a settlement and more opportunities on the island… Perhaps, the big question following them like a shadow would go away at last and some even thought, `If there is a settlement, I can at least die in peace, because I would know that my children would live a better life…`

But the Turkish Cypriots were only thinking of themselves, just as the Greek Cypriots did. No one was thinking of both! Greek Cypriots were busy with their own problems, their own concerns… Turkish Cypriots could not see what was bothering the Greek Cypriots… No one was discussing, `What shall we at last, get from this plan?` but rather, `What will the Turkish Cypriots get?` or `What will the Greek Cypriots get?` The question in the south was framed in such a way that it was a `losing game`… The question was, `What will the Greek Cypriots loose if we have the Annan Plan?`

Soon after, a new wave of `sharing the property` began and we all know the story right? The northern shores began a craze of building and selling – no tree was left untouched, no stone unturned, no shinya uprooted… Now was the time to sell because Godot will not be coming for a long time… Perhaps it would be better to turn it into money rather than wait for Godot to be convinced to fly to Cyprus? And it wasn’t just Turkish Cypriots involved – it was the British, the Israelis, the `settlers` as well… The northern shores turned ugly and bruised, bleeding from the suffocation of the earth…

Life continues… Last night my heart-comrade gave me a handful of jasmine:

`Look! This is the first jasmine of the summer! Smell!`

We smile at each other and settle down to talk about what’s happening to Turkish Cypriots… The `occupation` is not visible for them nowadays because they are busy with the `new regime` and how to get their son or daughter a job or how to get promoted… A new wave of chauvinism against Greek Cypriots is waged by the regime and there is only talk of `how bad the Greek Cypriot regime is` and `the intransigence of Papadopoulos and AKEL`…

I smell the jasmine – summer is almost here… Instead of Godot, perhaps the smell of jasmine will unite us one day… Something genuine and pure, something from nature, something that does not pretend what it’s not… If we have time to stop and think and try to see the whole picture, instead of just `our piece`, perhaps complicated issues will become simpler to solve… Only if we do not pretend but be sincere, as the smell of jasmine…

(*) Article published in ALITHIA newspaper on the 22nd of May, 2005.

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