By Esra Aygin
The way countries look at their past say a lot about how
they envision their future.
Coming from a country where to view the past means selective
and dishonest remembering, half-truths and lack of self-criticism are the norm,
seeing the way France and Germany handle theirs is both amazing and enviable.
I was in Paris for the Peace Forum on Armistice Day last
month. The events organised for the anniversary of the World War I armistice,
not only marked 100 years since the end of the war, but brought forward powerful
acts of reconciliation between France and Germany.
The two countries, which fought each other mercilessly in
not only one, but two world wars, have been able to leave behind their bloody
past and build a joint future.
On this year’s Armistice Day, French President Emmanuel
Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel jointly visited the site where
Germany signed the armistice in 1918, and then Hitler, in an act of revenge,
forced France to accept defeat in 1940. It was the first time since 1940 that
leaders from France and Germany had met at this historic site. As the French
and German national anthems played, the two leaders laid a wreath and unveiled
a plaque celebrating the reconciliation between their countries.
Millions of deaths, years of bloodshed, indescribable
suffering … yet Macron and Merkel were now hand in hand, commemorating both the
French and German victims, condemning nationalism and praising unity.
Their every act, every sentence, every message were lessons
in reconciliation, forgiveness and vision.
“I’ve seen where, jumbled together in mass graves, lie the
bones of German and French soldiers who, one freezing winter, killed one
another for a few metres of ground,” said Macron during his speech. “The lesson
of the Great War cannot be that of resentment by one people against others…
It’s a rootedness that forces us to think about the future and what is
essential.”
On the same day, at the opening of the Paris Peace Forum,
Merkel said the two world wars were “examples of the disastrous consequences a
lack of compromise in politics and diplomacy can have”.
“It’s anything but self-evident” that Germany and France
should have such friendship now, “especially after the suffering that Germans
caused to their neighbour, to Europe and the world in two world wars,” she
added.
There were no triumphant statements, no valour, no display
of military might during the Armistice Day events. No fighter jets circling the
skies, no glorification of war and killing, no nationalist slogans. There was
no distinction between the victorious and defeated, but a lot of looking at the
past, reflecting, reconciling, and moving on with a strong commitment to peace.
And a deep respect – regardless of their nationality – for the people, who lost
their lives in past wars.
Watching them, I couldn’t help but think: When will we, in
Cyprus, ever be able to commemorate all the Turkish Cypriot, Greek Cypriot,
Armenian, Maronite, Latin victims of our war? When will we ever be able to feel
the same pain for each and every one who lost their lives, got wounded,
displaced and suffered, regardless of their ethnic background? When will we
finally see the human behind the ethnicity that has blinded us? When will we
ever be able to look at the past and see our own mistakes too? When will we
ever be able to remember all – not half of our history – and articulate what
the past should mean for the future? When will we finally reconcile with our
past and start looking forward? Say ‘never again’, instead of ‘I won’t forget.’
And when will we ever be able to condemn nationalism?
“Patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism:
nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism,” Macron said in his speech on
Armistice Day. “In saying ‘our interests first, and who cares about the rest’
you wipe out what’s most valuable about a nation: its moral values.”
Macron was talking about the same nationalism that we, in
this country, take pride in, glorify and celebrate! The same nationalism that
made brothers turn against each other and tore this country apart? The same
nationalism that created Eoka B and TMT; that invited the coup d’etat and the
invasion. The same nationalism that we systematically poison our school
children with. The same nationalism that makes us hate people we don’t even
know.
He was talking about the same nationalism that wants to
close the crossing points and attacks Turkish Cypriot cars. The same
nationalism that legitimises usurping other people’s properties and draw huge
flags on mountains. The same nationalism that makes us believe to our cores
that it is okay to close off entire towns and deny people their streets,
memories, cemeteries. The same
nationalism that has taken away our sense of shame.
The same nationalism that makes us believe that only our
suffering, pain and fear is legitimate. The same nationalism that has convinced
us that the “other” is insignificant.
Macron was talking about the same nationalism that makes us
want to fight rather than compromise, prefer the dangerous unknown to
reconciliation, go for permanent partition rather than a united Cyprus.
He was talking about the same nationalism that we have
praised or at least tolerated to the point of legitimising and mainstreaming the
far-right, fascist ideologies in this country.
The far-right and fascist ideologies that have brought nothing but hell
to the places they nestled.
When will we ever learn?
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