Article - We need to start telling the beautiful stories (Published in Greek in 24h on 20 July 2014)

We need to start telling the beautiful stories

There are terrible stories that can be told about 20 July 1974. Stories of war, bloodshed and fear. But today, I choose to tell you a beautiful story. A beautiful, true story I wrote in May 2003 when I was a 23-year-old journalist working for the Associated Press. The crossing points had just opened and we had gone to Limassol, together with my father and late mother to find Antonis, who had risked his life to help my family in July 1974.

May 2003

"Özel, I knew you would come," shouted Antonis as he warmly hugged my father, who still couldn't believe he had found the man who saved him almost 30 years ago.

"You lost your hair," my father said, examining Antonis with curious eyes. "You got fat, Özel," he replied, tapping my father's big belly. They had last seen each other in September 1974, when my parents fled their house in Limassol to come to Kyrenia.

My father had told me about Antonis the night before we went to Limassol. As Turkish troops landed in Cyprus on Saturday, July 20, 1974, the Turkish Cypriots in Limassol, including my parents and then 9-year-old brother, were detained by Greek Cypriot soldiers. My brother was sick, very scared and terribly weak.

"We had no idea what was going to happen to us," said my mother. "People were crying and begging the soldiers to let them free." My parents spent the night under detention at Yousoufidis’ clinic along with a large group of Turkish Cypriots living in Limassol. The next morning, Antonis, a young Greek Cypriot soldier recognized my father as the physical therapist, who had treated him some years before. "He rushed us into his jeep. Before taking us home, he drove to a doctor’s clinic, where he had your brother examined. He bought the medicines prescribed by the doctor and took us to our home," my father told me. "And he told us not to leave the house for a couple of days before things got calmer. He was back at night with a basket with bread, cheese and a bottle of milk." …

On arriving at Limassol that day, almost 30 years after my parents had fled the city, we stopped at a coffee shop to ask if any of the customers knew Antonis. My father could only remember his first name - and that his family had owned a grocery store. An elderly man recognised who we were talking about and offered to take us to his house.

It is unbelievable, but Antonis had been waiting for us. "I saw in my dream that you would be back," he shouted from his balcony after we rang the doorbell. "I had the same dream four times. This is a dream come true."

Article - Was constitutional referendum a rehearsal of possible settlement referendum? (Published in Greek in 24h on 13 July 2014)

Was constitutional referendum a rehearsal of possible settlement referendum?

On 29 June, the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) did not only suffer a huge wound by losing the three biggest cities – Nicosia, Famagusta and Kyrenia - in the local elections, but was also shaken by the rejection of a set of constitutional amendments that it advocated strongly. The amendments were submitted to a referendum on the same day as the local elections.  

The constitution of the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,” adopted in 1985, is a shameful copy of the 1982 constitution of Turkey – the product of the 12 September 1982 military coup. For the first time in almost 30 years, some changes – albeit small – were made through the efforts of mainly the CTP deputies and adopted unanimously by all the parties in parliament – the bigger party of the ruling coalition CTP, the smaller party of the ruling coalition right-wing Democratic Party (DP), main opposition right wing National Unity Party (UBP), and the left-wing Social Democracy Party (TDP).

The proposed amendments had initially called for the lifting of temporary article 10 - which is the legal basis for the Turkish Cypriot police to be under the control of the Turkish military, and the introduction of conscientious objection. However, CTP could not get the required support in parliament to go ahead with these changes and therefore, limited the amendments to some 20 articles. 

Although the amendments, which among others, introduced children’s rights, limited the immunity of politicians, improved fundamental rights, and lifted the political ban on civil servants, were adopted unanimously by all the parties in parliament, they were rejected by 65% in the referendum.  

Two major factors seem to have played an important role in the rejection of the constitutional amendments. First is the radical approach of the left-wing parties and non-governmental organisations, which criticised the amendments for being “cosmetic” and not touching on the substantial provisions – such as the temporary article 10.

The second, and the scarier, is the undercover, ear-to-ear no-campaign led by hardliner Turkish Cypriot leader Derviş Eroğlu, who has a significant influence on both UBP and DP, and the supporters of his ideology.

Although the more optimistic in the northern part of Cyprus would argue that the ‘no’ vote is the victory of the radical left, a strong message of rejection of the status quo and the 1985 constitution, I fear that this referendum was a rehearsal of the nationalist guardians of the status quo, to test the grounds. And I fear very much that this method of undercover campaigning against a unanimously adopted text, tested and proven to be successful, can be put to work during a possible referendum for a federal settlement in Cyprus.

Those, against the reunification of Cyprus through a federal solution know now that giving approval to a settlement text does not necessarily lead to a ‘yes’ vote in the referendum.

Article - CTP receives major blow in local elections (Published in Greek in 24h on 6 July, 2014)

CTP receives major blow in local elections

Last Sunday’s municipal elections dealt a huge blow to the Republican Turkish Party (CTP), the biggest pro-solution party in the northern part of Cyprus, and the outcome is expected to have major implications on April’s elections for the Turkish Cypriot leader. CTP, which held the municipalities in the three biggest cities in the northern part of Cyprus, lost all three.

A successful outcome in municipal elections would have considerably strengthened CTP, and served as a strong indication of people’s inclinations for the ‘presidential elections.’ CTP would have most probably nominated former Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, who has been open about his willingness to run again, and would had a good chance of coming out of the elections victorious.

However, to the amazement of many, CTP lost the ‘flagship’ Nicosia Turkish Municipality, as well as the Kyrenia and Famagusta Municipalities. The Kyrenia and Famagusta municipalities, which belonged to CTP for more than 15 years, were lost to candidates backed by hardliner Turkish Cypriot leader Derviş Eroğlu, and the right-wing National Unity Party (UBP) and the Democratic Party (DP).

Challenging times lie ahead of CTP officials not only because they will most probably be required to re-design their plans for the April elections in this new political atmosphere, but also because of the internal conflicts within the party. There are allegations that long-standing disagreements among party officials and the municipal candidates have grown into full-blown retaliation during the municipal elections and led to CTP’s defeat. Some party members are being accused of openly or secretly backing competing candidates. The party will also have to solve these internal conflicts, which were used very efficiently by the right-wing parties to defeat CTP, if it is to enter a healthy election period.

An important outcome of the local elections is the rise of veteran politician Mustafa Akıncı as a strong potential candidate for the ‘presidential elections’ after Social Democracy Party’s (TDP) Mehmet Harmancı won the Nicosia Turkish Municipality with almost 40 per cent of the votes. In the Turkish Cypriot political arena, a special importance has always been placed on who wins the Nicosia Turkish Municipality, with many arguing, often rightly so, that the Nicosia Turkish Municipality is a ‘flagship’ municipality and the party that wins it, has an advantage during the ensuing elections for the Turkish Cypriot leader.

It will be interesting to watch the developments in the run-up to the April elections.

Article - Feelings of a Turkish Cypriot (Published in Greek in 24h newspaper in April 2014)

Esra Aygin

I am the daughter of a refugee family from Limassol. I was born five years after my parents fled to the north in the summer of 1974. Nevertheless, my heart bleeds every time I go to Limassol, exactly the same way a refugee from Kyrenia hurts when visiting Kyrenia. And how can one feel so in-place and so foreign at the same time? How can one feel so much pity, and at the same time, anger towards her parents for leaving their hometown?

My first memories of Kyrenia have an armed Turkish soldier at the corner of our street, who used to stick his tongue out every time I passed by. It wasn’t until years later that it occurred to me to ask my father what an armed Turkish soldier was doing on our street. Apparently, that was one of the many checkpoints the Turkish army had within cities, where they randomly stopped and interrogated people.

My family never felt more Turkish than they felt Cypriot, and resented everyone and everything that caused Cyprus to be torn apart. Sampson and Denktash the same… Turkey and Greece the same… EOKA and TMT the same….

While my brother dropped out of university because he was sick and tired of the Turkish soldier pointing his gun at him every single morning as he was walking down the street to catch a bus – and one morning the soldier actually pulled the trigger, which was the final straw for my brother -  I had to recite the Turkish national oath at school every Monday and Friday and learn Turkish history and geography. I was not taught about the Troodos mountains, but knew the name of every single river in Turkey. I was not taught about the shared history of Cyprus but the Turkish revolution.

And I guess it was around then when I started having my share of the identity crisis that is so common to all Turkish Cypriots …

“What do Greek Cypriots look like?” I remember asking my mother; not being able to conceive as a little girl, that those, who had 'committed so many evils' - as I was taught at school - could look like human beings.

As I grew older, I found out that Turkish Cypriots committed many evils too and that Greek Cypriots also suffered indescribable pain. I found out that there were many more Greek Cypriots, who helped Turkish Cypriots during the troublesome times of 1963 and 1974, than who hurt them, and vice versa. I found out that Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots together, are the real victims of a very sad history. And I realised in terror, the grave lack of understanding of and empathy about the other side’s pain and suffering.

Going back to being a Turkish Cypriot… For the majority of Turks from Turkey, Turkish Cypriots are simply Turks. “I am from Cyprus. – Oh, so you are a Turk! – No, I am a Turkish Cypriot. – Ok, so you are a Turk then, no?” the conversation goes. They don’t understand why you would make a distinction or insist that you are a Cypriot. And this reaction is rarely ill-intentioned or deliberate, but simply because of a lack of knowledge and interest.

The conversation with most Greek Cypriots is not necessarily uncomplicated either. “Where are you from? - I am from Cyprus. Ah milas ellinika! - No I don’t speak Greek – But why? You are from Cyprus!” And they don’t do this deliberately either. The intention is not to discriminate or humiliate. It is a natural reaction often displayed with honest astonishment and without much thought.

So, I don’t feel like a Turk and I am not a ‘proper’ Cypriot since I don’t speak Greek… Then, who am I?

Well, I know this much: I am a Turkish Cypriot, who believes that Cyprus should be one; who realises that we all had enough suffering, and that the status-quo is shameful, unacceptable and a utter humiliation to each and every one of us. I am a human being, who believes that all human beings are equal and therefore, Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriots are equal too. I am a pacifist, who believes that we can do much better than bickering over who is to blame and who suffered more. I am a mother, who believes that Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot children are beautiful all the same, and that they deserve much better than this...