May peace be with you Cyprus…

Esra Aygın

27 May 2019

I believed in Niyazi Kızılyurek with all my heart…

Words would fail to explain how special it has been, to walk alongside this man, who “thinks simultaneously of Mehmet and Yiannis, Ayse and Maria” when he says “us”… 

Who refuses borders, division and nationalism… 

Who loves Cyprus with all its communities, diversity, languages, religions, and people… 

Who dreams of one Cyprus, a united Cyprus, a COMPLETE Cyprus… 

And whose country is the whole of Cyprus…

Words would fail to explain how amazing it has been to be part of a bi-communal, bilingual campaign alongside beautiful people, who only dream of a better country…

Words would simply fail to explain how emotional it has been to watch the hopeful youth rush to the polls… and the elderly, who are still stubbornly and faithfully struggling to see beautiful days on this island…

Words would fail to explain how it has been like to feel joy, hope, anger and triumph all at the same time… to cry tears of all these mixed emotions… To see Turkish Cypriots, Greek Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians – the people of Cyprus, who refuse to divide this country based on ethnicity, religion or languages – embrace each other when the results came out… To witness their thirst for peace…

Words would fail to explain how it feels like to speak the same language in different languages… To experience victory among disappointment and despair… 

To break down a few more taboos, to refute a few more myths… To take another step in the name of peace and a united Cyprus… To show that our hearts are large enough to fit an unlimited Cyprus and all Cypriots…

Words would simply fail to explain how proud I feel to send Niyazi Kizilyurek off to the European Parliament with the values he represents; with his vision; with a life dedicated to peace and brotherhood; and with his faith in one Cyprus, COMPLETE Cyprus, united Cyprus…

And I am very happy to say farewell to Cyprus with these feelings…

Thank you Niyazi Kızılyurek and the wonderful people, who embrace the values he represents…

May peace be with you Cyprus…

A new paradigm for the Turkish Cypriot community

April 21, 2019

By Esra Aygin

There is unprecedented interest among Turkish Cypriots to vote in the upcoming European Parliament elections

THE unprecedented interest by Turkish Cypriots in the upcoming European Parliament (EP) elections is giving rise to concerns about whether enough measures will be taken to overcome logistical challenges and ensure their smooth voting.

Some 81,000 Turkish Cypriots living in the northern part of the island are currently on the electoral list for the European Parliament elections due 26 May. Although it is not possible to estimate how many of those 81,000 will actually cross to the southern part of the island to vote, researchers expect a much higher turnout compared to the previous EP elections.

“The latest surveys show that the majority of Turkish Cypriots view these elections in a positive light,” said researcher Mine Yucel of The Centre for Migration, Identity and Rights Studies. “We can be certain that a higher than ever number of Turkish Cypriots will go to polls that day.”

In 2014, less than 2,000 Turkish Cypriots voted, while hundreds of them were turned away due to bureaucratic and technical problems that excluded them from the electoral list. Concerns that such problems may arise again, coupled with the already long queues at the crossing points on the weekends are making many Turkish Cypriots wonder whether they will indeed be able to vote.

“It won’t take an effort on the part of officials to make it difficult to vote that day,” said Famagusta Initiative activist Mertkan Hamit, who plans to vote on 26 May. “Just not taking additional measures at the crossing points and treating it like an ordinary Sunday will be enough to discourage many Turkish Cypriots.”

The Repubic of Cyprus will set up around 50 voting stations for Turkish Cypriots along the Green Line at walking distance from crossing points from Kato Pyrgos to Dherynia. Head of the election service Demetris Demetriou told the Cyprus Mail that arrangements have been made for additional staff and equipment at the Ledra Street, Ledra Palace and Dherynia crossing points, which are expected to be the busiest, to avoid delays or problems due to the increased numbers of Turkish Cypriots crossing. The Cyprus Mail has learnt that the Turkish Cypriot authorities will also place additional personnel at the Nicosia and Famagusta crossing points.

The locations of the 50 voting stations will be announced in early May but the majority of the ballot boxes would be in Nicosia, Demetriou said. “We have made arrangements for Turkish-speaking officers” at the voting stations to be used by Turkish Cypriots,” he added.

Although the EU acquis is suspended in the northern part of the island, Turkish Cypriots, as EU citizens, have the right to run and to vote in the European Parliament Elections.

Considering the Cypriot candidate with the least support won a seat at the European Parliament with 16,000 votes in 2014, the 81,000 Turkish Cypriot votes is a significant number that could have a big impact on the results.

A record number of nine Turkish Cypriot candidates have submitted their candidacy for this year’s European Parliament elections, which also saw a major Greek Cypriot party – left-wing Akel – field a Turkish Cypriot on its ticket for the first time ever. Turkish Cypriot academic Niyazi Kizilyurek – a longtime supporter of a federal, united Cyprus – is among the six candidates of main opposition Akel.

Apart from Kizilyurek, five other Turkish Cypriots are running together with renowned journalist Sever Levent of Afrika newspaper as part of his Jasmine Movement; and two others are running from the Cyprus Socialist Party.

Although a number of Turkish Cypriots ran in previous elections, none of them garnered enough votes to represent Cyprus at the EP.

The sudden mobilisation among the Turkish Cypriot community is due to a number of reasons, from the disappointment with the solution process to the presence of strong Turkish Cypriot candidates, according to analysts.

Kizilyurek – running from Akel –  is running a full-fledged, bi-lingual campaign throughout the island. which is the first time the northern part of Cyprus is witnessing a professional campaign for the EP elections complete with billboards, social media and newspaper ads and village visits.

“Those people, who identify themselves with the left are going through a big disillusionment both in terms of the solution process, and the left-wing parties,” said political scientist Umut Bozkurt. “This, coupled with a popular Turkish Cypriot candidate from a major Greek Cypriot party, who actually has a big chance of winning, has provided the leftist, social democrat Turkish Cypriots with a new arena to fight.”

Political scientist Sertac Sonan believes that these EP elections could signify the beginnings of a new paradigm in the Turkish Cypriot community: “The pro-unification Turkish Cypriots do not have much space to maneuver as prospects of a solution are getting worse while the right-wing and Turkey are becoming more hardline. And maybe highlighting their EU citizenship, EU identity, trying to get their voices heard through the EU may be the new struggle, a new channel for them.”

“How many Turkish Cypriots will actually be able to vote will depend largely on the goodwill of the authorities on both sides,” said Yucel. “If they are genuine, they will foresee the problems and resolve them. Failure to assist Turkish Cypriots’ smooth voting that day could even be seen as discrimination.”

Cyprus has six seats in the European Parliament.

https://cyprus-mail.com/2019/04/21/a-new-paradigm-for-the-turkish-cypriot-community/

Why I support Niyazi Kizilyurek

It’s argued that journalists must be impartial.

As a Cypriot journalist, I never shied away from taking sides and making this clear.

Because my children should remember me not as someone who stayed silent and impartial, but as someone who was on the side of those struggling for peace.

Because in this country, where we have been obliged to division, filled with with fear, hatred and nationalism, restrained in ethnic identities and made to believe that half an island is bigger than a whole island,

Being impartial means being on the side of the status-quo.

As someone who always struggled for peace and unification in Cyprus, I am supporting Niyazi Kizilyurek in the European Parliament elections.

Not because he is a Turkish Cypriot.

But because of the values he represents and the vision he has.

I am supporting Niyazi Kizilyurek because I believe that every vote cast to him, is a vote cast to peace against enmity, to federation against division, to future against the past, and to unity against separation.

I am supporting Niyazi Kizilyurek because I believe that every vote cast to him, is a vote cast at ONE Cyprus, a complete Cyprus with all its ethnic identities, religions, and languages.

We have been taught that Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots cannot coexist, cannot have a common struggle, cannot dream of a common future.

We have been made to believe that our past is divided and our futures are separate.

We have been forced to struggle against each other, rather than together.

Those who tried to say and do the opposite were silenced, intimidated, rejected.

NK has shown that everything they wanted us to believe until now is a huge lie.

He has shown for the first time in the painful history of Cyprus, that Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots of different political backgrounds can unite under a common vision and support the same candidate regardless of ethnicity.

He has shown that in this island full of ghosts and prejudices, we can be together, we can dream the same dream, we can fight the same fight.

In this island where we have been uprooted, divided and scattered all over, Niyazi Kizilyurek has shown that the struggle is not between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots but between those, who want to keep this island divided and those who dream of a united Cyprus.

Niyazi Kizilyurek has shown that Cyprus can be ONE.

Niyazi Kızılyürek has shown that Cypriots can be ONE.

And you know what?

Niyazi Kizilyurek has won these elections even if he loses.

Because he has shown us our capacity to win together.

Neden Niyazi Kızılyürek'i destekliyorum

Gazetecilerin tarafsız olması gerektiği savunulur.

Ben ise, Kıbrıslı bir gazeteci olarak, taraf olmaktan, ve tarafımı açıkça ortaya koymaktan hiç bir zaman geri durmadım.

Çünkü çocuklarım beni, sessiz duranların yanında değil, barış için mücadele edenlerin yanında hatırlamalı.

Çünkü bölünmüşlüğe mahkum edildiğimiz,

korku ve nefretle yoğrulduğumuz,

milliyetçilikle beslendiğimiz,

etnik kimliklerimize sıkıştırıldığımız;

yarım bir adanın bütün bir adadan daha büyük olduğuna inandırıldığımız bu ülkede,

tarafsız olmak, statükodan yana taraf olmaktır.

Bugüne kadar hep Kıbrıs’ta barış ve birleşme için mücadele vermiş biri olarak, Avrupa Parlamentosu seçimlerinde Niyazi Kızılyürek’i destekliyorum.

 

Kıbrıslı Türk olduğu için değil;

temsil ettiği değerler,

verdiği mücadele,

ve ortaya koyduğu vizyona inandığım için Niyazi Kızılyürek’i destekliyorum.

Niyazi Kızılyürek’e verilen her oyun,

düşmanlığa karşı barışa,

bölünmeye karşı federasyona,

geçmişe karşı geleceğe, ayrılığa karşı birleşmeye verilecek bir oy olduğuna inandığım için Niyazi Kızılyürek’i destekliyorum.

Niyazi Kızılyürek’e verilecek her oyun,

tüm etnik kimlikleri, tüm dinleri, tüm dilleri ile, bir Kıbrıs’a,

bütün Kıbrıs’a,

tam Kıbrıs’a verilecek bir oy olduğuna inandığım için Niyazi Kızılyürek’i destekliyorum.

Bizlere,

Kıbrıslı Türklerle Rumların birarada yaşayamayacağı,

ortak bir kavga veremeyeceği,

ortak bir gelecek tahayyül edemeyeceği öğretildi.

Geçmişimizin bölünmüş,

geleceğimizin ayrı olduğuna inandırıldık.

Birarada değil, birbirimize karşı mücadele etmeye zorlandık.

Tersini söyleyenler ve yapmaya çalışanlar sindirildi, bastırıldı, yalanlandı.

Niyazi Kızılyürek ise, bugüne kadar inanmamızı istedikleri her şeyin büyük bir yalan olduğunu ortaya koydu.

Kıbrıs’ın acılarla dolu tarihinde ilk kez, farklı siyasi görüşlerden Kıbrıslı Türklerin ve Kıbrıslı Rumların, birleşik Kıbrıs için ortak siyaset üretebileceğini, etnik kimlikten bağımsız olarak, aynı adaya destek verebileceğini gösterdi.

Bu hayaletler ve önyargılarla dolu adada,

Niyazi Kızılyürek bize birlikte var olabileceğimizi, aynı rüyayı görebileceğimizi, aynı mücadeleyi verebileceğimizi gösterdi.

Köklerimizden koparılıp dört bir yanına savrulduğumuz bu adada,

mücadelenin Kıbrıslı Türklerle Kıbrıslı Rumlar arasında değil,

bu adayı bölünmüş tutmak isteyenlerle,

vatanı, Kıbrıs’ın bütünü olanlar arasında olduğunu gösterdi.

Niyazi Kızılyürek, Kıbrıs’ın BİR olabileceğini gösterdi.

Niyazi Kızılyürek Kıbrıslıların BİR olabileceğini gösterdi...

Ve en önemlisi ne biliyor musunuz?

Niyazi Kızılyürek bu seçimi kaybetse de zaten kazandı.

Çünkü bize, birlikte kazanabilme kapasitemizi gösterdi.

A failure to reach a deal in Switzerland could scar generations

By Esra Aygin

July 15, 2017

“Rejecting the most possible with the assertion of rightfulness”, as reputable Cypriot Professor Niyazi Kizilyurek describes it, has resulted in another failure in Cyprus.
It could, this time, be definitive, and lead to the permanent partition of the island.

Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci and Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades, had made unprecedented progress in the chapters of governance and power-sharing, property, territory, EU and economy in the last two years.

The sixth chapter, security and guarantees would be finalised with the participation of guarantor powers in Crans-Montana, along with the outstanding issues in all other chapters – rotating presidency and effective participation of Turkish Cypriots.

The sides knew almost exactly how a final settlement would look like in all chapters other than security and guarantees. All that was needed was the courage and will, and, of course, realism, to take that final step and make history.

Independent sources confirm that Turkey, during the last dinner of the conference, signalled it was ready to give up the guarantees and the right of unilateral intervention within the framework of an agreement on all other outstanding issues.
It asked for the prime ministers to come and decide whether there would be a review clause or sunset clause for the remaining 650 Turkish troops after a solution.

Diplomats close to the conference acknowledge that this was the best offer Turkey could make “without appearing defeated in Cyprus or having submitted to the Greek Cypriot side”. Nobody can tell, of course, if Turkey was sincere when making the final openings. But it is a fact that its sincerity was not even tested.

The Greek Cypriot side asked for the offers in writing, objected to the prime ministers coming to Crans-Montana and insisted on zero troops and zero guarantees on the first day of solution. The conference failed in the early hours of Friday, July 7.
The security and guarantees question, which led to the loss of the best chance Cypriots ever had to unite their island, has always been treated as a mere slogan rather than being discussed in a realistic and rational manner.

The reality is that, currently, there are some 40,000 Turkish troops on the island and Turkey is a guarantor power of the Republic of Cyprus with unilateral intervention rights. There is a de facto ceasefire on the island – not even a ceasefire agreement. A war was lost in 1974, and no victor has ever picked up its marbles and left any country just like that.
The choice we had on July 7 was one between 40,000 troops in 146 locations, guarantees and unilateral intervention rights in a divided country, or 650 troops stationed in one location for a certain period of time and guarantes and intervention rights for a transitional period in a unified federal EU state.

Unfortunately, fears and short-term political agendas won over realism and reason at Crans-Montana. We ensured that 40,000 troops stay in Cyprus, and Turkey remains a guarantor power with unilateral intervention rights. We lost the best and probably the last opportunity to unite Cyprus. We chose to hold our future hostage to our past. We burdened our children with the division of generations long-gone. Cyprus is now in uncharted waters.

Stand up for federalism (The Cyprus Weekly, 7 February 2016)

By Esra Aygin

As negotiations to reunify Cyprus under a bi-zonal federation based on political equality reach a critical stage, there is little sense of ownership in either community for the concept of federalism.

While the Turkish Cypriots, guided by insecurities and fear, view federation not as equal and partnership but rather domination by Greek-Cypriots, the larger and more powerful Greek Cypriot community views federation as an unfair deal.

Such perceptions of federation have led Turkish Cypriots to seek as much power as possible for the constituent states and look up to Turkey for security.

Greek Cypriot politicians, on the other hand, including leader Nicos Anastasiades, frequently voice that a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation is a “painful compromise” reproducing the sense of dissatisfaction within the society.

In reality, federation is the way for peaceful coexistence, where Turkish and Greek Cypriots can enjoy the advantages of a united, stable, prosperous EU country, without one dominating the other; while at the same time, they have a degree of self-government and protection of their ethnic identities.

It is a successful means to handle differences and power struggles that are likely to occur between ethnic groups in systems where all the power is in the hands of a central government.

And like any other political system, a federation needs committed citizens to be able to survive.

Therefore, it is high time for both leaderships to lead all Cypriots into seeing a potential federation in a safe and positive light and developing a sense of ownership for it.

Professor Niyazi Kizilyurek, Faculty of Humanities dean at the University of Cyprus, argues that Cypriots need to see the prospect of federalism as a political virtue that has arisen on the basis of historical facts.

He said, throughout history, the larger Greek Cypriot community viewed numerical majority as political superiority and believed that it has the right to decide on the future of the island.

The Turkish Cypriot community, on the other hand, rejected being the minority and insisted it also has a say. “These opposing views coincided with the British divide-and-rule policy, and the question of ‘who has sovereignty’ turned into armed conflict in 1958,” says Kizilyurek.

“The two ethnic groups in Cyprus came into conflict not because of ethnic differences or hatred, but because of a difference in their political aims. ENOSIS and TAKSIM were fights over who was sovereign and who was a minority. They were fights of how the future was imagined and by whom it would be decided.”

Neither were Greek Cypriots able to become the sovereign power determining the future, nor wereTurkish Cypriots able to become a people with the right of self-determination.

Even when they claimed to establish a separate state, they were in fact unsuccessful.

“The failure of two historical processes on the island has led to the conclusion that federalism is the most ideal solution for Cyprus,” says Kizilyurek.

The latest round of negotiations is seen as the best and probably the last chance to find a federal solution in Cyprus.

But while creating a federation on the table, the leaders must start concentrating on creating federal citizens, who see a united federal Cyprus as a golden opportunity rather than a threat or a painful compromise.

http://in-cyprus.com/stand-up-for-federalism/