Cyprus-Forum.com

[Murataga]

This is from th Epilogue of the book "Barbarism Against Turkish Cypriots- the Other Side of the Coin" by Antonis Angastiniotis. The author dedicated his book to the memory of the students of Maratha (Murataga) Elementary School killed en masse and buried in mass grave. The incident which describes the perception of the GCs towards the TCs is partucularly noteworthy. I have highlighted some sections that are quite revelaing.

___________________________________________________________

...When you manage to jump over the propaganda wall and realize that half of the truth has been deliberately distorted and hidden from you, suddenly the past becomes a frightening present. You realize that if you are curious to discover further truths , you have to dif the soil hard enough for your hands to start bleeding. If you speak your mind, you run the risk of being branded as a traitor, your life is threatened and most of your friends turn their backs on you. You might even be left completely alone.

I am not afraid of loneliness any more. Lately a lot of children from Murataga village gather on and around my bed at night, and together we read short stories. The children happily smile at me for telling their stories to the world but eventually I burst into tears because they leave before I manage to count the number of bullet wounds on their little bodies. The wounds can not be old because when I wake up I find red bloodstains on the white sheet of my bed. The wounds can not be old because no one has apologized for them yet.

“And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?

And He said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.”

Genesis 4, v. 8-10

The enmity between the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots is not new. It didn’t start in 1974, or in 1963 or when the Byzantine Empire was destroyed. It started long ago at the time of Abel and Cain. The origin of this enmity is deep in the individuals` souls and unless it is totally uprooted from there , we will continuously look for an opportunity to find a suitable place for burying Abel or to get revenge from Cain.

The aim in writing this book is not political but sociological. Yet, it is not possible to avoid completely the political aspect of the related events. The main aim is to address the soul of each and every Cypriot (especially the souls of the Greek Cypriots, because I have also learned to view our standpoint from this perspective).

Both my observations about the internal tension created by the late referendum and my daily contacts with the outside world lead me towards the same conclusion: The seeds of extreme nationalism blossoming in the depths of the individuals` souls is the main obstacle in the way of a compromise agreement between them.

In order to change the situation, hearts need to change and for this we have to let the dark corners of history to be illuminated. It is not possible for an individual to be cleansed from ill thought and ill intention without first experiencing a sense of remorse; and it is not possible for someone to feel that sense of remorse unless he recognizes and acknowledges his own mistakes.

Most of the Greek Cypriot youth know very little about the incidents, which led to the partition of the island. The tragic events of 1974 have been used as a huge camouflage covering the prior events, which initially caused the partition of the island. It has always annoyed me to see in history book thought in our schools, that after lengthy explanation of the herioic deeds of the EOKA members, a big leap to 1974 is made. Either no incident took place between 1960 and 1974, or nobody wants to discuss the incidents of this period. While researching the developments of the period, I came to the conclusion that the latter is the case.

After I started this research my cousin and her two daughters, who were students in Greece, paid a visit to me at my house and we started to discuss the events of 196-64. The daughters knew nothing about the events and their mother’s knowledge was confusing. At one point in our discussion, I mentioned about the mistakes of the Greek Cypriot leadership and this was enough to suddenly trigger the nationalist monster embedded in my cousin. She turned and said:
:The biggest mistake of Makarios was his lack of determination to annihilate the Turks, an act which would have comforted all of us for good”

My cousin, a beautiful lady who didn’t even hurt even a single ant for all those years that I have known her until then, suddenly turned into a murderer who could even commit mass murder. She was demanding the annihilation of a whole race. ….

Since childhood we were taught that Turks were like barbarous dogs. My aunt used to tell me that Turks smelled bad because they weren’t baptized. Whereas according to that Bible, we the Christians are civilized people and we care for others. Then why did our religious leader Makarios III said this in 1964:

“If Turkey attempts to invade the Island on the premise that she would protect the Turks, she will not find a single Turkish Cypriot to protect”.

“The sermon of the other Priest” is a phrase used in Cyprus to imply evil acts allowable under special circumstances and it also allows hatred under such circumstances. This book is concerned with some of these special circumstances.
Turkish Cypriots have not forgotten the persecution and agony they suffered during the eleven years preceding the Turkish military intervention, know very well what will happen if the Turkish military is withdrawn from the island, and do not take seriously those of us arguing that the Cyprus issue is an issue of invasion, which started in 1974, and that a solution can only come after the invading military is withdrawn from the island.

[zan]

It started long ago at the time of Abel and Cain

And now we are to believe that man can change over night because they are in the EU.

[Kifeas]

The Man is indeed a psycho to be saying all the above! He has completely lost the plot, just like the other diluted individual called Fanourios, and he doesn't have a clue of what he is talking about. Obviously, coming from a far right wing family background, as he himself repeatedly admitted, some of the things he says above might be true for the people of the kind of his family's circle. However, to try and present them as if they are the case for the rest, the entire GC society, it is plain pathetic from his part. He is a clown pretending to be a scientist, otherwise he wouldn't be doing such wild and arbitrary claims and conclusions, based on his subjective understanding of the situation. Even the fact that he grew up in the UK, and thus has been absent from Cyprus and without any real touch with the GC society that lives in Cyprus, is an additional factor to take into consideration, and an evidence of his purely subjective and malicious ranting.


Sorry Tony Angastiniotis, but with the above you have proved what an indeed complete fool you are, because what you have written are not representing the vast majority of the GC society, and in a nutshell they are a bunch of unscientific nonsense! I wonder how much they pay you to be using your Greek Cypriot name in order to be promoting the pro-partition Turkish propaganda on Cyprus.

[Murataga]

Kifeas- thank you very much for your display of attitude towards a person who thinks different from you, albeit a GC. It should be well understood and carefully noted by all concerned. Again, I appreciate it, and please don`t refrain yourself from further insults and cussing so everyone knows what you are all about.

[zan]

The man is trying to put a human lilt on a tragedy that can repeat itself at the drop of a hat and you turn him into a pariah. Of course you have to be true to form in order to be Kifeas. Does not some of what he says represent you in some of the ways you have been aggressive in the past. The man is preaching to the blind. To those that do not even know themselves.

[Kifeas]

Zan, (and Mourataga,) if I knew were they sell brain; I would have definitely given you the address to go get some much needed. Unfortunately there is no such possibility, therefore …tough luck!

[zan]

Zan, (and Mourataga,) if I knew were they sell brain; I would have definitely given you the address to go get some much needed. Unfortunately there is no such possibility, therefore …tough luck!

Very honest of you you to admit that you do not know Kifeas................We both know where we got ours

[zan]

Zan, (and Mourataga,) if I knew were they sell brain; I would have definitely given you the address to go get some much needed. Unfortunately there is no such possibility, therefore …tough luck!

I also heard that that is the way Cain and Able fell out too.

[askimwos]

Part of what Tony Angastiniotis is wrote is true and some other parts are severe exaggerations.

To be more precise, it is a fact that a quite big chunk of the young GC population know very little about the attrocities committed by EOKA B between 1963-67. As a kid I was taught that there have been intercommunal fights and that attrocities were committed by nationalistic elements ofboth communities. What is not atually, or at least was not taught 15 years ago when I was a student was the knid of these attrocities. One cannot understand what went on during that period unless he learns about the sadistic nature of those attrocities. I was lucky enough to come from a left wing family who made sure that I was told what exactly happened, where and by whom. Only when you face the shocking details of these attrocities (by both sides) you develop a sence of where nationalism can lead. I guess this is what made me consider nationalism as the main reason behind the distruction of our island.

On the other hand,the generalisation that Tonys Angastiniotis used in the face of his niece is a plain and severe exageration. The same eductional system that fails to reveal and teach the whole story about the period 1963-1967 is the same one that promotes that the TCs are our compatriots and we have nothing to share with them. His nieces seems to be one of kind in terms of her views and surely in the minority.

[humanist]

In fact I believe that most greek speaking cypriots on this forum believ that we are all cypriots and are wanting unification. I guess we get bogged down by history instead of moving forward. A history that has caused much heart ache and pain to all cypriot people and has separated us for the past 32 years without one side being better off than the other. Pershaps we need to start thinking about getting ut and stepping away from the past 50 years to something new, better and innovative society.