Alkan CAGLARRecently I discovered my name on an online “list of traitors to the KKTC” (the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus) among other Turkish Cypriot writers. In true World War II style, the author like the website the list was placed on was a member of the diaspora Cypriot community, summoning all Turkish Cypriots to defend the KKTC against these traitors. The event made me ask why so many diaspora Cypriots living in 21st century multi-cultural societies are desperately resurrecting and clinging onto an anachronistic nationalism from the time of their grand parents. presenting it as a form of patriotism, despite the fact that they were born, raised and live abroad, and not in Cyprus, these young mostly London Cypriots brought up abroad talk of the glory of the Ottoman Empire or Alexandra the Great as if they were happening today and talk of the superiority of their parent's ‘homeland.' I began to question: Why are some diaspora Cypriots living in a time warp?
Homesickness and tomorrow
To comprehend why anachronistic ideas of nationalism from the 1950s, 60s and 70s lives on among diaspora communities today, one need to find the seeds of this thinking. Living as a minority in a sea of Anglophones and faced with recurrent homesickness, new arrival parents often brought up their children talking incessantly of the homeland they left behind, forgetting that they live in a new land, one that is the only home their offspring can identify with. The “homeland of Cyprus” was not only the subject of frequent conversations within families or between friends in Cypriot “Kahves” or “Kafenions,” but the goal of tomorrow. Understandably, those first generations homesick with memories of simple village life, the smells, feel and tastes of the island, often referred to Cyprus as a paradise or utopia, where they once lived and want to one day retire and enjoy, but cannot because of the ‘enemy.' With no reference to the ‘alien' land they have lived and worked in, and whose culture their children belong to as well, many diaspora Cypriots like my late great grandparents, lived with this dream of living tomorrow, while sadly the tomorrow they longed for, where they would return to Cyprus, never came.Shaped by an upbringing in Britain where Cyprus was the focus of life, from its food, to its music, its traditions, its wedding, and its way of mourning the dead, second and third generations tried too to cling onto their grandparents memories, as a way of preserving not only their heritage, but a more personal love for their departed Nene or Dede. Often the memories shared by their grandparent's refer to a time of joyfulness, sights of orange blossoms, buzzing of hornets, little jasmine necklaces and lace work made by villagers for a small living, but now and again they recount memories of hostility towards those who terrorized them and drove them out. Whether these acts were in the 1950s, 60s or early 70s, the memories of civil war have been kept alive by generations of families, like my own, by the role Cyprus past and present plays in diaspora families and by the continued lack of justice in Cyprus itself. Watching their grandparents and parents lament in suffering over a foreign land, the injustice affected many British Cypriots too. Naturally, faced with integration problems in their adopted land, obvious risks of assimilation and for many the presence of the ‘enemy' in their new home, for some; even after the death of the first arrivals, preserving their heritage became a form of defending their perceived ‘fatherland' the KKTC no matter what and defending it was not just politics but a personal issue. Despite the fact that their grand parents and parents lived before the KKTC, for many young Turkish Cypriots the KKTC has come to symbolize their struggle.
‘Defender' of ones community
Like many young politically active Turkish Cypriot boys, I too subscribed to this view for a long time, even joining marches and despising those whom I accused of imposing the ‘embargoes' on our state. With a copy of Harry Scott Gibbon's “Genocide Files” as my bible, I even wrote letters to governments all over the world, from Malta to Japan asking for recognition of the KKTC – I styled myself as a defender of the community, the role gave me a purpose in a society, where despite the fact that I was born here, I still felt a stranger and was commonly made to feel like one. Today, I see many British Turkish Cypriot youth wasting their energies on fighting the ‘enemy,' on wasting their energy on pursuing recognition or by leaving their mark on internet forums attacking their ‘opponents.' For every ‘defender', for every post there is an equivalent Greek Cypriot youth doing the same thing. Their struggle is one mixed with a yearning for what they perceive as justice and a respect for those who shaped their views. By repetition they are demonstrating what they were taught and the injustice they feel in their own family. Without the opportunity to learn about the suffering of other Cypriot communities, nationalist ideas inherited from family members have become banal and represent an instant solution to a complex issue.
How my perception changed
My own views, which were once the same changed when I visited Cyprus. While imparting my knowledge on those whose interests I had delegated myself as a defender, I was made to see events more clearly. Firstly, those I defended did not hate the Greek Cypriots nor could they necessarily remember past events my grand parents could, but instead they were alarmed by continued corruption and cronyism that has come to signify the KKTC. They complained how the same Ministers appealing to the unsuspecting diaspora for aid were themselves embezzling money from the public purse and using Republic of Cyprus passports to travel to their Swiss bank accounts. Then they spoke of how the “Greeks who could not be trusted” provided free health care and honoured pension payments even after partition.Sick of being ordered to defend the KKTC themselves, ordinary moderate Turkish Cypriots informed me how the KKTC was responsible for their isolation, keeping them prisoner since 1983 and for what? They reminded me that settlers were running his Turkish Cypriot state and that the military had the final say over civilian politics. When I reminded them of past atrocities, they informed me of our own atrocities, desecrated Christian cemeteries and churches, the theft of religious icons, and the sale of refugee property. Suddenly I didn't feel like a victim anymore. Returning home, my picture of Cyprus that had been formed from generations had swiftly changed in several days. No longer was there a single ‘enemy' or demonic figure that I could pin all my anger on. Instead the picture was far more complex. My time in Cyprus taught me that despite my own family's turmoil, British Cypriots imagining nothing has altered in time in Cyprus, do not realise that Cyprus Cypriots, the ones living there are the ones seeing everything with their own eyes and experiencing the effects of the Cyprus problem. It is this picture that prompted me to divert my energy not to fight for one Cypriot community, but for all, since all are intrinsically linked to one another. Can you have a solution any other way? I learnt that if you want to be a defender of anything in your life, be a defender of the universality of human rights, and don't be selective about whom you defend!
* British-born Turkish Cypriot Alkan Chaglar is a columnist for the UK-based Toplum Postasi, where he is English Editor.
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/arti ... wsid=79523
just out of curiosity , could someone post that list of traitors ?
