Cyprus-Forum.com

[Kikapu]

I am keeping an open mind. I do not think it is beyond the bounds of probability - that means it is possible, I am not saying it is the only explanation - that factions in the north which support permanent partition could have staged this incident. It is interesting to note that it was mainly covered in Asil Nadir's newspaper. Is he still a fugitive from British justice? If so, he is hardly likely to favour a solution that will make his extradition to the UK possible.

Tim,

Lets not fool ourselves. Of course there are those who still cherish the days of Enosis again, just as those who cherish the days of the Nazi Germany and Soviet Union, the Confederacy in the USA, as well as those who want a partition of Cyprus at any cost. But if we compare the numbers who still dream of Enosis and those who wants partition, I would say the Partitionist will win hands down any day of the week over the Enosis wishful thinkers. It is very simple to reach this conclusion. All you have to look at the amount of land and commerce is done with GC property in the North as well as the corrupted ruling elites as well as wanted fugitives in high places. Lets not forget Denktash's believed 30,000 Donums of GC land "gifted" to himself for his troubles. There are many who are morally corrupted and the only way to keep their ill gotten loot, is not to have peace. It is not to say there are no real issues of concerns and needs to be addressed in a peace deal with those who wants peace, but show me why the morally corrupted would give up their ill gotten gains for the sake of peace.

It's a "Dog eat Dog" world out there, where every men is for themselves. You know who the immoral are from the forum, so no point embarrassing them by printing their names.

[Nikitas]

Enosis dreams?

I have been living in Athens and been closely associated with the media business for 33 years. Enosis in Greek minds is as dead as the dodo.

Looking back to 1976, when I first got here, it is now easy to see how Greece went from a conservative, nationalist culture to that of European country with all the preoccupations and problems that entails. Enosis is hardly ever mentioned in the media or in political discussion and even then it is in a historic reference and not as a currently active issue.

I have seen more reference to Enosis in this forum in 9 months than in Greece over 33 years, and mostly from TC posters! Talk about time warps!

As for Cyprus, and the Enosis movement there, it is probably less active than in Greece. I have yet to meet a Cypriot who post 1974 thinks that Cyprus will be better off as a Greek district than as an independent nation.

As Cypriots earn more and travel more, and they can spend a weekend in Athens, they can see and compare how they live and how mainland Greeks live. And overall the Cypriots are better off both in economic terms and in their quality of life.

In any case, the whole Enosis argument was flawed from the beginning. Enosis, union, implies an act between willing partners who will each contribute to the creation of the resulting entity. Enosis was never imagined along these lines, it was a matter of handing Cyprus to Greece. Cyprus would contribute nothing to the Greek nation, and none of its institutions or ways of doing things would be allowed to survive. To give an example: in the 70s Cyprus renovated its telecommunications while Greece had a waiting list from 2 to 17 years to connect telephones. It was never assumed that the Cypriot telecommunications engineers had anything to offer the Greek phone company. In fact any such suggestion was either ridiculed or slapped down as "treason", a case of "mommy knows best" patronising which Cypriots understood soon enough.

And a few telling pointers. During the runup to the Annan plan referendum there were nightly if not hourly discussions about the plan in the media. A clique of "journalists" took it on themselves to promote the plan. Some of them have since been found to be much richer than before and hardly appear in the media now, but that is another story. Yet the latest election in Cyprus was hardly reported in the Greek media, even though its results would influence the process for a solution. In fact there is more coverage in the media of the events in Zimbabwe than in Cyprus. In a cynical business where coverage is given to "what sells" we must ask what is it that made the Annan plan "sell" more than Christofias and his chances of arriving at a solution. Dollar signs some might say.

[Tim Drayton]

Kifeas, I have condemned the rape of Greek Cypriot cultural and historical heritage in the occupied north in quite a few posts.