Daily news paper Kibris writer interview translated to English .
at first page you can find Translated one and at seconed page original one which is published at Kibris .Seconed part will be later on .
Hasan Hasturer
In a true sense we never had a ‘Unity of Objective’.
[These are my] responses to the questions asked by ‘Alithia’ concerning the events of 20 July 1974.
What do the events of 20th July 1974 mean to the Turkish Cypriots.
The response to this is both easy and difficult.
In spite of the ‘Ceremonies’, it is worth studying the 20th July Jubilations.
What was lived until 1974 had seriously damaged the trust Turkish Cypriots had for the Greek Cypriots. Until 1974, there was present – among Turkish Cypriots fear of the Greek Cypriots.. 20th July [the events of] was the ending of this fear and was the day when Turkish Cypriots gained a ‘stronger hand’ against the Greek Cypriots.
Apart from not having a joint political aim [on the contrary] very differing political aims had rendered military power important.
By the arrival of the Turkish Army in Cyprus on the 20th July they gained the military strength they could never have achieved by normal means.
Common language and understanding is one of the ‘Cyprus Problems’. We call the 20th July a ‘peace operation’. They call it ‘invasion’.
We call it TRNC/KKTC, they call it ‘illegal state’. We could provide more examples. Because of these differing expressions there are ‘risks’ involved when making ‘joint statements’.
Bearing this in mind, as the author of these lines I am taking the risk of responding to Costa Constantinou of the ‘Alithia’ [newspaper].in English.
[He] e-mailed the questions.
He stated that my response could be in Turkish. I did e-mail my responses back to him in Turkish. My thoughts were published in a ‘full page’. Today, I am trying to get a Turkish translation of what was printed in Greek.
My intentions are to share with readers these statements and presentations. This way I am able to correct errors – which may have crept in due to errors in translation.
The case may be the full text may not be published. What might be left out may be important to what I am conveying to the readers as a whole. Publication of the full text creates a ‘wholeness’.
Today and tomorrow I will respond to Alithia questions and share them with you in two parts.
Before I get to the Q and A’s I must make a point.
I use the expressions in the questions as they are. So I do not make the same mistakes they do. eg: If I did not use the word ‘invasion’, they should not use it either.
Here is part I of the Questions and Answers:
Question
20th July 1974 is a tragic day for the Greek Cypriots .We are in pain for the loss of our homes and those dear to us. O the other side we have the Turkish Cypriots, who together with the Turkish Officials are celebrating with ‘parades’. So with these in mind what does today mean to the Turkish Cypriot people?
Answer
It is necessary to have a common aim in a true sense in order to share sorrow and share joy.
Even in a worse case scenario, as a person who has always wished to ‘live together’, I have looked back at the past have seen no ‘common aim’ in the true sense.
The existence of the Turkish Cypriots goes back to the days of the conquest of Cyprus in 1571. For 437 years Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots have formed the two ‘main’ groups on this island. For nearly 500 years on, what have we done [together] in order to become the owners and governors of the Island. Or have we been able to put together our political views and struggled to form a common goal? In my view the only serious joint effort was the act of joint opposition to the Catholic Venetian administration during siege of Cyprus.
Apart from examples of good neighbourliness there has been no common aim. The Lefka miners strike is one of the very few exemptions.
Under British rule Greek Cypriots began the fight for union with Greece, therefore beginning the Enosis campaign. Were the Turkish Cypriots to join in with this struggle for Enosis? EOKA was not the fight for independence it was a fight for Enosis.
In those days the leadership did not provide a healthy political aim to the Turkish Cypriot community. So the Turkish Cypriots joined in with the British in the fight against EOKA. 1955 – 1960 brought Turkish and Greek Cypriots face to face in a serious way. In spite of the signatures of Makarios and Dr Kucuk on the agreements that gave life to Cyprus Republic the administration of both communities were full of sworn elements of TMT and EOKA who were none believers in ‘living together’.
The constitutional Cyprus Republic only lived for 3 years.
It is not important from my point of view to apportion blame for the events of December 1963. The fact that the Turkish Cypriot Civil Servants left their duties and settled in narrow ghettos (enclaves) and began the formation of a nucleus of governing system could have been prevented by the numerically superior Greek Cypriots. The foundations of the separation and partition were set on that day.
From 1963 to 1974 it was as if the Greek Cypriot community never bothered to ask the question of ‘whatever is going to happen to this Cyprus problem’.
I am from Kucuk Kaimakli/ Omorphita. In 1963 under the leadership of Nicos Sampson, EOKA attacked our village. As refugees we went to Hamit Mandrez. Our homes burnt and destroyed. Many died, many went missing. In those difficult times we were left to our fate.
In your question you state that the tragedy began on 20 July 1974. But you must not forget that without the events of 15 July 1974 there would have been no 20 July 1974.
I have never accepted that any revenge for pain, sadness, tears can be comparable. But a large number of Turkish Cypriots see 1974 as revenge for 1963. I will re-iterate I am not one with this view.
From the way we lived after the events of 1963 we know very well what our Greek Cypriot brothers have gone through.
A great majority of Turkish Cypriots will till the day a solutions is found and reunification is achieved, will continue to treat 20 July as a day of celebration.
I wish by joint agreements these hurtful commemorative celebrations would be postponed/cancelled.
Question
What do TC’s think of the presence of the Turkish Army in the North of the Island are they ‘peace keepers’ or are they ‘occupying forces’ in their mother country.
Answer
The Turkish Cypriots do not see the presence of the Turkish Army in Cyprus as the same way as the Greek Cypriots do. Turkey came to the Island under the powers bestowed upon as a guarantor power.
The results created by the Turkish Army has pleased the TC pollution in the wider
sense but the presence of the Turkish Army has on occasions caused problems to the civil and democratic way of life. These problematic days are fewer and far between in comparison to the Denktas years. The Turkish Army did not come to Cyprus as the grandchildren of the Ottoman Turks who had given Cyprus to the British in 1878. What bought the Turkish Army was the coup on 15 July under the powers of the guarantor agreement.
With those rights their presence on the Island continues.
At this point I would like to share a few thoughts with you 98% of Turkish Cypriots or even more are keen on the continuation of guarantor powers.
Why?
If after the 15 July coup, Turkey did not intervene Cyprus would have been part of Greece and most likely that the coupist’s who were slaughtering their own people would eventually turn on the Turkish Cypriots. Because of this it was good thing that there were these guarantees.
The guarantees brought disaster to Greek Cypriots.
Greece, one of the guarantors powers organised the coup. The other guarantor, Turkey, intervened militarily. The third guarantor power England, just watched. If I was a Greek Cypriot and looked at the above scenario, I too would appose any guarantors.
The days good word if you wish to be understood, you must talk.
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