by turkkan » Tue Sep 09, 2008 11:40 am
‘Hands off education’, Archbishop threatens government
By Marcos Charalambides
THE ARCHBISHOP has launched a new attack against the government, this time regarding the Education Minister’s circular to secondary schools – an issue that has received a lot of media coverage these past few days, with many expressing their dissatisfaction with the Ministry’s aims.
Archbishop Chrysostomos II publicly warned the government on Sunday that if “they don’t take their hands off education” and don’t abandon their intentions, the Church would “react vigorously”. The island’s religious leader further urged parents to take on their responsibilities, stressing that children should grow up as Greeks.
His reaction came after political uproar over the Education Minister’s circular, which speaks of the need to change the history books as part of a broader aim to cultivate a climate of peaceful coexistence and co-operation between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.
And the Archbishop’s fire did not end there. In his televised comments, he proceeded to criticise the President on what he had stated in Sweden regarding, among other things, 50,000 Turkish settlers that would remain on the island in the event of a solution, proclaiming that “if a solution is not found, we should block off the checkpoints”.
Even though he was in the United Kingdom, it didn’t take long for the President to retaliate.
Speaking to London radio station LGR yesterday, Demetris Christofias expressed his dissatisfaction with the Archbishop’s aspersions. “Following the confrontation during the Conference for Overseas Cypriots, Archbishop Chrysostomos had stated that from then on he would not say anything else, but would wait until the end and if he then had some opinion he would express it. Not many days have passed since then, yet he has made some new comments.”
The President explained that the settlers issue and that of rotating presidency were things that previous presidents had accepted and that he was merely trying to send the international community the message that he was driven by good will. “Hopefully the Cyprus problem can be solved with only 50,000 settlers staying. In such an event, I think the Archbishop will be the first to offer me his blessings,” said Christofias.
In his speech, the President wondered what the problem was with the Education Ministry’s aim to cultivate a spirit of peaceful co-operation with Turkish Cypriot compatriots, referring to the criticisms he has received from both Church and political parties.
“This aim is something the Education Minister and I had expressed during the Educational Council meeting and no one had reacted,” he protested. “I cannot understand the reactions, particularly because they come from parties that are co-operating with the government,” he said in a dig at coalition partners DIKO and EDEK.
The President expressed his disappointment that some would oppose a policy that aims to develop the foundations in people’s conscience that is required so that a solution, approved by the public, can be achieved. He further rejected accusations that the approach would cause people’s Hellenist spirit to abate and that it could adulterate historical facts as “outrageous and figments of [their] imagination”.
“Our cultural heritage will certainly be taught in schools, but part of our cultural heritage is also co-operating and peacefully coexisting with our Turkish Cypriot compatriots.”
At around the same time that the President was defending the government’s actions, the Archbishop, speaking on CyBC radio, continued his attacks.
“Why do we want to create new programmes of study, and so on?” questioned Chrysostomos. He claimed that Greek Cypriots could only approach Turkish Cypriots if they relied on the ideals of the Greek Cypriots’ race and religion. “We were pupils once and we were also taught history. Does this mean that the history that we were taught was false?” he enquired.
The Archbishop went so far as to accuse previous governments, saying that “education has started going downhill from the time of the late Pefkios [Georgiades],” and, “when [Interior Minister] Mr Sylikiotis was the Minister’s adviser, I am not ashamed to say, slowly, slowly the Church began stepping away from educational issues”.
“Everything the Education Ministry has sent to schools every so often has made pupils egotistical and selfish,” he claimed, “and we need to become stricter, not slacker and destroying everything,” he said, reiterating that “if the history books change of course we disagree”.
“Education was upheld by the Church until 1960. We shouldn’t forget this,” he added.
The Archbishop also expressed concerns that the Ministry would undermine the EOKA fight for liberation. “We actually lived it,” he argued. “We are the ones that can express the truth.”
Nonetheless, the Education Minister stressed yesterday that the Committee that will be in charge of studying any changes that will need to be made to the teaching system hasn’t even been created yet and urged the Archbishop to wait until the Minister’s meeting with the Holy Synod, where he will explain in detail the Ministry’s intentions.
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2008
