iceman wrote:Kifeas wrote:iceman wrote:Tim Drayton wrote:Şener Levent wrote a very powerful peice in Afrika yesterday (10 November). I think it goes some way to answering the points raised in this thread. My translation:
ON THE VERGE OF EXTINCTION
You are a Turkish Cypriot. You live in the north of a divided island in which Turkish soldiers are posted along the divide. You are probably a civil servant. Or a worker. Or you are retired. You are the citizen of a make-believe state which is not recognised by the world. Wherever you travel, you have at least two passports in your pocket. You are also unsure as to how you define your identity. Turkish Cypriot? Turk of Cyprus? Or simply Turk? You are bound by the laws of a make-believe state. You pay your electricity bills, telephone dues, taxes, water money and vehicle licence fees all to this make-believe state. You call your leader – whom nobody in the world addresses as president - “Esteemed president”. You do not have your own money. You use the Turkish lira. You once grew olives. Now you eat imported olives. You had shoemakers. They have closed. You had joiners. They have closed. Your tailors have also closed. Your helva maker of a century’s standing has even locked his door. But you have an abundance of brothels, casinos and non-existent five-star hotels. You get along by selling land plundered from Greek Cypriots and from a variety of rackets conducted in the shade of the bayonet. Even though yours is a citrus land, your very lemons come from Argentina. The imported population has long since outnumbered yours. You do not even encounter one another in the streets any more. You are drowning in a criminal swamp; you sleep with a revolver or a knife under your pillow. All of you live in fear of being burgled at any time. If you should contract a mortal illness you immediately rush to the hospitals and doctors in the south. To avoid being swindled in the north, you shop in the south. You trust neither doctors, nor lawyers, judges, policemen nor politicians in this make-believe state. You may not yet have noticed but you are on the verge of extinction. Those at the top pass on the good news that, “If there is no solution, there will be partition.” They say, “Since the Greek Cypriots greatly fear partition they will have to accept our conditions.” In fact, it is you who really needs to fear partition. If there is partition, the Greek Cypriots will at least own half of Cyprus and will govern themselves as an independent nation. And you? You will continue to eke out an existence here under Turkey’s rule with a so-called parliament and government. You will at no time be the master under your own roof. Here-today-gone-tomorrow officers and ambassadors will rule you. More of you will disappear. Those of you that remain will get up and depart. The population that has taken over the area within the walls will also conquer the area outside the walls. Flags will be planted where the hills have been hollowed out and mosques built where citrus orchards have dried out. Those of you who are too long in the tooth to leave will meet in a few coffee shops frequented only by Cypriots and recall the days of old. Their grandchildren who come from abroad to visit them, unless a customs officer from Hatay creates problems, will negotiate their way through immigration before embracing them and kissing their hands. Those who do not carry a Republic of Turkey passport in their pockets will be denied entry here.
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If I told you, “There is still time; come and let us rid ourselves of all of these curses” you would not join me. What else can I say?
yet another excellent article by Levent,describing the sad reality in the north.!!
Iceman (and all other TCs sharing the same view,) if the above article by Levent is an excellent one (and I do not know better than you do,) then why aren't you all TCs out in the streets against your elected leader Talat, to push him to truly work for a solution of the Cyprus issue? Or, aren't you all aware of what kind of illogical, outrageously gross, unacceptable and illegitimate positions he is placing on the table, in-front of Christofias, that little they differ from those of the Denktash's 30 year long era? Are you aware of what your leader is asking at the negotiations? If not, let me help you, but before that I would like to let you know that his (Talat’s) rhetoric -and more so his positions and terms, have managed to make partition for the majority of the GCs sounding more favorable than his idea of “re-unification!”
Personally,i don't believe he is in a position to ask anything for his own people..and unfortunately there isn't enough Turkish Cypriots left who share my views to make any difference..
its a lost cause. I used to think we were condemned due to leaders with no vision. I now understand that even if we did have some which we don't, it would still be a lost cause.
