by halil » Tue Apr 21, 2009 10:57 am
Tim here is the some comments from the another Cypriot forums.(it was discussed in 2007)
a new book was advertised yesterday in politis.
the book is in greek and its called "the betrayed rebellion" (η προδομένη εξέγερση). the book refers to the Turkish Cypriot demonstrations , and the climate that existed in the Turkish Cypriot community between 2000-4.
i havent read it, so i cannot really tell you the position of the writers (but if it was presented in politis - that already gives a clue )
the point is that it is practically the only book (besides the one by sia anagnostopoulou) written in greek that presents those unknown people on the other side. only for that i believe it is worth reading.
when i read it, i promise to present more things.
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the book was published by two leftists (members of the aristeri pteryga - for those who know the Greek Cypriot left). the book will be translated in turkish as well.
they claim that they do class analysis and to some extent, they do.
they provide a small introduction to the history of the cyprus problem (from their point of view of course)
the main new things that one can find in the book are the following:
- a concentrated history of the Turkish Cypriot demonstrations, including main personalities and organisations in the process. they mainly describe the birth and the actions of the platform "this country is ours".
- they heavily criticize AKEL for not supporting the platform and the demonstrators. they pose a "what would have happenned " kind of question that should haunt AKEL for ever:
when 40-80 000 Turkish Cypriots were demonstrating in the squares, what would have happened if AKEL called for a similar demonstration across the border ? (obviously making references to the fall of the berlin wall)
they also criticize AKEL for not making the slightest effort to understand or communicate with the demonstrators. locked in their offices and their new alliance with tpap, they could not appreciate the situation and continued believing that in the end denktash would win in any case. in short akel didnot give those demonstrators a chance.
- they also criticize talats actions. as leftists the obviously believe more in the power of a demonstration or a rebellion than in parliamentary democracy. they claim that talats decision to strike a deal with denktash for elections, not only froze the climate that existed in the squares, but also brought the division of the platform to political parties fighting against each other for votes.
- the third part that i really liked is the presentation of the main titles in the most important gcypriot newspapers : phileleftheros (the most popular paper- pro goverment..... irrespective who governs) , simerini (a nationalist one) and haravgi (akels newspaper).
their choice of themes, is presented as an organized attempt to "kill " the spirit of the demonstrations in the Greek Cypriot public.
the last chapter of the book is a long propaganda in favor of the A-plan, which i found out of topic.
what I felt that was missing from the book, is a presentation of what happened to the platform - or the parts that made it (since that was the title of the book). the book finishes chronologically on the referendum day.
i dont know if it brings any new information for Turkish Cypriots. for me it did. at points it becomes emotional - at least I felt angry with our stance. in short i would say it is an interesting point of view worth reading
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But in the meanwhile, what is this "aristeri pteryga" thing? I'm just curious.
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the name means literary "the left wing".
these people were part of EDEK and were expelled from the party in the early 1980s for (as they claim) their marxist views.
since then, they often voted for akel, and a couple of times for EDEK.
they also publish a newspaper with a socialist tone.
allow me to say a couple of things considering EDEK. it was created in 1969, and it was suppossed to be a socialist party - as oppossed to akel which was a communist one (with relations to the USSR etc).
the only "left" thing that EDEK did in its history , was that it was way more outspoken and radical against the greek military dictatorship (whereas akel never said anything) and EOKA B.
besides that, it has no "left" position on the cyppro and never had any real relations with the Turkish Cypriot left. its dogma, for years has been to increase our defense spending which was the only way to avert the invasion.
after 1975, precisely because it was kind of more militant it did attract a number of the Greek Cypriot "intelligencia". which in the process it lost.... from the early 80s till the referendums
it is in this whole process that this "aristeri pteryga" was formed.
i seriously doubt if they can influence even 1% of the Greek Cypriot population. in any case they were never a political party, and never stood in elections, so it is pretty difficult to evaluate their influence.
despite their harsh criticism on akel in their book, they will vote for christofias in the coming elections
