Cyprus-Forum.com

[halil]

Obama sees it, but what about Greek Cypriots?

17.04.2009

Niyazi Kizilyurek

Turkey key to US Mid East plans

You know if you ever travelled with Cyprus Airways, there is something funny about the navigation maps shown during the flights of this airline. After a take off from Larnaca all the geographical names close to the flight route are displayed on the navigation map. That is normal; Egypt in the south, Rhodes in the west and so on. However, the giant land mass in the north remains anonymous. This giant land mass you see on the navigation map all the way to Greece which does not have a name is called Turkey. It says a lot about the state of mind of Greek Cypriots but I just want to mention the political aspect of this.
Disregarding Turkey was one of the main mistakes the Greek Cyprus ministry has made in recent Cyprus history. During the 1950s, when ‘Enosis and only Enosis’ policies were pursued, or in the 1960s it was assumed the Zurich and London treaties could be changed, the Turkey factor was either underestimated or disregarded. After 1974, Turkey was called only as ‘The Occupation Force’ or for short ‘Attila’. That was it. Turkey was never properly assessed, neither as a country nor for her significant involvement in international politics. The portrait of Turkey was drawn only with little knowledge picked here and there or pictured with news and comments full of prejudice and unfortunately this portrait of Turkey was portrayed as ‘Turkey’s reality’. The geopolitical position of Turkey or the country’s cultural-political aspect still remains ‘an unknown’.
If you look north from the Five Finger Mountains on a beautiful day, you can see Turkey. In fact the famous Greek general Plastiras-Plasitiras, who was the Prime Minister of Greece in the early 1950s, was also famed for saying ‘sit properly’ to Makarios implying the impossibility of Enosis. When he was at a friend’s house during a personal visit to Cyprus he said: “You keep saying Enosis but you forget that you can see Turkey if you go on a higher hilltop.” The ignorance of Greek Cypriot decision makers about Turkey gave way to a failure in their decision making processes. We have seen the examples of this in recent history. Most striking was when they acted on the idea that ‘Turkey will not agree to arbitration’ while they were on the way to New York to see Secretary-General of UN Kofi Annan at the beginning of 2004. They took it as a ‘shocking surprise’ when Turkey changed its attitude.
The number of Greek Cypriots who were puzzled by the visit of Barack Hussein Obama to Turkey is not that few. Obviously they fear that the importance attributed to Turkey may affect their interests in a negative way.
Obama’s first official visit to Turkey is clearly a very important development. There is no doubt that Turkish-American relations will accelerate after this visit. What took Obama to Turkey was the demand for her contribution to the new American administration’s policies and the plans they want to pursue in the Caucasus and in the Middle East. Briefly the USA is calculating new common interest areas with Turkey and broadening her horizons.
The Greek Cypriot decision makers should learn a lesson from that. First of all Turkey is a country neighbouring Cyprus. Second, Turkey is occupying a very important place in world politics thanks to her geopolitical location and cultural atmosphere. Third, being on hostile terms with Turkey is not a smart move.
What should be done here is to reverse the paradigm and look for a way to open up a new page with Turkey on the grounds of common interest. For this, including Greece there should be a kick off of a new period of collaboration on the Turkey Greece and Cyprus triangle. The Eastern Mediterranean vision mentioned frequently by Abdullah Gul and specified as a close collaboration between Greece, Turkey and Cyprus must be taken seriously.

[runaway]

Is it really important what 750.000 think about 75.000.000? Do we really give a shit about them? NOPE

[Kifeas]

Allow me, Mr. Niyazi Kizilyurek, to tell you that you talk nonsense! You tell Greek Cypriots not to ignore Turkey, and try to build relations with it, when in fact it is Turkey the one refusing to talk to the Greek Cypriots, and does not even recognize the mere existence of the RoC, a UN and an EU member state. I mean, here we have the classic case of a donkey picking on a rooster for allegedly having too big of a head. I suggest to Mr. Kizilyurek to write a similar article directed to Turkey this time, explaining to them why they should not ignore the GCs and the RoC, put aside their complexes and try to build relations with us, since besides other reasons we are also a member of the club they wish to join one day and will also have to give our approval for this to happen.

[RAFAELLA]

First of all Turkey is a country neighbouring Cyprus.

Third, being on hostile terms with Turkey is not a smart move.

I would borrow the above sentences from the article just to say:
"Look who's talking!"

[askimwos]

I have been on a number of Cyprus Airways flights and I do not remember the maps showing country names. Those maps show the major town names i.e. Alexandria, Nicosia, Limassol, Adana, Ismirn, Athens, Rhodes, Cairo Amsterdam etc..

I can't see the point than Niazi makes here because for me this is a non starter..
The maps simply show town names, icluding those of Turkey, but not country names..

[Get Real!]

Is it really important what 750.000 think about 75.000.000? Do we really give a shit about them? NOPE

Then why do you complain that the 82% didn’t regard the 18% important?

[runaway]

Is it really important what 750.000 think about 75.000.000? Do we really give a shit about them? NOPE

Then why do you complain that the 82% didn’t regard the 18% important?

coz it's their island and they will never leave.

[Get Real!]

Is it really important what 750.000 think about 75.000.000? Do we really give a shit about them? NOPE

Then why do you complain that the 82% didn’t regard the 18% important?

coz it's their island and they will never leave.

When you get caught out it’s best to keep silent than post irrelevant bollocks…

[Kifeas]

I have been on a number of Cyprus Airways flights and I do not remember the maps showing country names. Those maps show the major town names i.e. Alexandria, Nicosia, Limassol, Adana, Ismirn, Athens, Rhodes, Cairo Amsterdam etc..

I can't see the point than Niazi makes here because for me this is a non starter..
The maps simply show town names, icluding those of Turkey, but not country names..

Askimwos, sorry to tell you this, but in order to be able to see the point Niazi is trying to make, you first have to learn how to identify the main or central idea of the (any) passage. You seem not to be able to do so, and instead you pick on a side issue of what is being said, trying from there to extract the main idea and make sense, when in fact it was only used in order to support a broader claim, which was that Cyprus should not ignore Turkey and try to build relations with it.

[askimwos]

Kifeas I was just commenting on the point that started the whole thing...
Once I have read the first 3-4 lines I gave up reading the whole article cause I hate it when people make up things in order to start an argunment... He could have laid down without resorting to false claims just for the sake of having a more catchy introduction...