Cyprus-Forum.com

[Tim Drayton]

I came across the following article by Çağay Dürü published on 7 May in a section of the Turkish Cypriot Yeni Düzen newspaper devoted to contributions from outside the newspaper. It makes very different arguments to those most commonly advanced by Turkish Cypriots with reference to the Orams case so I felt that it deserved to be translated and posted here. The article does not appear to have been included in the online version of the newspaper, so I am afraid I cannot give a URL.

The Orams case has once again shown that (I say once again because there are a whole host of UN resolutions, the Loizidou case, the EU process that show us this) the system that was created in Cyprus after 1974 that we named first the TCFS and later the TRNC is rapidly heading towards its breaking point. The breaking point does not necessarily spell the end for this system. However, there is now clearly a need to make a choice: Will we join the fold of international law, the civilised world and Western democracy, or will we pursue an existence outside international law and continue to act as though everything were hunky dory? Sadly, we realise from the following Yeni Düzen story that our politicians on the right and left are opting for the second alternative:

“[Our President’s office and the parties represented in parliament] have stated that it is totally impossible to consent to this ruling which was passed without reference to the extraordinary situation in Cyprus and that it will do immense harm to the negotiation process. The President’s office and the parties have warned that, in the event of the English Court of Appeal ruling like the ECJ without making reference to the realities in Cyprus, irreparable damage will be done to the negotiation process.”

There are still those who do not wish to comprehend the following realities that fly in our face: The TRNC is outside international law and this will not change; isolation cannot be lifted; to say “we spilled blood and this land became ours – let’s sell it and stick the money in our pocket” takes lawlessness to new heights and it is impossible for the civilised world to consent to this; the Exchange Property Law cannot legitimise unlawful practices; saying “Yes” to the Annan Plan does not absolve us of all our guilt and legitimise the TRNC; it is impossible to transform the TRNC into a democratic state or govern it as though it were because the foundations of the formation are illegitimate; the Turkish Cypriots are on the verge of losing their very presence in Cyprus thanks to emigration; governing the TRNC does not amount to taking power because there are other centres of power in the north of Cyprus which are absolute and cannot be held to account. It would be possible to go on at greater length about these realities which fly in our face, but if we tried to list them all we probably wouldn’t get a chance to say anything else! So, let us cut a long story short and come to the point: we have to face facts and create policies based on these facts. Otherwise, holding “democratic” elections and praising our state has only shown us that our house was not actually our own and that the world we had created for ourselves was made of lies!

The Cypriot left’s most significant paradox is the reality that, on the one hand, the system created after 1974 cannot be “put straight” by reformist means and what is required is to solve the Cyprus problem and, on the other, the inability – so far - of the left on its own to bring about radical change to this system through solving the Cyprus problem. This inevitably begs the question of what the left can currently promise to the people living within this system that cannot “be put straight”. In other words, without premising everything on solving the Cyprus problem, to establish what can be done for people’s welfare and to fight for this. This is an unavoidable struggle for every political movement. For to turn one’s back on the problems experienced in concrete terms by people and to create policies based on a number of abstract concepts will isolate that political movement. One of the most serious errors made by the left in the past was to address people’s daily cares and the suffering which they faced with the claim that “everything will be sorted out after the revolution.” However, the following danger also exists in attempts to solve today’s problems from within the system: in wishing to revise the system to become part of that system and to turn into a bad copy of those who created/produced the system. If we examine the CTP’s time in government and its subsequent electoral defeat, we can see that this danger at least to a certain degree became reality. So how can we escape from this stifling paradox? Perhaps by comprehending and explaining that at the root of virtually all of the problems that are encountered in daily life in the north of Cyprus lies the lawlessness created by the Cyprus problem. We stated above that the TRNC was outside the law. So, if the state itself is outside the law, how can the practice of daily life be within the law? In a state which the whole world considers to be illegitimate, and in which more significantly that state’s citizens are also aware of this, what force can state servants bring to bear on affairs? Do state servants not realise, no less than all and sundry, that a kind of stage production is being put on? Who can rebuke those who do not show up on time? An undersecretary, a manager, a minister? Do we not know that those offices have as much legitimacy as the status of that house that was sold to the Orams? Another example: you know that the title deeds given to you by the state for the house that was left behind by the Greek Cypriots is illegal and that nobody recognises it beyond the TRNC borders (actually, you can see what it is worth inside the TRNC borders when you compare its value to “Turkish title deed” property). But, for example, when you throw rubbish in front of your house or park your car in the wrong place, the “state” wants to intervene and punish you, in other words take “legal” action. Do you not say to the relevant state servant “Give me a break! The whole place is bent and you are worried about that?” Never mind coming out with that, do you not pull some strings to get the punishment cancelled “internally”? The very thing that enables the punishment to be cancelled internally is that the “interior” has no legal foundation. Or what can one say about the countless intrigues, disgraces and lies revolving around exchange points? But why? When Turkish Cypriots living in Europe obey the rules and succeed, is there something in the water in the Cyprus that makes the same people make lawlessness their guiding principle on this soil? No, there is no problem with Cyprus water; the thing known as the Exchange Property Law and the exchange point scheme are in themselves a tissue of lies and illegal.

The left in the north of Cyprus should ask itself, whenever it acquires the trappings of power in any manner – for example, forming the government, in trade union struggle or filling the streets – the following with reference to all demands, struggles and concessions in connection with daily life:

“Does what we are demanding, that which we are fighting for, that which we have changed, further a solution in Cyprus or the making permanent of separation and the status quo?” All left-wing political parties and movements must assess all of the policies which they formulate and all of the strategies which they develop in such terms. Leaf through the left-wing newspapers after the Annan Plan referendum. Assess the winds of anger blowing in the Greek Cypriot direction in these same terms. What in your opinion is furthered by recent bitter and vindictive/distancing comments made with reference to the Talat-Christofias? Whose discourse is echoed by the statement made and summarised above in connection with the Orams case? Are we returning to the days of “Forget about New York, I won’t even go to Kioneli?” If this is where we have come, what is the point of the Property Compensation Commission? Was the Property Compensation Commission not a step taken to solve the property problem on an individual level prior to a settlement?

If left wingers wish to solve the problems that they experience in connection with property, then they have to come to terms with this illegality. If this illegality is to be defended and populist discourse along the lines of “We will defend the interests of the TRNC people” or “The ECJ is mistaken; our situation is extraordinary” is to be indulged in, the result will be even more unfavourable. Will they not then ask why you play at statehood as though this extraordinary situation did not exist, as though there was a perfectly democratic environment? The left in North Cyprus has always lost support whenever it tried to compromise with this system and thought that it could improve it through revision. Whenever it said “We are being assimilated”, “Peace in Cyprus cannot be obstructed” and “We will bring down this brutal state; we will solve the Cyprus problem,” it has found support and grown strong. Whenever it has said, “The TRNC is the reflection of the Turkish Cypriots’ right to self-governance”, “Papadopoulos is like this, Christofias like that, if they can’t sort themselves out we will do it for them”, “Once the flag has been raised it will not come down”, “The best solution to the Cyprus problem in the whole world is ours” and “What does the EU know, we are right, there is an extraordinary situation” it has lost support and will continue to do so. Those who do not believe this should take stock of the election results and the pre-election discourse and actions! Or those who wish to put this to the test again may await the 2010 elections!

Now similar voices are beginning to be raised in left-wing circles in connection with the latest developments in the Orams case. It may supposedly affect the course of negotiations; all that is possible might happen. What are the possibilities? What does it mean to say that the course of the negotiations may be affected? Are we really to halt the negotiations in mid course, are we not to attend the negotiations on the grounds that “we have a meeting?” Are we really to abandon a solution and keep the TRNC alive? We will await the day when all of European law vindicates us, our isolation is lifted and the TRNC is recognised! In the mean time it does not matter if the Turkish Cypriots have emigrated, the demographic structure of Cyprus has changed or that lawlessness, lack of production and the whole tissue of lies have assumed monstrous proportions! Are we not even once to say, “Oh no, that EU which we wished to enter, that UN whose plan we approved and legal experts tell us that we are wrong, what have we got wrong?” How many more walls will we erect between ourselves and reality? The king is naked, friends; this is not the first time they have told us, let’s finally wake up and face reality.

Let us frame policies based on reality and explain them to our people; let us court their support. If the Cyprus problem is solved, it will be solved in this world and in accordance with the realities of this world. The realities of this world are very different from those of the cold war period. We talk about an extraordinary situation and this is the very crux of the problem; nobody wants to have extraordinary situations any more, they want dialogue, they want a solution, they want borders to vanish. Nobody is interested in our extraordinary situation. Do you not listen to Obama or the EU at all, oh Turkish Cypriot politicians, or do you not even see where Turkey is going, especially those of you who define yourself as left-wing and pro-peace?

[CBBB]

Very refreshing TC take on the situation.

[bill cobbett]

Thanks for that mate.

[Kikapu]

Thanks Tim for your brilliant translation of this long article for us, and just for the record, I did not write this article myself, even though I have been stating the above for a very long time in my own way, of course.! Still, much to my amazement, there are those TC’s on the forum who still ask me what I mean by when I write “Animal Farm” “Corrupted Society” “ Sins of Haram” “Gecegondu” in describing the “trnc”.! It is very obvious, that many of these TC’s are still in Suspended Animation who have no idea what is going on around them let alone for them to have any inclinations as to what the “future” holds for them in the “trnc”.!

[Tim Drayton]

Thanks Tim for your brilliant translation of this long article for us, and just for the record, I did not write this article myself, even though I have been stating the above for a very long time in my own way, of course.! Still, much to my amazement, there are those TC’s on the forum who still ask me what I mean by when I write “Animal Farm” “Corrupted Society” “ Sins of Haram” “Gecegondu” in describing the “trnc”.! It is very obvious, that many of these TC’s are still in Suspended Animation who have no idea what is going on around them let alone for them to have any inclinations as to what the “future” holds for them in the “trnc”.!

Thanks, mate. I think you will find the following article by Yeni Düzen's leading columnist Cenk Mutluyakalı of interest (if you haven't seen it already):

http://www.yeniduzengazetesi.com/templa ... &zoneid=16