Cyprus-Forum.com

[Medman]

Taken from Cyprus Mail- Opinions section. What do people think?

EVERY YEAR we witness the same events to mark the anniversary of the Turkish invasion. In the north the mood is celebratory with flags everywhere and the holding of the obligatory military parade; yesterday fighter jets also flew over as the soldiers marched. A member of Turkey’s government is usually the guest of honour of the anniversary events.

In the Repubic the mood is much more sombre and it kicks off with the dawn, sounding of sirens (the same time they were heard on July 20 1974) and is followed by the honouring of those fell during the fighting – there are visits to cemeteries, memorial services and speeches by politicians about Turkey’s crime and about the need for a just and viable settlement.

Even though the leaders of the two sides are engaged in negotiations to find a settlement, the rhetoric remains same and the nationalistic sentiments as strong as ever. While it is inevitable to look back, in events marking an anniversary, there are different ways of doing it. In Cyprus, it appears, both communities are determined to carry on living in the past, maintaining the hatred, suspicion and distrust that always poisoned relations between the two.

Ideas such as forgiveness, admission of mistakes and reconciliation have never become part of the Cyprus problem discourse, and anyone who has tried to introduce them to the debate has been labelled an unpatriotic sympathiser of the other side, by the mainstream. But could a compromise agreement ever work when we hold on to the past with such tenacity?

Would the Turkish Cypriot constituent state, carry on celebrating July 20 after a settlement? Would Greek Cypriot politicians carry on making speeches about the barbarity of the Turkish invading troops on the same anniversary? The logical answer would be ‘no’, but stranger things have been known to happen and so far there is no indication suggesting that either community is prepared to leave the past behind and move on.

An attempt by the Christofias government to change the biased, history text-books at state schools, in order to make them a little less nationalistic and more balanced, was met with a public outcry a few months ago. The idea that we could have a partnership state, while children are being taught that the Turks are their enemies defies belief. In the north, they changed history books, but the authorities continue putting up monuments to Ataturk (the latest will be in Kantara) and displaying giant Turkish flags everywhere. Would Turkish Cypriots be prepared for re-unification in this way?

There may be negotiations, but the way the two sides are behaving, leads to the conclusion that neither has much faith in the prospect of an agreement. Yesterday’s events and declarations indicated that neither is preparing people for a settlement. On the contrary it indicated that both sides are happy to carry on living in the past.






Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2009

[SoSolidCrew]

Great article.