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A BRIEF COMPARISON OF TWO COLONIALISTS
Some time ago in the Turkish Hürriyet newspaper as far as I recall Oktay Ekşi very kindly openly wrote the truth in one of his columns. Cyprus, it said, is Turkey’s colony. However, what came next was far removed from the truth. What came next? The claim that, “Turkey’s colony of Cyprus exploits Turkey.” And, he adds, this is the first time that such a situation has been encountered in the world.
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Two of the things we were taught at teacher training college, and which immediately come to mind, i.e. which are ingrained in my mind, were: 1-If pupils (primary pupils) ask you something which you do not know, do not pretend to know but say, “I do not know but I will research this. If you like, you research this, too.” 2-Your main task as a primary teacher is to teach pupils to read and write, perform the four arithmetical functions and where to find what they are looking for.
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Why are these things so important? The reason is that these are the things that will be most necessary for a person in life. If they are on their own and question something which they encounter and do not know or remain in doubt, they should be able to say, “I will have a look, I need to investigate” before speaking or writing.
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To return to our subject, the above-mentioned writer clearly does not know about colonialism and the relationship between a colonial country and one of its colonies. Somebody spoke off the top of their head and he took it as gospel. In fact, if the above-mentioned writer had taken 5-10 minutes to consult an encyclopedia, he would there have learned about the rules of colonialism and, upon turning to gaze at Cyprus with his bare eyes, he would have seen what was happening and, if he had the courage, would write the truth. Undoubtedly Oktay Ekşi is not the only writer to who fails to see and know of the vile nature of events in Cyprus, or, if he indeed sees and knows, hides the truth and writes lies. How many writers or journalists or television reporters in Turkey have exposed the truth about Cyprus? Is it only Cyprus? It has taken 80 years before they saw – or perhaps were permitted to see - the Kurdish Problem. Do not count the Greeks and Armenians who have been thrown out of the country. Did they permit those Greeks who remained in Istanbul and on certain other islands in accordance with treaties to reside there? And did the renowned columnists raise their voices when these people were expelled? Did they treat those Armenians who remained in the country as Turkish citizens? Did they not, with the words, “Turks (Turkish Turks) have no other friends than Turks”, declare everyone at home and abroad to be an enemy? Basically, let us say the following and be done with it: With the mindset of Turks in Turkey there can neither be democracy, nor a just distribution of national income, nor a law-based state, nor human rights.
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If we said that the history of Cyprus was a history of occupation, it would not be wide of the mark. Cyprus has not only been Turkey’s colony. How many colonialists have come and gone from this island? Most of these are remembered by name alone in the world. Cyprus is in no hurry. It knows that, sooner or later, Turkey will also depart from this island, just like the others did. I hope that their departure does not resemble that of the Ottomans. The message of the history of Cyprus is: those who extended their departure collapsed and went.
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Where has our journey taken us? My aim, given that Turkey is a colonialist in Cyprus, was to compare it with Britain in certain regards. What is the news of the day? Swine flu and vaccination. While Turkey’s Prime-Minister declines to be vaccinated, the Minister of Health tells the people to follow his example in being vaccinated. In other words, the Turkish Government has brought a vaccine about whose efficacy it is unsure and placed it before the people, leaving them to decide whether to take it. I am one of those who well remember the British Colonial Administration. I do not recall any such ignominy. Quite a lot of people who had reached a certain age had two punctures on their shoulders. Upon inquiring, I learned that these were meningitis vaccinations. So why did I not have them? They told me that those aged over two were vaccinated. This was just prior to 1940. And meningitis ended. This was at a time when there were only a few cars and most villages were reachable by donkey tracks. And the British got to everybody and vaccinated them and put an end to the threat of meningitis. They got to everybody in the case of smallpox. They put an end to lice. As they did with typhoid and malaria. I never heard of rabies. In our villages cancer was unheard of until 1963. Perhaps one case – that is in doubt. I do not recall any heart complaints. I mean I cannot remember anybody collapsing and dying of a heart attack.
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Under the Turkish Colonial Administration, we first came to know lice. Along with poisonous food and smuggling of all kinds. In the Ottoman period there was not a single coastal village. This was a kind of invitation to attack from the sea. The British came and these attacks ended. Under the Turkish Colonial Administration there has been a great increase in the number of murders, thefts, knifings and rapes. At least the British Colonial Administration had reduced these to the minimum.
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What I would like to tell the esteemed writer is that there is also a limit to exploitation. Do a little research and you will see that most colonialists in their time ruled their colonies much more justly than the Turkish and Ottoman administrations ruled their own people.
Life expectancy back then was for sure lower than now!
