by Bananiot » Wed Aug 11, 2010 11:52 am
I am never any good at taking sides. I take a philosophical view of this issue. For example, if yialousa was a TC she would have been a grey wolf and if GR was a TC he would be extermely contended with the capabilities of the Turkish army. Thus, my views will never be biased for any side, not even the Greek Cypriot side.
I have no doubt in my mind that Greek Cypriots always viewed and behaved towards Turkish Cypriots as second or even third class citizens. Even after independence this continued to be the norm. In 1955 when the armed struggle of EOKA started in order to impose enosis, was the beginning of the end for Cyprus. I believe that Greek Cypriots were legitimate in their aspiration for enosis, but the leadership took the wrong course to achieve this aim. For a start, nothing was done to address the fears of Turksih Cypriots. Only some years back, Crete united with Greece and 40 000 Turkish Cretans disappeared from the island altogether. Today, not a single Turkish Cretan has been left in Crete. Instead, we merely warned the Turkish Cypriots to mind their own business while we set off to realise our dream of enosis.
Turkey had no interest in the Cyprus issue right up to the instance when we took the issue to the UN and internationalised it. Inevitably, Turkey became a key player. Faced with enosis and probably expecting the worse because we failed to provide any safeguards or explain to the Turkish Cypriot community of its position in the event of enosis, the Turkish Cypriot community opted for taksim, with the notable exemption of the left which harboured internationalist feelings. Yet AKEL let down the TC left on this matter even from the late 40's when AKEL thought that Greece would become a socialist state and Cyprus would become part of the socialist world without much fuss. Of course, these were just childish games that did not consider the reaction of the big boys who had vital interests in the area.
Independence granted in 1960 was a blessing in disguise, under the circumstance. However, both sides simply wanted to use independence as a stepping stone to achieve their stated secret aim. Independence was given no chance whatsoever. The argument that it was an imposed situation is just a smoke screen to cover our mistakes. Both sides did their level best to undermine the constitution and the new state. Makarios played into the hands of the TC nationalists by proposing the changes to the constitution. The inevitable troubles that followed were welcome by the fanatics on both sides and were seen as the last stand to settle the matter once and for ever. It is quite interesting to dwell on those years. We came very close to an agreement on a number of occasions, with the most notable the agreement reached between Klerides and Denktash in 1972, with the help of Greek and Turkish constitutional experts. Yet, Makarios rejected the deal (he behaved as an unchallenged leader and he himself decided on these important matters without asking the people or indeed any one else).
Turkey invaded in 1974 with the pretext of restoring constitutional order after the coup against Makarios. The 1960 constitution gave this right to Turkey, to act with the other guarantor powers. It is true that Turkey asked Britain to act together and Greece was under the yolk of the junta that instigated the coup.
What followed the "peace campaign" of Turkey was the forceful movement of thousands of people from their places of birth, the creation of two separate ethnic regions and the import of thousands of settlers. On top, 35 or so thousand, fully armed, Turkish forces, are permanently stationed in the island. These acts remind someone of the methods used during the Balkan wars (by all parts) where the creation of ethnically pure areas was seen as the only safe method of creating stability. One could argue that we are the victims of our geography.
Could we have avoided the inevitable? What can we do now? I think I have answered these questions many times and there is no point in repeating them. Just as a last word, I would like to repeat that a political solution is our only option. Building of trust between the two communities is imperative as well as the fending off of sick nationalists who are responsible for the creation of the problem in the first place.
