Filitsa wrote:AlanwithoneL wrote:Bananiot wrote:The man came here with good intentions, it is obvious. He is a moderate TC living in England and the forum fascists jumped on him to crucify him. My village is also occupied but I do not hate a whole race of people because of it.
Thank you for your support Bananiot. I had no bad intentions or a hidden agenda in starting this thread. I just brought it to the attention of Cypriots, Greek and Turkish. I honestly don't think having somebody like the officer in question at an airport is beneficial to GCs or TCs. We are human beings with feelings, we can tell right from wrong, this officer did me and my wife injustice and humiliated us for no reason at all.
Oracel is perhaps a typical macho Mediterranean he man but his interpretation of this thread is totally off the mark and an insult to me. I wouldn't question his or anybodies marriage and I would expect him not to question mine. I wonder if the word respect has any meaning to these people.
Greetings, Alan. I suspect the officer left you feeling disrespected and demeaned, and no one enjoys being made to feel this way, so I truly sympathize with you and your wife. Indeed, we are all, as you stated above, "human beings with feelings." This includes the airport officer.
Apart from being required by law, it is an internationally accepted practice to show your passport upon arrival in and departure from a country. In free world countries, it is, however, neither required by law nor accepted practice to show a passport or I.D. while traveling through one's country of residence. Cyprus is a free world country, yet Cypriots must present identification at armed checkpoints in order to pass into a part of their country. Now imagine the frustration of the airport officer every time someone passes through with a stamp from Ercan. This simple stamp symbolizes his and every other Cypriot's limits to their civil liberties, one of which is the liberty to pass freely through their own country.
Thanks for your consideration.
I very much appreciate your calm and eloquent explanation. I understand and sympathise wholeheartedly with my Greek Cypriot friends. As stated earlier, my wife and I were not looking for preferential or VIP treatment, the officer could easily have checked our passports and handed them back without even a glance and with that we would have been fine. It was his mannerism that was appalling and intimidating.
Other posters have now mentioned that this is normal treatment for TCs in most government offices, sad really as this clearly shows nothings changed, we're back in the dark ages, not that Cyprus was ever out of it.
Then doesn't this beg the question "why should I want reunification"? At least in the North if a government official is rude or aggressive I can give as good as I get, would I have the guts or the courage to do this in the south? hell no. Where would I end up? Hospital? Police cell? Prison?
Guys, this is a huge opportunity for us to get back together, it is a chance that should not be missed on both sides, lets forgive and forget and grab this opportunity and unite this beautiful island. Make me feel as though you care about me and make feel I belong, don't tell me to F off every time I open my mouth. Don't hold grudges against individuals, instead make friends with them so that you can unite and be a force against those with whom you have issues.
This Cyprus Forum is a good place to start unification, its in fact a perfect place to start as all the participants are genuinely passionate about Cyprus, so there is already a common ground there. Instead of telling how much we hate each other how about try telling how much we'd like to get to know and get along with each other? After all, if we're all mature and civilised people as we'd like to think we are why cant we practice it here on this forum.
