Cyprus-Forum.com

[Hermes]

Hermey, old chap, hope you don't mind but this remarkable piece of prose, this near Shakespeare (and the last 4-5 lines are reminiscent), this most unique bit of poetry about the dilemma of CY and how our little local problem goes way beyond CY justifies being repeated with double spacing for easier reading ...


"We are all prisoners of knowledge.

To know how Cyprus was betrayed, and to have

studied the record of that betrayal, is to make oneself unhappy and to spoil,

perhaps for ever, one's pleasure in visiting one of the world's most enchanting islands.

Nothing will ever restore the looted treasures, the bereaved families, the plundered villages and

the groves and hillsides scalded with napalm.

Nor will anything mitigate the record of the callous and crude politicians who regarded Cyprus as something on which to

scribble their inane and conceited designs.

But fatalism would be the worst betrayal of all.

The acceptance, the legitimization of what was done - those things must be repudiated.

Such a refusal has a value beyond Cyprus, in showing that acquiescence in injustice is not 'realism'.

Once the injustice has been set down and described, and called by its right name, acquiescence in it becomes impossible.

That is why one writes about Cyprus in sorrow but more - much more - in anger.'

Christopher Hitchens
HOSTAGE TO HISTORY: CYPRUS FROM THE OTTOMANS TO KISSINGER
Verso, London-New York 1997

I love that Hitchens quote. It's one of the best things ever written about the situation in Cyprus. Once you understand the nature of the injustice done to Cyprus, as he understood it, then you never give in to it. Ever. Not just for Cyprus. But for all mankind.

[GreekIslandGirl]

Hitchen's was most like a Piratis, Hermes, Kimon (+ a few other 'Rights'-respecting, justice-prevailing dudes) all rolled into one!

[Talisker]

Hermey, old chap, hope you don't mind but this remarkable piece of prose, this near Shakespeare (and the last 4-5 lines are reminiscent), this most unique bit of poetry about the dilemma of CY and how our little local problem goes way beyond CY justifies being repeated with double spacing for easier reading ...


"We are all prisoners of knowledge.

To know how Cyprus was betrayed, and to have

studied the record of that betrayal, is to make oneself unhappy and to spoil,

perhaps for ever, one's pleasure in visiting one of the world's most enchanting islands.

Nothing will ever restore the looted treasures, the bereaved families, the plundered villages and

the groves and hillsides scalded with napalm.

Nor will anything mitigate the record of the callous and crude politicians who regarded Cyprus as something on which to

scribble their inane and conceited designs.

But fatalism would be the worst betrayal of all.

The acceptance, the legitimization of what was done - those things must be repudiated.

Such a refusal has a value beyond Cyprus, in showing that acquiescence in injustice is not 'realism'.

Once the injustice has been set down and described, and called by its right name, acquiescence in it becomes impossible.

That is why one writes about Cyprus in sorrow but more - much more - in anger.'

Christopher Hitchens
HOSTAGE TO HISTORY: CYPRUS FROM THE OTTOMANS TO KISSINGER
Verso, London-New York 1997

I love that Hitchens quote. It's one of the best things ever written about the situation in Cyprus. Once you understand the nature of the injustice done to Cyprus, as he understood it, then you never give in to it. Ever. Not just for Cyprus. But for all mankind.

Why did he support the war in Iraq then? I find it difficult to reconcile his liberal, (faux?)leftist, authority-challenging earlier work with his more recent cosying-up to the neo-Cons during the George W. Bush era. Clever with words perhaps, but not so sure about his supposed deep-seated political convictions.

[kimon07]

AHI Mourns Passing of Renowned Author Christopher Hitchens...

Take heart. You have friends who will never desert you.

Mr. Erdogan, tear down that wall.

Zito I Ellas (Long live Greece). Eleftheri I Kypros (Free Cyprus).”

http://usa.greekreporter.com/2011/12/16 ... -hitchens/

[kimon07]

AHI Mourns Passing of Renowned Author Christopher Hitchens... [size=150][u][b]

Christopher-Hitchens.jpg

[yialousa1971]

Hermey, old chap, hope you don't mind but this remarkable piece of prose, this near Shakespeare (and the last 4-5 lines are reminiscent), this most unique bit of poetry about the dilemma of CY and how our little local problem goes way beyond CY justifies being repeated with double spacing for easier reading ...


"We are all prisoners of knowledge.

To know how Cyprus was betrayed, and to have

studied the record of that betrayal, is to make oneself unhappy and to spoil,

perhaps for ever, one's pleasure in visiting one of the world's most enchanting islands.

Nothing will ever restore the looted treasures, the bereaved families, the plundered villages and

the groves and hillsides scalded with napalm.

Nor will anything mitigate the record of the callous and crude politicians who regarded Cyprus as something on which to

scribble their inane and conceited designs.

But fatalism would be the worst betrayal of all.

The acceptance, the legitimization of what was done - those things must be repudiated.

Such a refusal has a value beyond Cyprus, in showing that acquiescence in injustice is not 'realism'.

Once the injustice has been set down and described, and called by its right name, acquiescence in it becomes impossible.

That is why one writes about Cyprus in sorrow but more - much more - in anger.'

Christopher Hitchens
HOSTAGE TO HISTORY: CYPRUS FROM THE OTTOMANS TO KISSINGER
Verso, London-New York 1997

I love that Hitchens quote. It's one of the best things ever written about the situation in Cyprus. Once you understand the nature of the injustice done to Cyprus, as he understood it, then you never give in to it. Ever. Not just for Cyprus. But for all mankind.

Why did he support the war in Iraq then? I find it difficult to reconcile his liberal, (faux?)leftist, authority-challenging earlier work with his more recent cosying-up to the neo-Cons during the George W. Bush era. Clever with words perhaps, but not so sure about his supposed deep-seated political convictions.

Jews play all sides.

[EricSeans]

Here is an article on the role of Cyprus in Christopher Hitchens' personal and political life:

Cyprus played key role in Christopher Hitchens' life

Here is an excerpt:

The island unwittingly played a huge role in his life, both professionally and personally, particularly in his formative adult years when he began exploring and experimenting with a sense of political injustice. After graduating from Oxford, and starting a career in journalism, Hitchens came to Cyprus in the 1970s to report on the conflict here for the New Statesman and New Left Review.

Apart from helping him earn his stripes in polemic debate, the island also invited him to explore love and marriage. In 1981, he married his first wife, Greek Cypriot Eleni Meleagrou, having two children, Alexander and Sophia. The marriage ended after eight years, but it is understood Hitchens remained on good terms with his Cypriot family until his death.

In 1984, he published a book on the de facto partition of Cyprus, dedicated to his wife Eleni. Hitchens’ account of the island’s division effectively points the finger at four NATO powers, Britain, the US, Greece and Turkey, and describes partition as an “absurdity” which “reflected only the strategic requirements of outside powers”.

“The Cypriots are the only Europeans to have undergone colonial rule, guerrilla war, civil war and modern technological war, on their own soil, since 1945,” he writes.

The acknowledgements section of his Cyprus book reads like a Who’s Who of the island’s key players, with thanks given to Makarios, Rauf Denktash, Dr Vassos Lyssarides, Glafcos Clerides, Tassos Papadopoulos, Alpay Durduran, Osker Ozgur and Dr Fazil Kucuk.

The former diplomat and current rector of the University of Nicosia Michael Attalides is mentioned as a ‘friend’, while the cabinet-appointed Mari blast investigator Polys Polyviou was described as “a lawyer’s lawyer”.
Polyviou met him in the late 1960s at Oxford where he started off as “an extreme left-winger”.

“Strange as it may appear we became friends at Oxford,” the Cypriot lawyer told the Cyprus Mail.

“He was a remarkable polemicist, humanist controversialist. Most of all, he loved a heated debate, discussion and enraging people, all to the good. He wanted to engage with people for the sake of engaging with people, irritating and annoying them, the mark of a democrat,” he said.

Polyviou notes that Cyprus was one of the first things he became passionate about after university. “Cyprus was one of the things he cared most about; he was genuinely interested and it was Cyprus that led him to the main hatred of Kissinger that he had.”

Attalides met him at a conference the Cypriot diplomat had organised on the Cyprus problem. “He was a fantastic person, one of the most erudite and cultured people I’ve ever met,” he said.

Hostage to History is easily one of the best books on the Cyprob and its causes. I used to recommend it to the carpetbaggers as an alternative to their usual favourite, Genocide Files. But then ErolZ bleated on about his first wife being GC - which obviously made him less objective and trustworthy. And then he exposed my identity to the Turks.

Haram olsun...