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[Bananiot]

I am glad you think of partition as a terrible thing. It is. It is the worst nightmare scenario, much worst than the A plan, don't you think? The question that we should be asking ourselves is who is leading our country to partition because on April 24 we bought a one way ticket to partition by listening to liars who promised a better, european solution.

You say that Talat is no different to Denktash. This is utterly absurd and indicates total failure to see and analyse issues. I understand you fully, you have proved time and time again that political realism is not your strong point. Anyway, I think that what Talat is doing comes naturally after our resolute no to solution. Talat fought hard to obtain the "yes" vote from the TC's and nobody can accuse him of wanting partition. He went against the will of the TC ethnarch, namely Denktash, who was a legend in his community. Its like going against Makarios during his heydays, you stood no chance. Talat and the peace-loving TC's performed a miracle in sidestepping Denktash. The two men have absolutely nothing in common and the fact that you equate them shows that deep down you miss Denktash!

Talat and the progressive TC's have to move on. Put your self in their shoes. What is there left for them to do after our resolute "no"? We sent them a deafening message that we do not want them as equal partners on April 24. Should they go back to their misery? It is redicoulus to even conteplate this. They would try to capitalise on their expressed will for solution by taking all those measures that are necessary to lift the embargo and financial isolation of the TC community. Talat will pursue this goal, mainly through the EU, and he will find many sympathetic listeners for his cause. The booming costruction industry that we witness in the North is evidence that the policy of Talat is paying off, despite the fact that one is not to feel very happy about this, since many buildings are being constructed on GC land and of course GC land is up for sale, even by the Jerusalem Patriarch, as we read today in the newspapers. I believe, even Talat is not happy about this, because Talat is a patriot, but he cannot oppose the market forces at this time, because it will bring his downfall. The TC's are experiencing something profound right now after 40 years of isolation.

So, you claim Neophytos was wrong (traitor?) for doing the church service in Morhou, because it was exploited by the pseudo state. Perhaps, we should file a request to Talat to close all check points and take things as they were before April 2003. Please Mr Talat, close all churches, turn them into mosques, do whatever you like to them, as long as you keep Neophytos and his followers away.

By the way, why does our government call for more check points to be opened? For more GC's to visit the North by showing their id's and passports? It does not make sense. Yet, nothing our government is doing right now seems to make sense.

Almost forgot. AKEL was there. They seem to disagree with the expressed position of the government. Christofias went as far as to say that those who say that showing id's amounts to recognition should go to see a psychiatrist. AKEL provided the bulk of the votes that made Papadopoulos President. In fact everything Papadopoulos is now he owes it to AKEL. His arrogance does not make him see this plain fact. How long, I wonder, this unholy alliance can last?

[Piratis]

Talat fought hard to obtain the "yes" vote from the TC's and nobody can accuse him of wanting partition.

The Annan plan is partition. Talat's cause was always the same. The only disagreement between Talat and Dentash is how this partition could be achieved better.

In any case what Talat wants is his problem. The question that you didn't answer is: Why do you help him to achieve his cause, which is nothing else than partition? Isn't this treason?

You are traitor my "friend". A looser that because your minority opinion didn't pass you are now trying to help our enemy to punish us.

[Bananiot]

I will not answer the slanderous allegations this time. Neophytos, who is a bigger traitor than Bananiot, had this to say:

A message of hope for Cyprus

Reproduced below is the full text of the sermon delivered by the Bishop of Morphou Neophytos during vespers at the church of Ayios Mamas in Morphou on Wednesday.

Fathers, Brothers, Compatriots,

“This day was created by the Lord, rejoice and be glad in it...”

This Easter verse came to mind, because today is truly a day of joy and jubilation.

Today, after 30 years, we come again to celebrate in the home of St Mamas, the guardian and patron saint of Morphou. Together with the Holy Liturgy, a new passage of communication opens.

A passage of communication with God, through which the Holy of Holies pours out His mercy to cover and protect all. Not only over those here present, but also over those not present. Not only Christians, but also Muslims, and not only the Faithful but also all those who choose not to belong to some religion. At this feast of St Mamas, everyone has a place.

We left young. We return aged. We wandered physically for 30 years far from St Mamas. He, though, was not far. He was with us all those days. We hurt. We wept. We were taught. Today, we are approaching, humbly, to open a window of prayer, and we find St Mamas seated on a lion and holding a lamb In his hands. In a holy way, he accommodates opposites, smoothing the differences through the way of divine peace from on high.

I know how some have come here with reservations. Others, with bitterness, with concerns, with fear. Let us not permit though, my brothers, that this bright day of our saint’s celebration become overcast with clouds of doubt or memories of past ills. In this day of mercy, let us allow joy to dwell in our hearts.

We all know that we are burdened heavily -- both as persons and as a people. We all know what our country has been through, and we know what it is still going through. However, I shall not talk about the political condition; this is not my task. I will talk only about the condition of the heart of the people of Cyprus.

Daily I converse with the people of Cyprus. They tell me words of depth, of the heart, of being, and I am shaken deeply when I see the extent of the pain that our people, both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, carry on their shoulders. No one, truly, can hold back the tears, when he hears the pained stories of people from both sides. Refugees that grieve their displacement -- some from 1964 and others from 1974 -- who lost loved ones, who lost houses, who lost everything.

Yet, these people, this people that has lost so very much, has not lost one thing: hope. The roots of hope are deep. The harshness of our recent history has not been able to uproot it, and I see people who, even though having suffered, even after all the loss, have been able to forgive. Without having forgotten, they have managed to forgive. That is (as the actual word ‘to forgive’ means in Greek) they have been able to accommodate the other person in their hearts, to open a place in their hearts so that the other may exist in it. This is why I am optimistic for the future of our country.

This last year has taught us much. The opening of even a small crack in the wall that separates our country was enough to bring forth on our island a mighty wave of nostalgia.

A nostalgia for the lost unity. A nostalgia to live again together in peace, for reconciliation. This nostalgia was strengthened even more, when we saw one another's face. When we understood that the other's face, in the end, is not foreign as we were told. But that it resembles ours. We understood how we, the people of Cyprus, both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, became victims of a common fate, and that, in the end, we do not have anything of essence that separates us. Our ethnic identity, or each person's religion, is not a barrier to living together. On the contrary, difference is being realised by today's European state of affairs and is being safeguarded. Thus, in Cyprus we should not fear this difference.

I am not trying to mask the tragedy of our country with optimistic words. The tragedy is here, and we know how history oftentimes does not care much for the nostalgia of simple everyday people. The realities are such that this ill, this problem, seems to have hardened. Of course, some, from both sides, seeing these difficulties, talk of “definitive impasses”, of “opportunities that will not come again”, of “last chances”. We can find thousands of justifications for not moving forward. We can stay forever caught in the past and count how many times the two sides said “yes” or “no” up to now. Is this what we want? The past?

The people of Cyprus, no doubt, from the time that the checkpoints were opened, have answered that they do not want the past, and everyday turn their gaze to the future. We see what is happening daily: plain everyday people -- of both communities -- are writing a history without commotion, slowly but surely, step by step, this touching reunion is advancing and calmly deepening, proving how there are no “last chances”. Because, chances are created by people when they want to.

Proof of this is today's worship here in St Mamas. This has been made possible through the creative initiatives of both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.

Yet, there are still walls, both inside us and outside of us. We, the everyday people, cannot do anything about the walls outside of us, but we can do something about the walls inside us. We can pull down the walls of fear, of prejudice. This, I think, also has to be the work of the Church. Of the people of faith, and the people of peace.

All these years, we talked about “the solution” as if it was something magical. Something that would come from outside, without our responsibility, and by magic it would vanish away all the evil that has come upon our land. Now we understand that this solution will not come as by magic, but with a lot of work. It will not come from one day to the next. It must be built first of all inside us. We must first throw down the walls within us in order to progress, and whatsoever we can build, we must build.


Today's gathering of worship is a beginning. I pray this beginning will have a continuation, till it becomes a permanent state, because the frequent holding of the Holy Liturgy here at St Mamas’ church will open up new opportunities, it will help to build human relationships. I believe that with the re-functioning of St Mamas’ church, it would also be useful to open the Astromeritis-Zodia checkpoint, so that people can move freely through the entire district.

I hope too, that there will follow the restoration and reparation of other churches both within our diocese and outside of it, so that Greek Cypriots can exercise their inalienable right to religious worship. This will give the opportunity to both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots to begin building respect for each other, to prepare the groundwork for a common future.

Some, both Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot, have tried to give today's gathering of worship a political undertone. But, this is not how it is. Here, a Vespers service and a Holy Liturgy are taking place. We are not doing politics. We are people who are suffering; who have come to bring our pain and our wounds before God and our saint, and this prayer does not work adversely to the task of politics. On the contrary, we believe that it helps, since with this prayer we are asking of God to enlighten and to support politicians and to guide their work towards a virtuous end.

The Church does not perform politics. It prays for the whole world, and it prays for the presence of a common peaceful future for all Cypriots, and if the clergy of Cyprus have a role to play, this is to serve the need for cohabitation and for coexistence of all the communities of this land. The role of the episcopate, the clergy, the imams, is to contribute so that “we find those words that have the same meaning in all hearts, on all lips”. We should find, that is, the specific meaning of words, because unfortunately words still do not have the same meaning in the hearts and on the lips of all of us.

We Christians, especially, have to remember once again and realise the meaning of love, which is the basis of our faith. Not a theoretical love, but a specific, sacrificial one as St Paul has described. Who tells us:

“Though I speak with tongues of men and of angels… though I have the gift of prophesy… though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love for others, I am nothing.”

Because, says the apostle of nations: “love suffered long”.

He who loves is kind; he who loves is not envious, he does not boast nor is he proud. He is respectful. He is not selfish nor is he quick-tempered; he forgets the evil that others have done to him. He “Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.” He who loves bears all things, believes in all things; hopes for all things, and endures all things. Love “shall never vanish away”.

I hope and pray to St Mamas, that this prayer that begins here today will have a continuation.

I thank all who have come here today. My thankfulness to all who have contributed, both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, so that this day could be possible. May God enlighten us all. Amen.

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2004

[Piratis]

will not answer the slanderous allegations this time.

Because you have nothing to say. You already said it: Talat is right to want partition and you will help him to achieve his cause.

[erolz]

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.ph ... 3&cat_id=1

[Bananiot]

Rubbish, Piratis, I did not say that Talat is right to want partition. As a matter of fact he probably does not want partition. He proved it prior to the referendum and at the referendum. Those who voted against the solution want partition because what we had in front of us was solution or partition. A european solution was not an option and I dare you to tell us what this european solution is and when we will see it. What do you expect Talat to do? What would you do if you were in his position?

[Bananiot]

Thank you Erolz for the article. I agree with it 100% and this is what I have been saying in this forum time and time again. It seems, the number of traitors is increasing. This is good news for our country.

[Piratis]

I did not say that Talat is right to want partition. As a matter of fact he probably does not want partition. He proved it prior to the referendum and at the referendum.

He wants partition and he said it in the most clear way. What else do you want him to do to convince you, draw it to you? Since he wants partition he obviously supported Annan plan. If he didn't want partition then he would agree for a solution that would reunify and not officially split our island.

You still didn't answer the question: Why do you help Talat to achieve his cause which is partition?

This is not just what I say, this is what your beloved Talat is saying now also.

[Bananiot]

Piratis, you haven't got a clue. It was Denktsh who wanted partition and Denktash, like you, voted "no". Talat is a true Cypriot and this is the reason nationalists hate him.

[Piratis]

Piratis, you haven't got a clue. It was Denktsh who wanted partition and Denktash, like you, voted "no". Talat is a true Cypriot and this is the reason nationalists hate him.

Denctash wants one form of partition, Talat prefers another form.
Actually persons don't matter here, so we should say: Turkey preferred one form of partition, now it prefers another one (the new form will be one that will not create any problems in their EU accession). The person that they have there executing their policies doesn't really matter.

Talat said: "It also shows that those who say north Cyprus is occupied are wrong", and you keep supporting him. Then you wonder why I call you traitor