Cyprus-Forum.com

[brother]

very nice i hope i can be of at least a small assistance.

[Piratis]

Differences are celebrated in democracies rather than supressed. Democratic people defend some other person's right to say whatever he/she wants to say even if they don't agree with that person's view.

Metecyp, I am afraid you are talking about the theoretical and ideal democracy that has never existed in the real world. Its not bad to be idealist, and if we were all idealists everything would be much better.
But in the real world, even the young idealists change when they face the realities.

I never claimed that in Cyprus we have the ideal democracy. What I said is that we stand very good compared to other countries. Sure, there might be examples of countries more democratic (I believe Scandinavians are pretty good), but we definitely rank higher than say USA that you live.

I didn't say that this particular film is propaganda. What I said is that it might be, judging from the fact that this person called the occupied areas as "trnc". I might be wrong.

In any case, the past should not be used to promote hate. It should be presented in an objective way.

[metecyp]

Metecyp, I am afraid you are talking about the theoretical and ideal democracy that has never existed in the real world. Its not bad to be idealist, and if we were all idealists everything would be much better.
But in the real world, even the young idealists change when they face the realities.

I'm not talking about theoratical and ideal democracy at all. This is a simple incident with no complexity to it whatsoever and it serves as a good indicator of how democratic your society is.

It's simple Piratis. This guy wanted to show his people something that they're not told by the government (the wrong doings of GCs). If it's not propaganda, and if it's not offensive, there's no reason for him to be treated this way. In a democratic society, he would be at least given the chance to express himself once.

This has nothing to do with ideal or theoratical democracy. This is basic definition of democracy. You always say "Let's look to the present and future and forget the past." and I agree with you. But this incident is not from 1960s or 1970s. It's from today and it's a good indication of how minorities (in terms of ideas here) are treated in the GC community. I'm not trying to use this as propaganda but don't call yourself or your community democratic when you're not.

In any case, the past should not be used to promote hate. It should be presented in an objective way.

I'll repeat again. Nobody wants to promote hate but horrible incidents happenned for both communities of the island. It's good to know these incidents so we (ordinary TC and GC) know that we're all victims. Again you don't know if this guy did not present it in an objective way. Even if he didn't present it in an objective way, there's still something to be learned from it. For example, Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 was biased against Bush but millions of people still watched it keeping in mind that it's a one-sided documentary. This GC guy should have given the chance to express his work like Michael Moore expressed his view in the US.

[Piratis]

I was in the US too. I was there when they had last presidential elections. It was all about Democrats and Republicans. Every now and then you would see Nader or some other "big" independent candidate. I was watching a lot of news there and parties like the communist party of the US were never mentioned, let alone to be given voice. Sure, Moore went against Bush, but lets not forget than 49% of people and the majority of TV networks and the Hollywood are against Bush. The views of people that are against Papadopoulos are constantly on the air also.

I am sure that if there was no occupation today more channels would be willing to show this program, and people would be able to accept it easier. Imagine during world War II while Germany occupied part of France, if some French TV station decided to broadcast a documentary about some crimes that the French committed against the Germans in the past. You can not take the fact of occupation out of your calculations.

These documentaries should be done, but we should also take into account the unfortunate fact of the occupation.
This is why great care should be taken to make this documentaries objective, and make them is such a way that the message that comes out of them is "Such crimes are and should remain past so we can live peacefully together", and not "Look how barbarian those people are. We should not live together again".

[metecyp]

I am sure that if there was no occupation today more channels would be willing to show this program, and people would be able to accept it easier. Imagine during world War II while Germany occupied part of France, if some French TV station decided to broadcast a documentary about some crimes that the French committed against the Germans in the past. You can not take the fact of occupation out of your calculations.

You're totally wrong. We're talking about innocent humans (TC and GC) being killed by some barbarians (irrespective of their ethnicity) and a GC guy is trying to show his community that unlike what has been portrayed in the south (Turks are barbarians) there were GC barbarians that committed horrible crimes as well.

The existance of occupation has no relevance whatsoever. What are you trying to imply here? That occupation justifies what happenned? Or occupation justifies undemocratic society? I guess you would suggest that no Jewish Holocaust movies should be aired on any Palestinian TVs either because the state of Israel occupies their land and violates Palestinian human rights. But you know no matter how violent Israel is today, these horrible incidents of the WW2 happenned and innocent Jews got killed. Today's situation is not relevant.

These documentaries should be done, but we should also take into account the unfortunate fact of the occupation.

I feel like you're trying to justify these incidents with the existance of occupation. You're almost saying "It's because of occupation that TCs in Maratha, Sandallar, etc. got killed."

For me, nothing justifies attrocities and nothing justifies supression of the truth.

This is why great care should be taken to make this documentaries objective, and make them is such a way that the message that comes out of them is "Such crimes are and should remain past so we can live peacefully together", and not "Look how barbarian those people are. We should not live together again".

Finally, we agree. I believe that (if implemented right) learning about each other's sufferring can start the healing process and pave the way for peaceful coexistence of TCs and GCs. Hiding the truth with lame excuses, on the other hand, will not get us anywhere.

[Piratis]

I feel like you're trying to justify these incidents with the existance of occupation. You're almost saying "It's because of occupation that TCs in Maratha, Sandallar, etc. got killed."

No, its not like that at all. What I said is that Greek Cypriots, naturally, have certain feelings because of the occupation and the media have to respect this feelings.

Imagine if at the time that those massacres happened, a TV station was airing programs to the TCs that documented the barbarities of the Ottomans in Cyprus against Greek Cypriots. Don't you think that this would be somewhat provocative and it would be considered by some TCs as something not just educational? Don't you think that some TCs would think: "Why are they airing this programs now? What is the message? does this mean that the massacres that are happening now are excused because of those events in the past?"

This is why I say that such things should be done extremely carefully, otherwise they will have a negative and not positive result.

[insan]

very nice i hope i can be of at least a small assistance.

Why not brother.. Perhaps I, you and all other volunteers may team up for this documentary. I already have so many sources regarding the Cyprus problem, its roots and some details. I have one movie-cam and digital photograph camera.


Last year if my financial expectations have gone well; last summer I would have given it a start but unfortunately failed. Now I'm planning to give it a start in this summer... hope we can meet in Cyprus and talk about it...

[Bananiot]

What expertise do you have in this field Insan?

[insan]

No expertises I have Bananiot. It will be my first. I graduated from M.U Radio-Tv&Cinema.

Perhaps, creation of such documentary I've mentioned will take too long but it doesn't matter; in the end there will be a very comprehensive work which reflects all aspects of the Cyprus Problem.


What's your opinions Bananiot?

[metecyp]

Creating a documentary that includes every aspect of the Cyprus problem is a huge project. I think a Turkish journalist, Mehmet Ali Birand, has a comprehensive Cyprus problem documentary. It's a little bit one-sided but I think it provides quite an insight in what happenned in Cyprus.

Since this is your first time, you might want to focus on one aspect/period of the Cyprus problem. For example, you can make a documentary about ordinary Cypriots who had nothing to do with EOKA or TMT and how their lives changed overnight in 1974 due to other's mistakes.