www.talkcyprus.org

[cypezokyli]

a minor incident at the english school , where Turkish Cypriots also studied , created trouble today.

there was some incident with a Turkish Cypriot student (insulting the cross a Greek Cypriot student was wearing....or sth like that... i cannot say now for sure).

the newspaper simerini decided that for the same punishment a a Greek Cypriot would have received a bigger punishment...and who knows what else these mother fucker fascists wrote.

result was, that students from another school decided to go to the other school and attack the Turkish Cypriot students. the Greek Cypriots in the english school is said that they have protected the Turkish Cypriots. (even though i cannot say if they really feel different).

.........
someone should put fire at "simerini".
:twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

[Bananiot]

You have forgotten Sampson's "Machi". Both of these "patriotic" papers were at the front line of the rejectionists back in 2004.

[bg_turk]

cypezokyli wrote:
there was some incident with a Turkish Cypriot student (insulting the cross a Greek Cypriot student was wearing....or sth like that... i cannot say now for sure).


The student was punished for insulting the cross?

[Alexios]

Simerini and Machi, decided to report just 2 days ago,a minor incident between two 12 year olds which took place on the 7th of Nov. !!! Apparently, the 2 kids had a fight during games period, which MAY or MAY NOT have had something to do with the G/C boy wearing a cross. The 2 boys according to the school gave hands afterwards. The reporting was done in such a sensationalist manner, which together with the fact that the school issued a directive to the children to avoid wearing symbols "that may in a way provoke" other students, was enough to fuel the sentiments of kids from other schools, who considered it their job to "put things right" at the English School.So yesterday morning, about 15-20 kids from simply walked into the school and beat 5 T/C students.Politis newspaper reported today that the kids may have some connection with Hrysi Avgi, but i hope this is an exaggeration.
Fortunately, G/C students of the English School intervened before somebody was seriously hurt and chased the invadors out of their school.One was later arrested while 2 others were questioned by police until late last night.
Late as always, the Parliamentary Educational Committee will hold an extraordinary meeting meeting today to discuss the incident. Cerano and the major Political Parties have condemned the actions of the few "idiots" as they called them.
I am personally not too upset about the incident itself.Such incidents take place between G/C students all the time. Last year, students from Limassol clashed with students in Paphos during a visit of their school to the town and turned Kato Paphos tourist area into a battle field!! It all had something to do with girls....What really bothers me is the way minor incidents are presented by a certain fascist newspapers and so called journalists who instead of promoting reapproachement and friendship, promote mistrust and hatred.Lazaros Mavros alias Kolokotronis is a perfect example.Now who will convince the ordinary T/C and even worse the nationalists that this was not an organized crime.......

[Alexios]

This is the account of a G/C English School student himself of what happened as i got it from another forum. Reading between the lines, one gets a good idea of the general feeling and attidute of the average G/C youth towards the T/Cs. One word describes it better than any other and that is CONFUSION......

QUOTE
Well, I know this from first hand... It's about a Christian cross. (It'll be all over the news by the way. Big story!)

At P.E(physical education) of some 1st forms, a Cypriot was wearing his cross on his neck. Our sports t-shirts are quiet tight to be honest, and I think that he put his cross over his shirt so that he wouldn't choke

The Turk then pointed his eyes on his cross(eg imagine in movies when the mafia people say with body language "i have my eyes on you" ) and then spat on the ground. Then the Cypriot calmly said to him, "you know that you will get into trouble if you do that again..." and then the Turkish student spat on his trousers... The Cypriot didn't react on him, but just told the teacher that was watching the incident, and the teacher told it to the senior teacher responsible.

The senior teacher talked to the Turkish student and the Turkish student told him the exact story, but "forgot" to say that he spat on him...

This happened on November the 7th, as I said earlier.

Today, as the senior teacher realised that we have learnt about the incident through the media, made us stay in the hall for a whole period and told us the story(as the Turkish student told him though)

He told us that the next day, the parent of the Cypriot student was fine with the punishment given. That "punishment" was simply a written apology!!!!

We got angered, because ever since the Turks were allowed to be at our school, they are in a favoured position, even if we had Armenians etc in our school, and they were treated as equals...

If it was a Cypriot doing that, he'd be suspended....
It's against our school's rules to "mock" another religion, and that means expulsion!!! Others got or almost got suspended for removing some posters(which everyone does!!!!) or for jumping through the window(ground floor)... It was ridiculous to leave it as it was. And the funny part is that the senior teacher told us that the case was over then! How the hell was the story leaked into the press? I know teachers that had no idea about the incident until they heared through the media! Do you realise how must this make us all feel? We became the mockery of all schools! Some people were considering protesting, going on a no-lesson strike etc for that, claiming equality in the school. And the school does know that it has no chance of succeeding with us being against them. We are 860 out of 960(approximately) in the school, and we were silent.

Those that hit the Turkish students were outsiders, that were angered by the comment on the newspaper("Simerini" btw...) They are very ignorant. If we wanted to hit the Turkish students, we would have killed them! We are friends with them, never talk politics with them. I despise their existence, but I acknowledge that it's a tragical one, and I don't wanna go deep and sensitive about that with any of them. When I saw one of them with a huge red bruise next to his eye I just wanted to assault the ones who did it. They did nothing. And as one of the Turks my age said, they are all being stigmatised by one foolish action of a 12-year old...

I was against the "riot" just because the kid was only 12, and knows nothing but what he was taught by the Turks, so I "excuse" him for his action. It wasn't worth it, but what the senior teacher said made me and many others want to follow that "riot", because he was just trying to toy us, but he forgets that they tried to select the "best students in Cyprus"... Fortunately, not all people at my school are sheep.
UNQUOTE

What i do know is that a lot of G/C kids at the English School resent the preferential treatment that T/C students receive. No fees (the government pays for them), free accommodation for organized trips etc etc.Mattters are made worse when the kids see the T/C students parents visiting the School in the big Mercedes cars in their majority....
The School's side, which is one i fully support,is that some form of positive discrimination is necessary so that T/Cs are encouraged to study at the School, but obviously the G/C kids don'e go too deeply into that sort of advanced thinking....After all, who does in this shitty country.....

[cypezokyli]

btw, having read a number of posts from the person you quoted above , he is no different from a little fascist.

[Alexios]

I have read them. Thats why i said, reading between the lines..He says one thing about being friends, supporting the T/c students and then another about hating their existence etc..!!! Total CONFUSION....

[zan]

I don't want to seem as I am making more of this case than has already been made but this thing a, as a whole, (by which I mean; the incident, the retaliation, the reporting and the reaction) is exactly what I have been warning about since I first started posting.It is not so much who or how much milk has been spilled but who and how much crying is being done.


I am angry because sometimes I feel that I am alone in seeing these things. I do not mean that none of you ever said that problems would not occur but the whole picture of incident and then reaction, I feel, has been greatly underestimated. Imagine what the consequences could have been if the parents and two larger mixed communities were involved.


I also love the idea that one boy is a Turk and the other is a Cypriot??????

[Alexios]

zan wrote: I don't want to seem as I am making more of this case than has already been made but this thing a, as a whole, (by which I mean; the incident, the retaliation, the reporting and the reaction) is exactly what I have been warning about since I first started posting.It is not so much who or how much milk has been spilled but who and how much crying is being done.


I am angry because sometimes I feel that I am alone in seeing these things. I do not mean that none of you ever said that problems would not occur but the whole picture of incident and then reaction, I feel, has been greatly underestimated. Imagine what the consequences could have been if the parents and two larger mixed communities were involved.


I also love the idea that one boy is a Turk and the other is a Cypriot??????

Zan, about 8.000 T/C people work in the south. Not one single incident has ever occured. The worrying thing is that OUR youth are so naive and uneducated about certain things!! There is no doubt in my mind that the educational system is to blame.

[cypezokyli]

Alexios wrote:

Zan, about 8.000 T/C people work in the south. Not one single incident has ever occured. The worrying thing is that OUR youth are so naive and uneducated about certain things!! There is no doubt in my mind that the educational system is to blame.

i used to think that the major problem is the books, and if a committee makes them more neutral, then things would get kind of better.

but, as time goes by I believe (and this is the huge difference with the Turkish Cypriots) that the problem are the teachers themselves. and those who educate the teachers. and nobody dears to step in and brake that cycle.

[zan]

Alexis

I will have to make this quick because I have to go to work but.....


You asked us to read between the lines and that is all you can really do when reading any news paper article. What I saw was the mindset of two different children. The schools have great influence on the children but this is greatly outweighed by what goes on at home. This is about equality and the perception of it. The rules where that no religious symbols were allowed in the school. The rule was broken and the Turkish Cypriot child sees it as being unfair. Classic reaction from a young mind??? Yes but what about the injustice felt by the subconscious? What about the line that was crossed. The line that is not mentioned in every day life but is still there none the less. I hope I have written enough for it to make sense to you but that is all I can manage at the moment. Please read between the lines. :wink: :o

[Alexios]

[quote="cypezokyli"] Alexios wrote: zan wrote:

Zan, about 8.000 T/C people work in the south. Not one single incident has ever occured. The worrying thing is that OUR youth are so naive and uneducated about certain things!! There is no doubt in my mind that the educational system is to blame.

i used to think that the major problem is the books, and if a committee makes them more neutral, then things would get kind of better.

but, as time goes by I believe (and this is the huge difference with the Turkish Cypriots) that the problem are the teachers themselves. and those who educate the teachers. and nobody dears to step in and brake that cycle.

Of course Cypez....ELLAS ELLINON CHRISTIANON.....

[brother]

Having read lots on this i find the silly attitude wrong from the 12y.o Turkish Cypriot lad and feel he has a lot of growing up to do and that the teachers dished out the appropriate punishment but that said if a Greek Cypriot done the same thing i would expect no difference in punishment, the Greek Cypriot lad that spoke is clearly been filled with hate from young age but with mixing with the Turkish Cypriot has imo discovered they are the same and formed friendships with them which has left him confused about what he has been taught about the evil turks and the reality of what he see with his own eyes about the Turkish Cypriot.

This incident should never have made it out of the school but it has and extremists will now make a meal out of it and that is the horrifying part of it all.

[brother]

Quote: Racist youths invade school
By Jacqueline Theodoulou


A TURKISH Cypriot child was slightly injured yesterday after a gang of hooded pupils from surrounding state schools burst into the English School in Nicosia, unleashing an attack against five Turkish Cypriot pupils.
President Tassos Papadoupoulos immediately described the incident as “a detestable assault by brainless criminals”, calling on the police to pull out all the stops to bring those responsible to justice.

The school’s management and teachers’ union issued a joint announcement, strongly condemning the “cowardly behaviour” of the masked intruders and demanding that the culprits receive “exemplary punishment”.
The incident came two days after daily Simerini published an article, claiming a Turkish Cypriot student had spat at a Greek Cypriot classmate because the latter had been wearing a crucifix.

A police announcement said that at around 11.25am yesterday, about 15 to 20 people – obviously pupils from other schools – entered the English School grounds.

“Two of them were holding planks of wood, while wearing caps and scarves, with their faces partially covered,” said the police.
The two allegedly attacked five of the school’s Turkish Cypriot pupils, but ran off after Greek Cypriot English School pupils intervened to protect their classmates.

“During the incident one Turkish Cypriot pupil was slightly injured on the face. Despite efforts by police officers on the scene and the school’s teachers, the pupils involved refused to go to Nicosia General Hospital for examination,” the police announcement read.

Police received a witness testimony yesterday, according to which three pupils from different schools in Nicosia appeared to be implicated. Police were last night in the process of securing arrest warrants for the three.
According to the school, the hooded pupils had entered the school grounds during recess and singled out a small group of Turkish Cypriot students. Questions were raised over how the attackers knew where to find them.
The President of the school’s student union yesterday admitted on CyBC that the culprits may have been informed from the inside, but said there were a number of other possibilities too.

He added, “This wouldn't have happened if some newspapers hadn’t provoked with their articles, which in many aspects were false”.
The claims by Simerini – widely believed to be the reason behind the attack – were yesterday denied by the school’s Headmaster, Stuart Haggert, who told the Cyprus Mail that there had been a minor incident between two pupils, but that it had been completely blown out of proportion by the newspaper.
“There was a very minor incident between two pupils, where a Turkish Cypriot pupil saw a Greek Cypriot pupil was wearing a crucifix, and because this was not natural for him, he reacted and spat on the floor.
“But the incident was dealt with and the parents of both pupils are satisfied with the school,” said Haggert.

Describing the violent incident as “deeply shocking”, the headmaster added that good came out of it too.

“As the day progressed, we saw a very positive side to the incident. Clearly the Greek Cypriot pupils came to their classmates’ defence, which in itself contradicts people’s opinions that the English School has problems because it has pupils from various communities.”

The attack was “intensely and categorically” condemned by President Tassos Papadopoulos and his government.
An official government announcement said yesterday that “this criminal act from irresponsible troublemakers exposes our country and undermines our attempts to cultivate a climate of friendship and trust between our country’s two communities, for which religious issues were never a reason for conflict.”
It added that President Papadopoulos had contacted the Chief of Police immediately after being informed of the incident and given strict orders for an “immediate investigation into this unacceptable action, so that the culprits can be found and arrested, and then brought before justice.”

Education Minister Pefkios Georgiades, along with his ministry’s Permanent Secretary, visited the school immediately after hearing of the incident and expressed their total support towards the school.

But despite reassurances, Turkish Cypriot parents voiced their concern over their children’s safety, with one mother telling Reuters: “I’m thinking of not sending my son back for a few days until the necessary security measures have been taken”.

Another mother said: “Scuffles broke out, people were thrown to the floor and punched and kicked. Other Greek Cypriots intervened to protect their classmates”.

Yesterday’s Simerini spoke of anger among English School pupils and parents, as well as teachers, following its report on Monday.
According to the paper, Greek Cypriot parents were incensed by the school’s decision to issue a Code of Conduct, which banned pupils from wearing symbols that were provocative towards the two communities.
It also claimed that Greek Cypriot parents were unhappy at the school’s “favourable behaviour” towards Turkish Cypriots and that they were planning to protest to the school’s management.

But the school yesterday categorically denied that pupils had been asked not to wear crosses.

The English School is run by the government and is one of the few schools on the island that has both Greek and Turkish Cypriot students.
Political parties across the spectrum yesterday united in condemnation of the attack.

AKEL spokesman Andros Kyprianou expressed his party’s concern over the “phenomena of nationalism and chauvinism, which appear in the Greek Cypriot community”, but added that the same feelings also exist in the Turkish Cypriot community, “which unfortunately some people appear to be encouraging”.





THE ENGLISH School yesterday issued a statement strongly condemning the incident.

“Such barbaric actions not only harm our culture, but they also serve the interests of our country’s enemies, who falsely claim that Greek and Turkish Cypriots cannot coexist.”

The school said it had called on the police to intensify investigations, and make the culprits answer to the law with exemplary punishments.
“The School gives warm congratulations to the teachers and Greek Cypriot pupils who intervened and protected the Turkish Cypriot pupils and forced the bullies to make an escape,” read the announcement.

The school’s management and parents’ committee categorically denied Simerini’s claims that the School’s pupils were ordered not to wear a crucifix at school.

“Such publications do not contribute to the cultivation of an appropriate climate for the School’s smooth operation. The School, which is the only multi-communal state school [in Cyprus], puts great efforts into offering a high level of education to all children, respecting their national origin, culture, language and religion.”








http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php

[Alexios]

Of course Cerano “intensely and categorically” condemned the incident.He may even mean it. What he fails to understand however, is that the picture he and some of the Government Ministers transmit to the ordinary G/C and T/C is one of confrontation and intrunsigence. Of course this has to do with his stance on the Cyprus problem, but what is worse is the way he portrays himself. Neither himself, nor this government have the required people intelligence to argue their case in a way that is not offending to the T/C whilst giving out the right message to the G/C.Instead, we have the worsening of the whole ambience (I have finally learned this word) around the Cyprus problem, intercommunal relationships etc.He speaks and even moves in a street-urchin kind of way that obviously has to do with an inherent arrogance and definately with the way he was brought up by an unyielding, tough Paphian father.....Later of course he married into money and his arrogance doubled...This is the leader we have and the political calture we are recently being offered.