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repulsewarrior
Ministerial
Joined: 06 Jan 2006
Posts: 2152
Location: a cypriot in canada
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a possibly surprising yet ultimately predictable conclusion of the Index is that the three leading military powers of the world hold significantly forlorn places on the index with the US at 83rd, China at 74th and Russia at a dismal 136th. When observing the countries of the G8, excluding the three previously mentioned, only Japan (7), Canada ( and Germany (16) can be considered as doing well. The UK came in at 35th. |
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| In this year’s findings, the Index ranked Cyprus 48th in the world in terms of levels of peace, ascending three places since the GPI of 2008. This was largely due to its low risk of being the subject of a terrorist attack. |
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| “People need to understand the structure and attitudes that create peace and start to build them in to their societies. Peace lies at the centre of being able to manage the many and varied challenges facing humanity, simply because peace creates the optimum environment in which the other activities that contribute to human growth can take place… |
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=46020 |
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repulsewarrior
Ministerial
Joined: 06 Jan 2006
Posts: 2152
Location: a cypriot in canada
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Territory and Limnitis
THE leaders of the two communities yesterday discussed the tricky issue of territory and the opening of a crossing point at Limnitis in the north-west of the island.
It was the 33rd meeting between President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, part of UN-sponsored peace talks.
At the post-meet briefing, Taye Brook Zerihoun, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Cyprus, said the two leaders had exchanged initial views on the issue of territorial adjustments in a reunified state.
The leaders’ next meeting is scheduled for Friday, 26 June. In the meantime their top aides and experts from both sides would be coming together to discuss these two issues, Zerihoun said.
Asked whether progress had been made on Limnitis, President Christofias told newsmen: “Be patient.”
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2009 |
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ong
Villager
Joined: 20 Dec 2006
Posts: 8
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I suppose this is the thread to post this [which I'm sure you've seen or heard about]:
http://blogs.reuters.com/global/2009/06/16/cyprus-reunification-talks-drowned-out-by-shouting/
So, today I read that Christofias complained about his peace on his way out to Brussels, calling it more or less propaganda, or something? Has he actually read it? Doesn't he realise that in a way it can be seen as containing a positive message?
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| “Shouting and screaming is part of their intimacy,” said a Turkish Cypriot journalist. “The fact that they come out of the room smiling is proof of their strong relationship.” |
I know, that's a minor silver lining to the rest of the gloomy piece but surely it's better to accept criticism than lambast it? And it does have a point at least about what Christofias is doing wrong, namely trying too hard to appease the nutjob partitionists [because that's what really are] that supposedly support his government. What do you guys think?
And has there been any reaction on this from Talat? |
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Bananiot
Warnings : 1
Deputy
Joined: 13 Aug 2005
Posts: 1244
Location: Nicosia
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| Christofias made the comments without even being asked about it. He was really hurt by the comments, but you are correct about the rejectionists. However, their influence (post Papadopoulos) seems to be diminishing especially with the internal bickering inside DIKO where the hard liners seemed to win the day at first, but then, possibly because of this, DIKO lost massively in the euroelections. Perhaps the government carrot Christofias holds infront of them is the best way to keep them at bay. |
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ong
Villager
Joined: 20 Dec 2006
Posts: 8
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| Bananiot wrote: |
| Christofias made the comments without even being asked about it. He was really hurt by the comments, but you are correct about the rejectionists. |
And that, strangely, is the one weakness Christofias has going into this. How can a politician react purely emotionally because he is "hurt" by a comment? I expect much more from him but first he has to let go of this caution that seems to come from the fact that he still doesn't believe he's President.
The rejectionists have lost influence, but only relatively to before. Notice that they still control almost the entire news media and that despite getting laughable results in the EU elections they still put themselves forward- with those same media giving them almost equal air time as the three strongest parties.
But have you heard if, and how, Talat reacted to the peace? I suspect he was much more careful than his comrade. |
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Bananiot
Warnings : 1
Deputy
Joined: 13 Aug 2005
Posts: 1244
Location: Nicosia
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| It was probably a fare after all. Apparently it was a blogger who came with this story after all. It was not an official reuter report. |
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repulsewarrior
Ministerial
Joined: 06 Jan 2006
Posts: 2152
Location: a cypriot in canada
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Bicommunal in my mind means the recognition of people as Individuals and as well, as Persons. A strong Central government will serve to protect and defend the Individual Rights of all citizens equally as a State, and as this island's dwellers. National Assemblies will allow, on the other hand, Communities to sustain themselves through self representation, with a territorial Jurisdiction overwhich they can serve; as well as allowing its majority to demonstrate their commitment to Basic Human Rights, by providing for the special needs of the minorities (regardless the population's size) amongst them.
Added to this effort, since 1974, is the Principal of Bizonality which never meant tearing the island in two, nor the acceptance of a 'fait accompli' through illegal acts. Thus, beyond the Right of Return for displaced individuals there is the issue of communities lost to the intolerance of extremists whose success has left them alone satisfied with at least having isolated themselves from their counterparts.
Enclaves are not a dirty word if like spots which cover the entire island, they are added to the geographic fabric. They will serve to end this unnatural isolation. They will add diversity to each culture, both Grecophone and Turcophone (Maronite, Armenian, etc.as well). They will allow for less disruption and more choice for the affected. They will allow for a return of many communities lost to ignorant acts. They will allow for an end to the "border" even if it remains, with Free Movement, Association and Expression equally for all. While many frontiers will exist, all citizens will have as Individuals an identity as Cypriots while people will enjoy an identity that has its own distinctions as Persons, by their location as well as culture.
Beyond the Nationalistic pride foisted on these people through their respective "motherlands", there is the necessity for the betterment of a condition which is Human, with an end to the denials which fuel the impasse, an end to the pain caused by the proxy war of these interlocutors, and an end to the subjugation which has existed in the broadest sense for thousands of years over the island's inhabitants, which the rest of us can emulate with esteem. |
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ong
Villager
Joined: 20 Dec 2006
Posts: 8
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| Bananiot wrote: |
| It was probably a fare after all. Apparently it was a blogger who came with this story after all. It was not an official reuter report. |
Well, still, it was Reuters blog. Which means that the writer should have double checked their sources and is probably not making things up. |
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repulsewarrior
Ministerial
Joined: 06 Jan 2006
Posts: 2152
Location: a cypriot in canada
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Questioning the stereotypical version of the island’s history
By Charles Charalambous
The threat of a jail sentence and heavy fine made against journalist and writer Makarios Drousiotis made last week by a State Archivist raises a number of fundamental questions regarding the way Cyprus’ past is dealt with in today’s society )
ALTHOUGH there is a growing discussion among academics both in Cyprus and abroad about how the island’s history is recorded and recounted – addressing questions of collective memory, identity and nationalism – and how social history compares with the “official” version, this discussion rarely finds its way into the mainstream media or public debate.
The threat by archivist Efrosyni Parparinou was made in a June 22 letter June, based on the allegation that Dhroushiotis had certain public documents and quoted them in his latest book, Two attempts and a murder: the Greek Junta and Cyprus, 1967-1970.
Among other things, the book deals with the murder in 1970 of former EOKA fighter and Interior Minister Polycarpos Yiorkadjis. Drousiotis told the Sunday Mail that the Polycarpos Yiorkadjis Foundation had complained to Phileleftheros newspaper on Saturday, June 20 and by the Monday the state archivist’s letter was delivered to him by hand.
As far as Drousiotis is concerned, “the State Archive should be a tool for learning our history”, but “it has neither the infrastructure nor the staff to fulfil this mission – nor in fact the willingness to carry it out.”
He referred to his own experience of asking for the official transcript of a trial which had been open to the public, but which some quarters would view as politically sensitive. “The archivist found the file, but told me that official approval would be needed before it could be released,” he said. Two weeks later he was told that access had been denied.
Drousiotis said: “Hiding things away for 200 years until their value is simply archaeological and only then releasing them – is that their mission?”
There is also the question of what makes it into the State Archive. Speaking at the launch of Drousiotis’ book last month, former Attorney General Alecos Markides said that archives have been maintained at the Presidential Palace over the years, but – for example – Presidents Spyros Kyprianou and Glafcos Clerides took their archives with them at the end of their terms in office. He said that President Tassos Papadopoulos was the first to insist that papers were archived in duplicate, allowing at least one copy to remain permanently available.
Asked about the public’s level of awareness of important questions and events in the island’s modern history, Drousiotis said that despite his belief that there is a public appetite for the full facts, a “stereotypical version of history” prevails. “Reference to history starts with EOKA, makes a brief stop at 1960 and independence, then there is a blackout until 1974, and history resumes from the July 1974 coup and invasion,” he said.
Dhroushiotis’ view is supported by a item entitled “Lessons in Cypriot history” transmitted by the award-winning Neoi Fakeloi (New Files) programme on Greek channel Skai TV in March 2009. The item showed the different approaches to teaching history in schools in the north and south of the island. One part showed a class of Greek Cypriot primary school children being taught during the regular “Then Xehno” (I don’t forget) hour, which was introduced into the official curriculum shortly after the 1974 invasion.
The teacher is shown giving a short historical overview, beginning with Cyprus’ formal independence in 1960, when “joy, peace and progress prevailed”, and then immediately moving on to 1974. “What just happened,” reporter Katerina Lomvardea said in her commentary, “is that the teacher has just skipped 14 whole years of Cypriot history, arriving at the invasion of 20 July 1974, which is presented as being a bolt out of the blue”. She went on: “The children, who just previously were being told they should love the Turkish Cypriots, suddenly see them as the cause of all of Cyprus’ hurt. Exactly the same is repeated in [the standard text] The History of Cyprus, taught at secondary school level. The 14 most critical years of the course of the Cyprus problem are covered in just two out of the book’s 120 pages.”
In Drousiotis’ view, “an extremely conservative attitude” is being exercised by “a political elite which controls the education system and the media, only letting through what it approves of, and condemning any dissenting view as treacherous or unpatriotic.”
Historians would argue that the “official” version of our past facilitates the way the current political process operates, and therefore will determine our future to a significant extent – unless that version is challenged.
“History is always a political tool”, Dhroushiotis said. “The issue is for people to ask the difficult questions, to debate and to argue while allowing for alternative views, in order to have a real sense of their own history.”
n The Skai TV report can be accessed at http://www.skai.gr/player/tv/?mmid=25439
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2009 |
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repulsewarrior
Ministerial
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Posts: 2152
Location: a cypriot in canada
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Cyprus marks 1974 coup and invasion
POLITICAL leaders and deputies last night attended a commemorative event at the Presidential Palace to mark the 1974 coup and invasion.
The evening kicked off with a 30 minute speech by President Demetris Christofias followed by a musical recital performed by Cypriot artists.
Sporting his usual red tie Christofias welcomed those gathered in the palace grounds to attend the memorial event honouring the events of 1974. On the stage behind him was a flag of Cyprus and the European Union.
As the president launched into his speech, he gave a brief outline of the events of 35 years ago that “destroyed all Cyprus”.
Every so often he had to pause as youths dressed in black t-shirts and holding a black banner donning the words ‘the people don’t forget the fascists or the tanks’ in the back two rows chanted brief anthems and clapped their hands in unison. Some of the more boisterous ones waved flags of Cyprus.
Christofias said today’s youth had to know how and why events led to the coup and invasion and the part foreign nations had played in the “treachery”. He said the “double crime” of the junta and invasion was “two sides of the same conspiracy”.
The president blamed nationalist and chauvinist circles in both Cypriot communities which led to the coup and invasion.
During his speech Christofias repeated the usual rhetoric regarding partition and reunification, making reference to the direct talks.
“Without talks and negotiations there can be no solution… partition is the choice of destruction,” he said.
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2009 |
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repulsewarrior
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Cyprus hunts clues, decades on, for 2,000 missing
Thu Jun 18, 2009 7:39am EDT
By Michele Kambas
NICOSIA (Reuters) - A U.N.-backed commission investigating mass disappearances in Cyprus called for witnesses on Thursday to help trace remains of some 2,000 people who vanished during conflict in the 1960s and 1970s.
The Committee of Missing Persons (CMP) has been exhuming graves on both sides of the island, divided between ethnic Greeks and Turks, since 2007.
Most leads are based on witness accounts.
"We get a lot of help on the grassroots level, but we know there are some people hesitant to come forward. We need their help," said Gulden Plumer Kucuk, a representative of the Turkish Cypriot community on the committee.
Cyprus has been split since Turkey seized its north in 1974 in an invasion triggered by a brief Greek Cypriot coup.
Some 1,468 Greek Cypriots disappeared in 1974, and 502 Turkish Cypriots went missing in ethnic clashes from the 1960s. To date, scientists have identified 155 people by DNA testing among 530 sets of remains already exhumed. The CMP is funded by several countries including the Netherlands, which handed over a 250,000 euro donation on Thursday.
The final phase of the process is when relatives are summoned to view remains, sometimes incomplete, at a clinical lab on a windswept plateau at Nicosia airport.
The area, once Cyprus's gateway to the world, is now a United Nations compound on the outskirts of the divided capital, within sight of a complex where leaders of the two communities have been holding reunification talks since September 2008.
"It's clinical up to a certain point, but gets very human when relatives come here," said Christophe Girod, a Swiss diplomat on the committee. "It's very emotional because they see their loved one for the first time in decades, and at the same time say goodbye," he told Reuters.
While relatives welcome closure, some still want answers. "It clarifies the situation, but only up to a certain point," said a 57-year-old Greek Cypriot whose brother, then 19, went missing in 1974.
"I want to know why people were found shot in the head, for example. If we give them absolution of sins it's like telling them it's all right to do it again."
(Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved |
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repulsewarrior
Ministerial
Joined: 06 Jan 2006
Posts: 2152
Location: a cypriot in canada
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Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus President Talat's Speech on 20 July Peace and Freedom Day
Dear Brothers,
Esteemed Citizens of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,
Distinguished Guests,
Today, we are celebrating the 35th anniversary of our saying ‘stop’ to the Greek military coup, which was aimed at turning the 1960 Republic of Cyprus into a Hellenic state, and which cost many lives.
The military operation, which the Republic of Turkey staged on 20 July 1974 based on the international Treaty of Guarantee, rendered Turkish Cypriots a more important political actor, while creating new conditions in Cyprus.
As we all know, with 20 July, our lives and properties were secured, our basic rights and freedoms were guaranteed, our partnership rights in Cyprus were registered. Consequently, the act of peace building, which had ended in disappointment and pain due to the Greek Cypriot and Greek attacks, was brought back onto the agenda. In other words, a step was taken towards a realistic, peaceful and permanent solution.
20 July is the beginning of salvation for us. And we have to see the 20th of July, as an opening towards solution, not as the symbol of non-solution. Solution in Cyprus could not have been attained by disregarding the Turkish Cypriot people, by eliminating them from the economic, social and cultural life of the island, and by denying their political equality and right to self-administration. The political parametres, which were altered with 20 July 1974, demonstrated this reality to the Greek Cypriot side as well as the whole world.
My team and I, as you President, are walking the path opened by 20 July and continuing with the flag race through close consultations with our Government and Turkey. On this new and strong base, we are carrying out the negotiations with more confidence and determination, we are gaining our rights and taking secure steps towards solution.
Our flag race is a struggle for gaining our basic rights so that the Turkish Cypriot people can live in security and peace.
This struggle began when the Ottoman state rented Cyprus to the United Kingdom and still continues. The Turkish Cypriots, under the British Administration, fought to establish their own institutions and laws as an expression of their right to self-administration. When the possibility of the United Kingdom withdrawing from the island arose, Turkish Cypriots rose for their communal and political rights.
As a result of this struggle, we gained equal status with Greek Cypriots. We became founding partners of the 1960 Republic of Cyprus, we protected and shared our sovereignty and secured the necessary assurances for the Turkish existence in Cyprus. We, as all the other people in the world, have the right to live a safe and good life without problems. We demonstrated superhuman efforts and self-sacrifices to secure a wealthy life for the next generations. The greatest spiritual and material support in this process came -and still comes -from the institutions and altruistic people of the Republic of Turkey, which was established by the great Ataturk.
I would like to underline once again that if we are celebrating the 35th anniversary of 20 July here today, the political rights gained by Turkish Cypriot people through a continuous, decisive and determined struggle until 1960 lie beneath this; our founding partnership right in the Republic of Cyprus, our self-administration and the guarantorship of the Republic of Turkey lie beneath this.
I am reminding you these historical realities because some circles, still today, link the communal and political presence of Turkish Cypriots or the establishment of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus to “an external military intervention,” in other words, the military operation on 20 July 1974. Such views belong to those, who do not know the centuries-old history, identity, political and administrative experience of our people. Or those, who know but deny these realities.
Let’s remember. When the 1960 Republic of Cyprus was under the attack of EOKA, the Turkish Cypriot people was able to ensure its own safety, took the necessary measures to defend its territory, established its own administration, brought about legal and administrative regulations, organised in social, cultural and economic fields and survived under the very difficult conditions of the time.
Turkey’s help was one of the anchors of our communal resistance in 1963–1974. The other anchor was the self-confidence and strength of the Turkish Cypriots. Our fathers, with decisiveness and determination, did not shy from any self-sacrifices, and gave their lives when necessary to make sure that we and the next generations live in freedom and security. They were able to do this through the willpower arising from the energy created by their love for freedom, their country and humanity. They got the courage and willpower that they needed in this process from the principles of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk...
Today, we are living in a more secure environment compared with yesterday. Thanks to the 20 July Peace Operation, which we celebrate as “Peace and Freedom Day,” we are no longer scared for our lives when we go to bed at night. The world knows more about Turkish Cypriots, the doors which used to shut on our faces are now opening, and the international community is empathising with us.
But we cannot settle for these gains because our ultimate goal is a fair, permanent and secure solution. It is to gain the place that we deserve in the European Union and to be accepted by international law.
For that reason, we have to integrate Turkish Cypriots into the world through a new partnership state as a people with equal rights with Greek Cypriots and as founding partners. We have to secure effective representation of Turkish Cypriots, as equals in this partnership, in the European Union, United Nations, and the family of the states of the world. We have to secure our political, economic and social future, our commercial and financial relationship with the world, and our communal wealth in line with EU standards and in a way that will not be less than the Greek Cypriot side.
This is why it is necessary to find a just and permanent solution to the Cyprus problem in a short time and to sign an agreement that will be acceptable by both parties.
It is our duty to ensure that our youth and the next generations live in safety on this island without any fears for the future, and have a strong connection with the world, as part of the European civilisation and the whole humanity. It is our duty to crown our struggle with a diplomatic victory. This is why we need a fair and permanent solution.
In short, our duty today, is to find a solution that would secure our rights and interests, and that would be acceptable for our people, and to conclude negotiations as soon as possible with a peace agreement.
This is the goal: Solution and security.
We are working very hard to attain this goal.
We are doing everything we can to meet the expectations of our people and to deserve their trust.
It is true that we are not too far from solution. But still, we are being quiet and cautious because we have learnt our lesson from the past inconsistent behaviour of the Greek Cypriot side and the European Union. Therefore, we do not want to disappoint the Turkish Cypriot people once again. We can never forget the fact that although we put forward an open and clear will for the solution of the Cyprus problem, the Greek Cypriot side, which blocked a solution, was awarded while we are still living under inhumane isolations and embargoes.
Dear Brothers,
The guarantorship of the Republic of Turkey in a possible peace agreement is not a subject for discussion. Turkey’s guarantee is inevitable for us. We explain our position on this issue with determination in the negotiations process and we will continue to do so.
We all know that 20 July Peace Operation will fully achieve its aim when we reach a secure solution in Cyprus and when Turkish Cypriots attain safe conditions provided by international relations.
To be able to fulfill this duty, we are carrying out negotiations with the Greek Cypriot side with a lot of care, determination, faith and in a comprehensive and detailed manner. We are in contact with the Republic of Turkey on every issue in the negotiations process and we are in full agreement. I would like to thank once again President Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, State Minister Egemen Bagis and State Minister Cemil Cicek, who, in a recent visit to Ankara, expressed their full support to us to finalise the negotiations by the end of this year.
The solidarity of the Republic of Turkey and our brothers in Turkey serve as the top assurance in the steps Turkish Cypriot people will take towards peace. We have to continue on our path that we have set out to walk to bring peace to both sides in Cyprus, to Turkey and Greece and the whole region, and to create a region of prosperity and peace. We will carry on in this path with even more determination with the strength we derive from being one with the authorities of the Republic of Turkey and our brothers in Turkey.
My Dear People,
Esteemed Guests,
I know that many of you, despite the support you give to the negotiations process, criticise and doubt the attitude of the Greek Cypriot side in these negotiations. You are right to doubt, as you watch that those, who usurped the government of the Republic of Cyprus, which has turned into a Greek Cypriot republic, are attempting to use the international relations that they attained, and especially the European Union membership, which they gained unjustly, against Turkish Cypriots and Turkey with the aim of imposing on to Cyprus the solution that they want. But I would like to reiterate that this attempt is in vain. The Turkish Cypriot people will not forgo its struggle for a safe life, and will never risk the gains it attained through its own determination and strength.
The basic human rights and the right to self-administration that Turkish Cypriots demand, and especially Turkey’s guarantorship, do not contain any threats against the Greek Cypriot side. For that reason, the Greek Cypriot side should respect the basic rights, the centuries-old tradition of self-administration and the political gains of the Turkish Cypriot side.
We would like to live on this island in peace and under a solution that secures the lives and properties of our children. But we have learned lessons from the past. We will never forget these lessons. Instead of asking us to forget what happened in the past, they should spend efforts to try and make us forget, so that we can produce friendship from the lessons that we have learned, instead of enmities.
We first need friendship and good will within ourselves. Regardless of their background and views, all Turkish Cypriots should face solution in unity. All the political segments in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus should act in solidarity, because nobody is going to hand solution, which means a more peaceful, more secure and more stable life in Cyprus, to us on a golden platter. We will attain this with our very own strength.
We will reach a solution in Cyprus with our own struggle, the same way we attained other gains up until today. For this reason, we do not have time for indifference, pessimism, hesitation, and conflict.
In this period, where we need solidarity, we have to unite around the policy and negotiations strategy determined through communal understanding and together with the Republic of Turkey. In this manner, we should decorate the path, which was opened in front of us 35 years ago on 20 July 1974, with a peace agreement.
Of course, as we go through this process, we should not make the mistake of depending our whole lives on this. We have to work very hard to further improve our economy, which has developed in recent years; finalise our structuring with the aim of improving the democratic and modern operation of our internal administrative mechanisms; and carry the institutions of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which we created and are proud of, to the future.
With this understanding, we have to aim for and succeed in fulfilling our aspiration for a governance system, which protects the rights of all our citizens through modern norms, and which is based on the rule of law.
As I end my speech, I would like to wholeheartedly thank once again the officials of the Republic of Turkey, the Turkish Armed Forces that carried out the 20 July Peace Operation, and our brothers in Turkey for supporting our struggle for existence.
I thank each one of those, who fought with altruism and courage, so that Turkish Cypriots could live in peace, freedom and democracy, who were injured, who went through a lot of financial and psychological problems and pains. I salute our war veterans and families of our martyrs with thankfulness.
May our brothers, who became martyrs in the Turkish Cypriots’ struggle for existence, and who sacrificed their lives so that we could be safe, rest in peace. We will never forget them.
I embrace all of you with respect and love. I wish good luck to all of us.
Presidential Press Office
Turkish version can be read rrom below link
http://www.kktcb.eu/index.php?tpl=show_news&id=1974 |
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repulsewarrior
Ministerial
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Two men, now friends, a bullet to the head and an olive tree
By Stefanos Evripidou
IT’S NOT every day that a man who shot you in the head asks you to lunch but this coming Saturday, Yiannis Maratheftis will sit down for lunch with Fat’hi Akinci in Lefka, 35 years after the latter put a bullet in his head.
The two men fought for opposite camps in 1974, meeting in less amicable circumstances during a battle in Lefka, where Akinci shot Maratheftis in the head.
For 35 years, the Turkish Cypriot thought he had killed Maratheftis, an army radio operator, as he later found his helmet with a bullet hole in it and his radio abandoned at the scene of battle. What he didn’t know was that Maratheftis had managed to crawl away from the place where he’d been shot, sought medical treatment and live to see another day.
Akinci only discovered what really happened a month ago when he read Panicos Neocleous’ book, The Ignored: 1974, translated into Turkish and released this summer, which gives a full account of the shooting in Lefka.
Neocleous last year published a book in Greek on the events of 1974, based on 135 interviews with soldiers who’d fought across the island from Limnitis to Famagusta.
The author told the Sunday Mail he was interested in extracting the “real stories of war”. Due to the confines of space, only 50 interviews were included in the book, giving 50 accounts of the war, including one on the shooting and survival of Maratheftis.
According to Neocleous, the book has become something of a bestseller in Turkey and the north after being translated and published in the Turkish language in June. Having read the book, Akinci discovered that Maratheftis was still alive and contacted Neocleous immediately to ask that the two be put in touch. On August 6, the two men met at a café on Ledra Street in the government-controlled areas.
“When I initially called Yiannis, he said yes immediately and with great joy. They met on August 6 in an exceptionally good climate. It didn’t even take more than a few seconds before they embraced. The two became friends instantly,” said Neocleous.
“Fat’hi brought an olive branch for Yiannis, who promised to plant it in his field, and the two agreed to pick the olives together. I then suggested a second meeting at the ‘scene of the crime’ in Lefka.”
Next Saturday, the Maratheftis and Neocleous families will descend on Lefka in the north to visit the site of the shooting, after which Akinci has invited the entire group for lunch at a nearby restaurant.
Neocleous said the book had many real stories which had not been heard. One of his intentions was to put the truth out there for all to read. Not all, however, agree with this version of the truth.
The retired educator told the Sunday Mail that the book caused a bit of a backlash among Greek Cypriot parties and the government, as well as in Turkey while the reaction from Turkish Cypriots has been mostly positive.
Despite many efforts to get sponsorship for the book and its translation into Turkish, Neocleous expressed regret that the government and Education Ministry chose “not to contribute one cent” to the project.
“You are the first Greek Cypriot journalist to interview me. Turkish Cypriot journalists tell me it’s become a bestseller in Turkey. They say it really shook up the Turkish government and army because it says certain truths, allowing the Turkish people to learn for the first time the true behaviour of the army.
“I get emails from Turks and Turkish Cypriots all the time. Hurriyet put it on their front page to say it was full of lies; this was a good advertisement for me,” said Neocleous.
“I can tell you it’s a very objective book. I spoke to 135 soldiers who fought in 1974, though there was only room for 50 of them in the book. The Turkish press say all 50 were stationed at St Hilarion but that is not true, only three were.”
Neocleous said further proof that the book was a good source of facts came from Akinci himself who said that the book described the events of that day in 1974 exactly as they happened. “That should answer those who say I have tried to distort the truth,” said the author.
He argued that the book tells things as they happened, warts and all. One account described the day when Greek Cypriot prisoners of war were badly beaten after a Turkish officer read in the paper that 37 Turkish Cypriots were massacred in Aloa village. There are also references to massacres in Tochni.
“I had four aims when writing this book. First to reveal how Greek officers betrayed us in 1974 when Greek Cypriots were fighting a war without weapons. Second, to show that the behaviour of Turkish troops was brutal and hard, though where they showed good behaviour, I wrote that too.
“Third (was) the role of the UN. The conclusion being that they were informants for both sides. They would come and record our positions, then the Turks would find their targets. And lastly, I wrote it because those who fought in 1974 have been ignored. Hence the title of the book,” he said.
Neocleous acknowledges that the book has ruffled a few feathers on both sides of the divide for various reasons. This does not seem to faze the retired educator.
“I was organising rallies and events in the north from 20 years back when not even birds could fly over,” he said.
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xenos2fan2
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Joined: 24 Aug 2009
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| I gotta hand it to you, repulse. I think you're one of the few who thinks this forum matters anymore. More power to you. |
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repulsewarrior
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Joined: 06 Jan 2006
Posts: 2152
Location: a cypriot in canada
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Christofias and Talat ‘condemned to finding solution’
FORMER Cypriot President George Vassiliou says he is more convinced than ever before that President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat “are condemned to finding a political settlement”.
Vassiliou, former chief negotiator with the EU and currently head of the working group on EU issues, in the context of the ongoing UN-led negotiations, also believes that substantial progress has been achieved.
“For the first time there is frank negotiation,” he said.
In an interview with the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) to mark the end of the first round of direct negotiations, which started in September last year, Vassiliou added:
“This does not mean that the Cyprus problem has been resolved. However, it is wrong to say that the community leaders are wasting their time.”
“I hope that in the second phase of the talks, which begins in early September, more progress will be achieved until we get to the give-and-take phase. It could be this year, on the other hand it may not be,” he said.
Asked about the Turkish Cypriot position that an agreement could be reached by the end of this year to hold a referendum in the beginning of 2010, Vasiliou said: “This can be done but it’s up to them. If they come to the negotiating table with acceptable to us and reasonable views, then we can reach a solution even in October,” he said.
The former President believes that the benefits of a solution far outweigh the fallout of a non-solution.
Tourism would increase, so would investment, he said. There would be compensation, and foreign assistance would pour into the country for its reconstruction, something that would give the economy a boost. “Every Cypriot has to understand the benefits he will have from a solution,” said Vassiliou.
If there is no solution, he said, in years to come the Turkish Cypriot identity will cease to exist as such and the Greek Cypriots could continue to live with just the hope of a solution without an actual solution.
Vasiliou believes that progress has been achieved on EU matters because the Turkish Cypriots “have realised, after a lot of discussion, that this cannot be negotiable”.
The fundamental values of EU such as the four freedoms cannot change because these form the foundations of Europe, he said.
The issue of guarantees was irrelevant at present since Cyprus is a member of the EU but Vassiliou said this issue should be settled within Europe.
A Cyprus solution, he said would benefit Turkey as well, which is facing financial difficulties “and understands fully that the Cyprus problem is an obstacle to the role of mediator it wishes to have” in the region.
He said that anybody who believes that in December Cyprus will put Turkey at the dock is mistaken. The EU does not function in this way, he said.
“If there is no possibility of reaching an immediate agreement in Cyprus, then they will find a way to postpone the decision on Turkey’s accession process. I do not honestly believe that the EU will confront Turkey or breach its relations with Ankara in December. They will try to find a way out,” Vassiliou added.
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