Of Winds and Waters
Dear Tufan Erhürman,
The elections are over, so relax a bit. We understand, you made promises to the Turkish Cypriots and to the settlers from Turkey to win votes. That’s what politicians do. You told them they’d become Europeans, with stamps and passports to prove it. You told them they’d move freely and proudly from Karpasia to Paphos. You told them they’d share the natural gas with the Greek Cypriots, since, as you claim, the Turkish Cypriots own half the EEZ (Economic Zone) south of Cyprus. You told them their living standards would rise, that they wouldn’t have to eat thin air anymore thanks to Turkey’s crushing inflation that’s turned the lira into dust against the euro.
Fine, Tufan. We say the Turkish Cypriots deserve even more. We want to see Turkish Cypriot public servants on combined pay scales A8-A16. We want lump-sum retirements of €300,000 and pensions of €4,000 a month. We want CoLA (Cost of Living Allowance) for everyone. We want Turkish Cypriot civil servants to torment and delay us like their Greek Cypriot bureaucratic counterparts. We want all Turkish Cypriot citizens immediately included in the Cyprus’s General Healthcare System (GHS) for free medical care. We want proper highways in the north, not roads with roundabouts every 500 metres. We want the ports and airports in the north recognised. We want to become one country.
The Greek Cypriots
All this sounds great, but man, don’t forget that Greek Cypriots also live on this island. Remember poor old Akıncı when he was elected? The man had something to say about Greek Cypriots, the same ones who loved him then and still do, seeing him as the most honest politician Cyprus has ever had. There’s a difference though. Akıncı is from Limassol, a man of the sea, open-hearted, like the restless gulls above it. You, on the other hand, are from Nicosia, a child of the dry Mesaoria plain, with not much emotion to spare for us. But try, my dear man, and stop portraying us as conquerors of this land.
When Akıncı was elected, he showed that he could understand that on this blood-soaked rock, Greek Cypriots also suffered. Between us, maybe they suffered a bit more, because they’ve always been orphans, without a motherland, without allies, without anyone beside them. Alone, with their madness, their obsessions, their stubbornness, but above all, alone, like the little thief-boy in the old stories. Like a stalk in an empty field. Who was there when the Franks and Venetians butchered them? Who shielded them from Ottoman rulers like Hatzibakkis and Küçük Mehmet? Who pitied them when the British hanged them in 1955?
Yes, we were foolish in the 1972-74 period, but the common people weren’t to blame. It was the politicians: Makarios, Grivas, Denktash, men who put their ambitions above ordinary lives.
So, dear Tufan, never forget the 150,000 Greek Cypriots who lost everything in 1974: relatives, homes, property, and most of all, memories. Just as we do not forget the Turkish Cypriots who were unjustly killed in 1964 and 1974. Many Greek Cypriots had to emigrate en masse to rebuild their lives. From 1992 to 2004, they fought to enter the European Union, enduring harsh harmonisation reforms. In 2013, they lost their savings in the bail-in crisis. Later, they were humiliated by the passports scandal, victims of their own corrupt politicians. But in the end, remember this, they rebuilt their lives alone.
Let’s be honest
Dear Tufan, no one denies the pain of the Turkish Cypriots between 1963 and 1974. But let’s be fair, the pain after 1974 wasn’t shared equally. Turkey handed the Turkish Cypriots houses, jobs, wages, and land they had never owned, along with humiliation and Ottoman arrogance.
The Greek Cypriots, on the other hand, held on to their political recognition and kept the Republic of Cyprus intact. They fought for decades to rebuild. Why? Because the violence Turkey unleashed in 1974 was excessive. Simply put, it couldn’t take everything, both the land and international recognition.
Let’s focus on the Greek Cypriots. Do you know what their greatest achievement is, despite their stubbornness? They lost the beautiful beaches of Famagusta and Karpasia, the fertile plain of Mesaoria, the mines of Pentadaktylos, and the most picturesque town in the world, Kyrenia. Yet in the remaining Cyprus, of mountains, ravines, and rocky shores, they built something remarkable.
That achievement, dear Tufan, we’d like you to acknowledge. We’d like you to recognise that your Greek Cypriot brothers, those orphans of the Eastern Mediterranean, worked hard and imaginatively to rebuild their lives.
And, without a hint of arrogance, we’d like you to admit that the Greek Cypriots managed to achieve something you’d wish to share. Perhaps it’s time to accept, as many Turkish Cypriots already have, that your absolute alignment with Turkey was a failed experiment.
We all understand that under the current circumstances, saying this aloud is hard, so patience is everyone’s only option.
Don’t allow it
Dear Tufan, the elections are over, so don’t let malicious Greek Cypriot propaganda or greedy Greek Cypriot politicians discredit you before talks even begin, if they ever do. Some are already painting you as worse than Tatar. The majority of Greek Cypriot politicians don’t want a solution, so don’t give them easy excuses to dismiss you.
On our side, there are three kinds of citizens: about 25-30% who don’t want a solution, 40% who are waiting to see the terms of one, and another 25-30% who do want it.
For a solution to the Cyprus problem, you must win over the last two groups and believe me, you and other Turkish Cypriots will need to lend a hand.