By ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ (GREEK) TÜRKÇE (TURKISH)
On Saturday evening, we were in Anglisia – Anglisides, or ‘Aksu’ as it was called by TMT in 1958, one of the pre-1974 mixed villages in the Larnaca region of Cyprus!
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When Cyprus was under Ottoman rule, the name of this village was recorded as ‘Ihlisdes’…
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Although there are various ‘stories’ about how the name Anglisia, or Anglisides came about, one of them is about an Englishman who, once upon a time, lost his wife during a visit to the village and went around saying, ‘Anglisides’, that is, “Have you seen an English woman?”…
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After that day, the village was given this name…
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Turkish Cypriots still call it Anglisia; the original name is Anglisides… The name Aksu is a ‘fictitious’ claim, just as ‘our claim to an equal sovereign state’ is…
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Anyway…
Anglisides, 17 kilometres west of Larnaca, very close to Kofinou, is an impeccable village like all the villages of the Republic of Cyprus…
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What I saw and observed at Anglisides made me say, once again:
‘No matter how bitter the events of the past were, if a Greek Cypriot in their right mind accepts a federal state and political equality with Turkish Cypriots who have remained alive and on the island, I am sorry, but they are both stupid and moronic…’
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Seriously, why should they share the country?
Who should they share it with?
‘Turkish Cypriots’?
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Which Turkish Cypriots?
The ones coined as ‘Turkish Cypriots’ by Mr Cevdet Yılmaz and Mr Fuat Oktay?
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Aaaaahhh, perhaps it is the one mentioned in the thesis of ‘sovereign and equal Turkish Cypriot State’ that came to be defended with the appointment, sorry, election of Ersin Tatar?
As the late Zeki Beşiktepeli said, “There is no land! How will there be a state without any land?”
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The Immovable Property Commission (IPC) will convince the Greek Cypriot property owners, they will agree to the terms and sell their properties, and you will build a separate state on it?
Let’s talk about those 50 billion dollars!
Do you have the money to pay?
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Or, by trying to convince the whole world through yelling, “I took it with blood, it’s mine, is there anyone who will challenge me?”
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Let me tell you about some issues and you make your own decision…
Anglisia is very famous for its olives…
In this village, on Saturday evening, an event called ‘Olive Festival’ was organized, and we were invited…
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The gathering took place in the garden of the village school. A very famous Greek Cypriot musician came; kebabs, olives, mezes, drinks, the organisation was very well thought out, and everyone was dancing…
About a thousand people…
Everyone is Cypriot!
The dances are Cypriot!
Not from Thessaloniki, or Athens!
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The Greek Ambassador to Nicosia is not the chief guest of the festival; in fact, I am sure he does not even know about it!
The Greek Ambassador did not come to the village with a minister and say, “We will repair your roads, we will bring you water, we will buy your olives!”
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Annita Demetriou—born in 1985 in Troulli, Larnaca—the first female and youngest president of the House of Representatives and also of DISY, the largest political party in the country, attended the evening as a simple guest…
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She didn’t come with a chauffeur-driven official vehicle and bodyguards…
Of course she had a bodyguard, maybe even a driver, but she didn’t show any of these off to anyone…
She didn’t give a speech either…
No one sucked up to her; she didn’t tell anyone, “we will make you citizens, we will hire your child, we found a position for your daughter-in-law at the Cooperative, don’t worry, your loan is ready”…
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My colleague of 35 years, journalist friend Harun Denizkan, his wife, my wife and I were the guests of Michalis Andreou, an Anglisian businessman…
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Michalis Andreou was the main sponsor of this event in his village, and that evening, it was also his birthday…
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Annita Demetriou also celebrated her birthday; she came to our table and said, “very happy to meet you” when she learnt that we were Turkish Cypriots…
Without a bodyguard, without glamour, without putting on a show…
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The female mukhtar of the village thanked all those who contributed to the organization of the event, but first and foremost, she thanked the main sponsor, Michalis Andreou…
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How many of the rich people in the TRNC would sponsor such an event in their village?
Of course, there are those who make substantial contributions, but how many people are left in the TRNC who can show the name, or address of their village on a map of ‘Cyprus’?
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How many people in the TRNC have a loving bond with their village?
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In order to answer this question, we need to analyse the population in the TRNC, which we know nothing about?
For one thing, a significant part of the ‘Turkish Cypriots’ who are still alive and living in the TRNC are refugees from the South…
And the ‘village’ of at least 80 per cent of those living in the TRNC—whether they may be citizens, or not—is either in Anatolia, or perhaps in Bangladesh, or some other country in Africa…
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My aim is not to discriminate, or be racist!
My aim is to explain that Greek Cypriots love this country, this island and their state very much; that they are extremely possessive of all these things, and that we, Turkish Cypriots, are exhausted as a community…
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Let me share one more observation…
In 1985, the year Annita Demetriou, President of the House of Representatives, was born, Kostas and Christina Agathokleous in Anglisia founded a business with 10 thousand olive trees… A company…
They named the company ‘The King of Olives’, meaning ‘Zeytinlerin Kralı’…
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That company is now under the management of the second generation…
They harvest their products with ‘giant olive picking machines’, similar to harvesting machines for grains, and produce all kinds of olives, olive oil and other types of olive products, and sell them all over the world… The number of trees has exceeded 125 thousand…
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We conversed with many Cypriots…
Nothing is pompous, nothing is flashy; I repeat…
A gentleman with glasses sitting at our table, a gentleman, a polite man, got up and danced to every song he liked… The young people are very happy, the old people are very happy, and everyone is somehow from Anglisia, or nearby…
Everyone!
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Another Greek Cypriot friend told me that the gentleman with glasses lived in the USA and was in the country for holidays… “He owns 120 restaurants in California,” he said…
I am not saying this to belittle the man, or to exaggerate his material wealth, but he is such a modest and earnest person that you would think he retired last year in the TRNC!
For lack of a better word, “he looks nothing special but turns out to be someone in love with his country and very rich…”
Zero vanity!
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We are talking about people who do not have the ‘the goal, or character’ to rob, steal, grab and devour a share of the spoils, take and offer loans in irregular ways, claim citizenship, turn the issue of teacher transfers into a political matter, postpone the opening of schools to a week after the beginning of the academic year for no reason, defend foreign policy in a stupid manner, treat the Ambassador to Athens like a governor, worship the Greek President and his cadre…
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People who love Anglisia because they are Anglisians, and Cyprus because they are Cypriots…
And yes, we want them to ‘recognize the TRNC as an equal sovereign state’, almost all of whose land legally belongs to Greek Cypriots, and almost all of whose population is considered ‘illegal’…
[Photo insert: Serhat is seen wearing a T-shirt saying ‘wake up’, while standing next to his host, Michalis Andreou, at the Olive Festival in Anglisia.]
Happy 74th birthday to Michalis Andreou, a beautiful person who loves Anglisia because he is an Anglisian, loves Cyprus because he is a Cypriot, and loves to share his earnings with his country, his people and his villagers…
Source: ARE GREEK CYPRIOTS STUPID?
