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You may think, “How can such an article be written during the Eid?”. However, on a holiday characterized by love and friendship, it is necessary to object to those who would like to destroy this.
During a military parade in Greece, a group of soldiers marched with the slogan, ‘Cyprus is Greek’. In the South of Cyprus, a group of fascists announced that they had founded an organization called the ‘Revolutionary Liberation Fighters’ Bastion’. In their declaration, they stated that ‘50 years of peaceful settlement efforts have not yielded any results’, therefore they called for armed action against Turkey and Britain. In the North of Cyprus, reactionary and fascist statements were made in the name of religious and national values during a debate on secularism; these statements suggested that those who had a more different take and perspective on life should be ‘sent’ to the South.
Outrageous statements made by a leading figure in the Platform on Rights and Freedom, and the imam from Hamid Mandres against all our people—whether Turkish Cypriot, or Turkish—who think differently about secularism and democracy, and irrational statements in the South of Cyprus and Greece coincided with the eve of Eid. The first of these gentlemen in the North said, “We took this land by shedding blood and we are not going to give it away without shedding blood. Those who object to our values should go to the South”; the latter stated that he would not pray the salaah for secular people, and that he would not lead their funerals.
For this reason, let us first address the slogan ‘Cyprus is Greek’, chanted in Greece. This slogan is based on the destruction of the institutional existence and international position of the Republic of Cyprus, which is now a member of the EU and in which the Turkish Cypriot community is a constituent. Those with this chauvinist and fascist logic should not forget. The Enosis thesis fuelled partition. Both communities suffered. Then, the Republic of Cyprus was established as a Bicommunal Republic. The Bicommunal Republic of Cyprus, and peace and tranquillity that dawned on the shores of the island were crushed, this time, under the influence of two nationalist theses, following the coups of 1963 and 1964. There was a lot of suffering between 1963 and 1974. Then, just as peace and tranquility were about to dawn on the shores of the island again, a coup d’état was carried out on 15 July 1974, this time with the active support of the Greek Fascist Junta that proclaimed, “We have dissolved the Republic of Cyprus and established the Hellenic Republic of Cyprus instead.” We know the aftermath of all of this: the Cyprus Peace Operation of 20 July 1974, and the conditions of non-solution that have lasted until today. Those who still do not learn their lessons from these, those who march in Greece as they chant, ‘Cyprus is Greek’, and those who call for ‘armed struggle against Turkey, Britain and Turkish Cypriots’ in Cyprus have re-emerged.
In the northern part of Cyprus, on the other hand, we have come to see opponents of a federal solution. Interestingly, the reasonings of both of these groups for their stance come from the same place: ‘No peaceful solution has been developed within the past 50 years’. It is also necessary to say a few words for those in the North of Cyprus whose mother tongue is Turkish and who would like to ‘send’ people to the South. Yes, a lot of blood has been shed on this land. However, sir, you should know that between 1958 and 1963, and between 1963 and 1974, a lot of blood was shed by Turkish Cypriots who struggled for social existence on this island. In 1974, the blood of many Turkish soldiers was added to these. It was not just our blood that was shed, though; the blood of many Greek Cypriots and Greeks, whose mother tongue is Greek, was also shed. Yet, the Turkish Cypriots, who are the children of this land, have also poured sweat, tears, love, knowledge and human values into this land for the past 500 years.
Say whatever you want. You will not be able to distract us from the peaceful relations that Atatürk established with the Greeks he fought against after the bloodshed in Anatolia—known as the Atatürk-Venizelos Friendship—and from the principle of ‘Peace at Home, Peace in the World’ which underlines the supreme and secular state of law.
This article was first published on 31.03.2025
Source: ATATÜRK-VENIZELOS
