By ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ (GREEK) TÜRKÇE (TURKISH)
There are too many unnecessary arguments, exchanges, and a lot of unnecessary posts on social media in this country.
Believe me, there are quite a few discussions that do not even amount to anything, have no significance whatsoever, but are repulsive and distressing…
Unaware of anything, without keeping up with the agenda, with lack of information and certainty, everyone is saying something, writing something, and passing judgment on others. Or they do this intentionally and maliciously…
Oh, sirs, it was claimed that some opponents, representatives of civil society organizations and especially the left, who criticized and condemned the man who harassed the priest at the Apostolos Andreas Monastery did not condemn the Molotov cocktail attack on the mosque in Limassol…
Again, those who criticized the attempt to open a masjid [Islamic prayer room] next to the Apostolos Andreas Monastery did not give a similar reaction to the attempted arson at the mosque in the south…
Let me clarify this from the outset: the group they claim “didn’t react” was the first to react, the first to make a statement but if you don’t keep up with developments, if you don’t follow people you dislike on social media, if you unfollow them, and if you see yourself as the centre of the world, of course, you won’t be able to see those reactions or condemnations.
Or maybe you see them but you’re acting with bad intentions, deliberately ignoring them.
So you claim, the opposition, representatives of civil society organizations, the left-wing, none of them have supposedly condemned or criticized the attempted mosque arson…
It’s a lie, a big lie…
Do you know who was the first to condemn the attack on the mosque in Limassol?
The leader of the People’s Party [HP], Kudret Özersay was the first, and the General Secretary of the Republican Turkish Party [CTP], Asım Akansoy…
Those who later claimed credit for condemning [the incident] had no idea that the attack had even occurred; they were nursing hangovers on Saturday…
The so-called greatest nationalists and patriots were not even out of their comfy beds…
The attack on the mosque was first noticed in the early hours of the morning, by our friend Ahmet İlktaç through the Greek Cypriot newspapers online. I immediately checked all the media outlets in Northern Cyprus and none of them had picked up the story yet.
We translated it from the Greek Cypriot newspapers, and we were the first to report the attack on the mosque in Larnaca…
(I’m not saying this to brag; I’m going to make a point…) Then I told my colleagues, “Let’s monitor the reactions that will come, let’s report on this issue…”
A few minutes later, as I mentioned earlier, Kudret Özersay, the leader of the People’s Party, issued the first statement…
In other words the opposition…
The very same “opposition” that they say is not reacting. Özersay had also criticized what had happened at Apostolos Andreas.
The second statement came from Asım Akansoy, the General Secretary of the Republican Turkish Party… In other words, from the opposition and at the same time, from a representative of the left wing that was accused of “not condemning or issuing a statement”…
Akansoy condemned both the events at Apostolos Andreas and the attack on the mosque, calling for the perpetrators to be caught.
It was these very two individuals who had made the first statements when the other group (I don’t like dividing people into “this group” or “that group,” but anyway), that sees itself as nationalists and patriots, hadn’t even heard about the incident.
In the following period, the remainder of the left wing, representatives of civil society organizations, political parties, and members of parliament, who those making the claims had referred to, also issued statements, expressing their condemnation… In fact, there were many, but of course, only if you want to see them…
For instance, the Deputy Leader of the Social Democratic Party [TDP], Nevzat Özkunt, was also among the first to issue a statement…
Did you look? Did you see it? Or are you just making things up? Has the malice within you risen again and manifested externally? Or are you trying to create a controversy and attract attention?
Among these assessments, there are lies, inaccuracies, distortions, and impertinence… The side they accuse of “not making statements or condemning” was the one that made the first statements and condemnations…
They had long condemned the incident by the time you began chanting the same tune like a choir.
And then I would like to say to those who question, “Why aren’t you condemning [the incident]?; “Mind your own business! Who are you to decide who says what and when or how they should react?”
Secondly, do those who claim, “There’s no reaction to the attack on the mosque in Larnaca,” find what happened at the Apostolos Andreas Monastery normal and right?
I’ve looked at some of those posting comments; those who didn’t utter a single word about that incident are now blaming those who supposedly aren’t criticizing the “attack on the mosque in Limassol”.
Previously they were saying, “Those who did not condemn the burning of the Quran in some European countries are now condemning the incident at Apostolos Andreas”.
So, without even knowing whether those people condemned or criticized the burning of the Quran, they are making these assertions…
What’s saddening is that among those making these statements are competent authorities, even ministers…
Now, it’s also necessary to point out one thing…
It’s easy to condemn the attack on the mosque in Limassol or the burning of the Quran in Denmark or Sweden. The real challenge is to be able to recognize the mistakes made by your own citizens, in your own country. To be able to see the errors of your people in your own country and warn them, to some extent, is a form of societal self-critique. The more a society can engage in self-critique, the more it can discover the truth.
Being able to feel the repercussions of the mistakes made by one’s people, the potential harm to other groups or races, and empathising—this is greatness. Those who cannot engage in personal or societal self-critique are prone to making mistakes.
I appreciate that the Turkish Cypriot community, although this quality is diminishing, can still engage in self-critique internally, condemn those in charge, admit mistakes as “mistakes”, and empathize with the opposing side. Some are unable to tolerate this, and even there are those who try to get rid of this.
The easiest and most effective form of anti-[peace] propaganda is to create a space where hostile rhetoric can accumulate, to establish tools to undermine peace and friendship, and to use provocations centred around religious sites. Unfortunately, both sides in Cyprus who do not want a solution are using this to the fullest extent possible as if they’ve found “the goose that lays the golden egg”.
For this very reason, attacks on religious sites should be severely punished, no one should be allowed to get away with it, and the provocations must be stopped. However, this is not the case; unfortunately, if they could they would reward those aggressors who provide them with the opportunity to escalate their hostile rhetoric.
