By ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ (GREEK) TÜRKÇE (TURKISH)
They detained for 19 hours at Antalya Airport and then deported a well-educated journalist with a bachelor’s degree in communications, a master’s degree in international relations and no criminal record.
No one was held to account for this action.
They lifted the ‘ban on entering the country’ of a person who was tried for ‘attempted murder’ in a shooting incident in Kyrenia and deported for carrying a gun illegally.
One of them cannot enter Turkey.
Another one receives a special invitation from the ‘Council of Ministers’ to come to Cyprus.
***
They detained a medical doctor who graduated from Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, a former MP, a popular peace activist, a Famagustan who has never been involved in any crime, and has no criminal record at the entrance of İzmir Adnan Menderes Airport.
They deported him!
He cannot enter Turkey.
They pardoned a criminal who was arrested, tried in Nicosia and deported for ‘threatening’ and ‘house raiding’ offences.
This person is waiting for the decision of the ‘Council of Ministers’ to enter Cyprus freely.
***
They detained a paediatrician, a graduate of Cerrahpaşa Faculty of Medicine, a doctor who specialized in his field of expertise in Europe, a researcher of many years, an innocent person with no criminal record at Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport.
They deported him!
He cannot enter Turkey.
They tried a thief who battered someone in Limnitis, broke his shoulder and stole his money, sent him to prison and deported him.
Now they have pardoned him!
There is a decision from the ‘Council of Ministers’ for him to enter Cyprus freely.
***
They detained an expert in Archaeology and History of Art, a lecturer with a ‘PhD’ title, a patriotic politician, a person who has never been involved in any kind of crime in his life at Ankara Esenboğa Airport.
They deported him!
He cannot enter Turkey.
They tried the person who was caught in the house he broke into for theft in Lysi, who was found to have committed similar offences in the past, sent him to prison and then deported him from the country.
Now they lifted the entry ban with the decision of the ‘Council of Ministers’.
They are saying ‘come’!
‘You are allowed to enter the country freely.’
***
They kept a journalist who graduated from Ege University, an intellectual who worked as a communications coordinator for the ‘Presidency’, a lecturer who educated hundreds of students locked up for 11 hours in the ‘Inadmissible Passenger Department’ of Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport.
They deported him!
He cannot enter Turkey.
They pardoned a person who entered the island with a fake identity card, who was wanted with a Red Notice for ‘extortion’, who was arrested and declared a banned immigrant with a ‘Council of Ministers’ decision.
They lifted the ban on entering the country.
***
This list could go on and on.
All of what you read is true and there is no exaggeration.
In the face of a power that ‘deports’ doctors, journalists, academics and scientists, we live together with a helpless authority that says ‘come’ to thieves, extortionists, cheats and armed criminals.
One cannot help but feel defiant!
All of this can drive one mad.
We can feel the collapse of justice, humanity, democracy and willpower in our bodies; it terrifies us.
The mentality of the administration in the northern part of Cyprus is completely blinded by the greed for power and status.
They have neither a sense of responsibility nor love for humanity, except to fulfil instructions and protect themselves…
Such a double standard, such an act of tyranny cannot be tolerated.
In the past, it was said, ‘We have become second class citizens in our own country’… Where decay has transformed into some kind of morality, we now feel as if we are in another country; as worthless, ordinary, and fragmented as it can be…
If you are guilty, dirty, dishonourable, ‘come’ they say, ‘you have a place with us.’
If you’re innocent, go!
77 per cent of the files are untouched!
I saw a headline that said, ‘The Immovable Property Commission is working effectively’.
1,840 applications were concluded.
When you look at the headline, you think there are 2 thousand applications.
You get the impression that ‘most of them have been concluded’.
But don’t you ever wonder how many applicants there are?
This is exactly where the distinguishing line between ‘journalism’ and ‘marketing’ lies…
A lesson for communication faculties…
OK, we get it, Turkey’s pro-government capital groups want to secure their position by investing in the Turkish Cypriot media.
Therefore, a ‘communication project’ is being carried out.
What they are not able to calculate is that it is not possible to hide information in the age we live in.
***
A total of 7,715 applications were made to the Immovable Property Commission to date.
Seven thousand seven hundred and fifteen!
In essence, only 23 per cent of the applications have been concluded, yet…
They call this ‘effective’!
77 per cent of the files are just sitting there.
***
The critical question is…
What percentage of Greek Cypriot property in the northern part of the island do the finalised cases correspond to?
Is it three, or five per cent?
I wonder if the so-called ‘President’ or his supporters have the courage to answer this question…
Transition and annexation!
The panel discussion on ‘Searching for an Exit in a Troubled Economy’ coincided with the day I was going on holiday.
I couldn’t attend it, and I was very sorry about it.
(I will write about my holiday later. It feels lighter. Writing every day puts all the weight of problems, contradictions, injustice and disgrace on your back, and it feels good to be away from writing and the news agenda for a while…)
***
I could not attend the panel but I read economist Mete Feridun’s notes and it gave me the shivers.
‘We need to realise that the TRNC is an unsustainable governance mechanism that is only in a transition period’…
He has made an apt description of the ‘TRNC’.
Engin Solakoğlu, a retired diplomat from Turkey had said, along a similar line, that ‘the declaration of the TRNC is a position assumed for negotiation’.
That position is also disappearing…
Mete Feridun’s conclusion that really scared me was as follows.
“If there is no extraordinary development, the parliament of the TRNC will sooner or later decide to join Turkey in a future period when the international conjuncture and the voter structure in the TRNC are favourable…”
He went on with the example of Hatay…
Indeed, when you look at the cases of the northern part of Cyprus and Hatay from a historical perspective, what happened is very similar.
This situation is very frightening…
If a discourse frightens you, it is because there is a basis and infrastructure for its reality.
I think we need to talk more about the example of ‘Hatay’.
