Sunday, June 8, 2014

Orestis dreaming of a lighthouse…

Orestis dreaming of a lighthouse…

Sevgul Uludag

caramel_cy@yahoo.com

Tel: 00 357 99 966518
00 90 542 853 8436

He is very young, barely 19 and yet he has travelled far… Far in the sense of maturity concerning reconciliation… He shows us that age really does not matter, what matters is mentality and how you go about handling things… He is Orestis Agisilaou…
No, he does not sit at home over a computer or hang around a café all night long like his age group would… He goes out and meets people, starts a dialogue, makes friends, builds relationships… He is a role model for youngsters about how a culture of peace can be created on this land… He is a role model of self-confidence because if you are sure of yourself, you would not fear meeting `the other` - only if you are not confident or unsure you would feel frightened and go into your corner and hide…
He has built a very good relationship with Leyla Kiralp whose husband had been `missing` from Zygi since 1974, having been taken from his house by some leaders of EOKA-B and some policemen of the area and never returned. Leyla had just been married and she was devastated like so many other women when her husband went `missing`… But Leyla was a strong woman and she moved from her own pain to sharing this pain and also listening and hearing the pain of others in similar situations, be it Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot… Only a handful of relatives of `missing persons` have managed to go beyond their own pain to connect with `the other` and to see that in fact it is our common pain, not Greek pain or Turkish pain, just simply human pain… Leyla would write a book called `The Wet White Handkerchief that We Shared`, telling the story of friendship with Maria from Famagusta who had become a refugee in Zygi and how they would cry together and share the
same handkerchief… Leyla would go around the island to talk about her life and her book and her struggle for peace… She too is a role model and Orestis, in her words, is like `a second son` to her… At the funeral of her `missing` husband Ahmet who was buried together with five other Turkish Cypriot `missing` from Zygi, Orestis, like her son Shevki was standing next to her… The group of six from Zygi had been on the first bus full of people from Zygi and Tochni – their remains had been found at Gerasa and this was the funeral of those found on the first bus – the ones who had gone `missing` from Zygi.
Orestis is very active – he crosses the partition line back and forth, going to sad events like this funeral or happy events to meet his friends. He has no `borders` in his mind or his heart – at a very young age, he proves to us that humanity can actually win on this island… He sends me an article he wrote that touches my heart… He writes:
`I was born in 1995. As the natural law determines, I was born without the chance to choose my birth place, my nationality, my religion, my parents and my family. I grew up and I am still growing up in the most beautiful country in the World, Cyprus. A country with history, culture, with beautiful places, great sandy beaches and green mountains.
But, this scenery, which looks ideal, gets poisoned. War, invasion, division of Cyprus into two parts, Greek Cypriot Refugees, Turkish Cypriot Refugees, Greek Cypriot `missing` people, Turkish Cypriot `missing` people, death, hate. For what reason all these happened? What was the fault of common people and they suffer? What? Why the next generations still suffer from the mistakes of the past? Why I need a passport to go to Famagusta or Kyrenia? Why my friend Leyla and my friend Ayse need passport to go to their villages? Why the friendship, the communication and the relationship between Greek and Turkish Cypriots are called "passport relationships''? I think that there is no person - with mind in his head- that likes the current situation. Although that the hate between the Cyprus people is planted, I have many and strong relationships with Turkish Cypriots. I hate the mentality that everybody puts on characterization same for everyone. For me, everyone
is unique. Especially when I am talking about my compatriots Turkish Cypriots. Through the communication with Turkish Cypriots, I have loved Cyprus more because I have realized that my country is much richer than I thought before. More, I have succeeded to make an objective opinion about Cyprus problem and to struggle for peace with all my strength.
My dream is to see Cyprus United, can I? Can I see Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots together again? Can I go to Famagusta without showing a passport? Can I wake up one day and the Greek Line to be in the past? Can I wake up one morning and see that there aren`t any more refugees and `missing` people? Can I? I have been taught that in life there isn't 'I can't', there is 'I don't want'.
In that case somebody else don`t want for me.
If Greek and Turkish Cypriots work hard together, we can achieve everything. We are able to make Cyprus a lighthouse for the world!!`
If we open our hearts and minds to the cry of Orestis, a young man of only 19, perhaps we can find some space to move towards the lighthouse he is pointing us at…
If we can listen and really feel his words and see how much pain he feels and how he hopes to see better days, perhaps we can find a way to open the way for youngsters like him to have a better future on this island than we have had…
He has no boundaries in his heart or in his mind: He shows us how we should move into the future, rather than getting stuck in the past…
I congratulate his mother and father – they can be proud of their son – the way they have raised him is exemplary and shows us all how the future generation can bring down taboos if we don't stand on their way like stumbling blocks…
Thank you Orestis for your words and for the way you live on this divided island, torn between hatred and suspicion and fear… You have overcome all those barriers to show us that a young boy of 19 can conceptualize a far better future, not just thinking of his own community but moving together as both communities, understanding each other and making peace with each other…
Because of Orestis, we can be hopeful since life shows us that another kind of life on this island is possible… If the 19 year old Orestis can do it, why shouldn't others be able to do it?
If Orestis can dream of Cyprus as a lighthouse for the world, why can't we? What stops us except our own selves?

10.5.2014

Photo: Orestis at the funeral of `missing` from Zyggi together with Leyla Kiralp and her son...

(*) Article published in the POLITIS newspaper on the 8th of June, 2014 Sunday.

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