Sevgul Uludag
caramel_cy@yahoo.com
Tel: 99 966518
On the 11th of January 2019, Friday evening we gather at 19.00 at the Home of Cooperation on the Green Line in Nicosia for the book launch of Elias Pantelides called `Savash ve Biz` in Turkish. This is the Turkish edition of his book in English "The Laconic Tales" and a Greek version has also been launched already in Athens… Last year we had gathered at the Chateau Status for the launch of the book in English…
"Savash ve Biz" meaning "The War and Us" gathers together the stories and memories of 16 Cypriots.
It is a book that takes an anti-war stance. I want to share with you what I think about this book…
Elias Pantelides made a big effort to write this book… He could have done it differently like many others… He could have just written his own memories and then print it.
But he went a step further and he started making research about others' experiences apart from his own.
Having chosen to speak with Turkish Cypriots, apart from the Greek Cypriots as well is a big step in our partitioned island. He spoke with 10 Greek Cypriots, four Turkish Cypriots, a Cypriot Maronite and an English and wrote down their memoirs.
Our communities cry for their own pain, see themselves as the "only victim" of the conflict, do not want to acknowledge and see that other communities living under the same sky, breathing the same air have also been affected by the conflict… Because the relevant "culture" wants you to cry only for your own pain, see only your own loss and denounce only what the "enemy" did to you. The "culture" in Cyprus is devoted to silencing you as soon as you start talking about the suffering of "the others".
The reason behind this "culture" is the interests of ruling powers in the southern and northern parts of Cyprus.
They want to lock you in your own pain, cry only for yourself and only live in the past.
In this way, they can control you better.
Making "the other side" invisible, creating "just positions" for their own, stepping on blood and tears, they have managed to continue ruling our land and enjoying their own power in both sides of our island.
They have done this very "successfully" at least for the past 50-60 years in Cyprus. They are so "successful" that thousands of people died, thousands went "missing", hundreds of thousands of refugees were created but the real ruling powers in Cyprus still continue to have an appetite, they have not lost their appetite yet and new adventures where our Cyprus can burn is not an issue for them. At the end of the day, the ones who pay for this are ordinary people, not them… The ones who bury their kids, the ones who cry for their "missing" sons, the ones who lost everything and try to survive in tiny refugee houses are the ordinary citizens, not these ruling elites. These ruling elites had sent their own kids – around 2-3 thousand young Greek Cypriots – by ships and by planes in 1974 as "migrants" in order to help their kids avoid the war and their kids continued to live for some years in England until the British authorities would discover that they could no longer be in a position of "refugee" or "migrant"… This interesting story was told to me by a Greek Cypriot friend and I was not surprised… They want you to die for them and become a "hero" and meanwhile protecting their own kids…
Whoever tried to bring out the truth, the whole truth would be attacked and they would try to silence him or her on both sides of our island.
Despite these elite circles who expanded their power stepping on pain and suffering, there has always been Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots and Maronite Cypriots and Latin Cypriots and Armenian Cypriots who have chosen to struggle for the whole truth to come out…
Remember: When our friend, the Greek Cypriot film director Panicos Chrysanthou made the movie called "Our Wall" together with our Turkish Cypriot friend, academician and writer Niyazi Kizilyurek, they had got a lot of reaction and came under attack. Why? Because this was the first serious documentary where the pain and experiences of both communities were told in detail… But before that Panicos had made his first documentary about our ghost village "Agios Sozomenos" and the PIO at that time got extremely upset with him. The ruling elites would not stop there and when Panicos Chrysanthou would make his feature film "The Akamas", they would practically try to bankrupt him… The reason was that Panicos was breaking down the taboos and telling stories they did not want him to tell…
The Greek Cypriot poet Elli Peonidou and her husband were ones of the very first who tried to translate the poems of Turkish Cypriot poets who had an anti-war stance and they brought together Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot writers. Christos Hadjipapas was also one of those who tried to bring writers together. This was happening right after 1974, after the "partition" of our island… And this is how the famous anti-war poem of Neshe Yashin got known by many Greek Cypriots: "One should love one's country/That's what my father tells me/My country is divided into two/Which part shall I love?"
The painter Nilgun Guney as head of EMAA years ago, tried to get together the painters from both sides of our island and make joint activities… She would in her own studio would voluntarily run workshops for eight months with young artists and working together with the relatives of "missing persons" from both sides, would create extraordinary paintings for our exhibition called "The Colour of Truth"…
For many years, the conflict resolution groups would meet at the Ledra Palace Hotel and dream about a common future, produce concrete projects and as a result came under very harsh attacks. Fatma Azgin, Katie Economidou, Kate Clerides, Nikos Anastasiou were friends we worked with in our "Conflict Resolution Trainers Group" and who came under harsh attack. From our conflict resolution groups Ulus Irkad, Ekrem Varoghlou, Sarper Ince, Nicos Anastasiou tried to get together the youth in Pyla and were viciously attacked.
Cleopatra and her husband Jus Bayada who formed the "New Cyprus Association" tried to embrace all communities of our island and made activities in order to create mutual understanding…
All these were done when "defending peace" was not in "fashion" and was very dangerous and you would have to deal with death threats and other intimidation and these are just a few names that I know of – there are many others who have struggled for the truth to be known…
Elias Pantelides, in his book "The War and Us", tries to look at what other communities went through as well, instead of crying only for the pain of his own community and in this sense, it is a bold, anti-war stance he takes with this book. And what is more, he has it published in three languages for everyone connected with the conflict to understand well what has actually happened: In Turkish, Greek and English.
As an investigative journalist coming under attacks constantly, I got "reactions" from both sides when I wrote about "missing persons" and "mass graves"… Because of very positive reactions and the overwhelming support of my Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot readers, I continued to write… Those who were showing harsh reactions against what I was writing were either themselves or their relatives were involved in the war crimes and they waged dirt campaigns against me, both verbally and in writing… Some of them would constantly question my writing and attack me by saying "What is your AIM in writing these? Tell us now, what is your AIM?!!!" And of course some of those attacking what I was writing were simply tools of ruling elites and by attacking me, they were getting certain interests from those ruling circles.
And yet some others would announce that "It is not time to write these. Don't write these stories! You will create enmity and hatred!" and would ask me to sweep the truth under the carpet and would continue to say that "our communities lived very peacefully in the past". Years later some of these people finally understood that it was a good idea to write what I was writing. Actually the reason behind this group of people's reaction was their own "fears" for themselves. They were so fearful that what I wrote made them quite uncomfortable. Their fears were not for our communities but only for themselves… Some of those, they would not even want to be seen in the same room as me and would try to avoid me, showing authorities that "We are not friends with her, you know! We are not associated!" I felt pity for them since they had locked themselves up in their own prison and did not want to get out…
So why write about the truth of what actually happened in the last half century in Cyprus? This can only serve peace and mutual understanding. Unless we know in detail who did what, who acted this or that way and why they acted in the way they did, we can never understand what actually happened and we can never think together, dream together and build a future together on this land.
We need to look at each other in the eye and even though we have not been part of the crimes against humanity committed in Cyprus, just acknowledge these and say we are sorry and apologize for all that happened, only then we can build a future together.
Elias Pantelides' book "Savash ve Biz" chooses to look at what happened in the past not from only his own community's focus but from both communities' focus – it is taking an anti-war stance.
Each anti-war stance will take us a step closer to peace…
12.1.2019
Photo: Elias Pantelides presenting his book in Turkish...
(*) Article published in POLITIS in Greek on the 3rd of February 2019, Sunday. A similar article was published in YENİDÜZEN newspaper in Turkish on the 14th of January 2019 and here is the link:
http://www.yeniduzen.com/savas-karsiti-her-durus-bizi-barisa-bir-adim-daha-yaklastiracaktir-13497yy.htm
