By Prof. Dr. Ata Atun *
The Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Anastasiadis has sent a message to the vice-president of Türkiye, Fuat Oktay, regarding the latter’s speech released after the graduation ceremony of a university in the TRNC. Anastasiadis said: “Türkiye and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus do not want to make any concessions.” Nikos Anastasiadis said it is out of the question to go along with those following revisionist policies.
Would you cry or laugh at Nikos Anastasiadis, who considers himself to be the only and absolute leader of Cyprus? Almost as if they themselves are innocent and Turkiye is the revisionist in the area!
But what is revisionism? In international politics, revisionism is generally understood to be a need to change or alter the existing international order (status quo). Despite the fact that it may seem like a novel concept, its use in the Cyprus issue contains on purpose negativity.
For example, Makarios, the Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus and the first President of the Republic of Cyprus in 1960, was a complete revisionist, and his whole dream was to fulfill the “Megali Idea” and to become a hero of the Hellenic History. Although he was a clergyman, he never hesitated in exterminating and burning down Turkish Cypriot homes and villages for the sake of the Megali Idea.
You know what the Megali Idea is. The Greek’s long-term goal was to revive the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire by establishing Constantinople as its Capital, assuming control of the lands formerly controlled by Byzantium in the lonian Sea in the west, Asia Minor, and the Black Sea in the east, Thrace, Macedonia and Epirus in the north, Crete and Cyprus in the south and assuring its prosperity and stability. Rigas Ferreros released the map in 1796, showing the dreamed territories of this idea, which had been first mentioned in 1791. All the articles that contain this idea are literally “Revisionist”. For instance, article 8 claims to annex Cyprus to Greece.
Nikos Anastasiadis, the leader of the Hellenic Nationalist Greek movement, and Makarios’ apprentice likely forgot what they done to the Turkish Cypriots: Inhumanly wild extermination and massacre of the Turkish Cypriots. Between 1963 and 1974, Turkish Cypriot villages, homes, residential areas, grain, animals, and flocks were burned and pillaged. By intervening, Türkiye put a halt to this inhumane killing and extermination of Turkish Cypriots on July 20, 1974. There would not currently be any Turkish Cypriots residing in Cyprus if Türkiye hadn’t stepped in.
Greek leader Nikos Anastasiadis makes a flimsy accusation and appears to have forgotten what they, the Greek Cypriots, did to Turkish Cypriots a few years prior – pontificating and attempting to cast Türkiye as the only culprit responsible for the Cyprus problem.
I would advise the Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Anastasiadis to read the Ortega Report, which was issued by a UN delegation sent to Cyprus on an official fact-finding mission in 1964. The number of brutally killed innocent and vulnerable Turkish Cypriots, the number of burned, wrecked, erased, and knocked down Turkish Cypriot villages, and the loss of Turkish Cypriots are all detailed in this report, along with relevant photographs.
If we are going to go over the Confidence Building Measures, I would like to ask the Greek leader, Mr. Anastasiadis, what Confidence Building Measures they have implemented, which were discussed at the negotiation tables during the presidential eras of Mr. Mehmet Ali Talat and Mr. Mustafa Akinci.
We have not forgotten the Greek’s propaganda skills, which were successful enough to erase the blood shed in the past in order to annex Cyprus to Greece from the minds of Greek Cypriots and Greeks.
First, account for the crimes you committed in the past, the massacres you committed, and the families you exterminated in order to annex the island to Greece. And then, if you still feel like an innocent angel, send a message to the authorities of Türkiye, our motherland, who saved us from genocide and are still saving us from possible armed attacks by Greek Cypriots, and who are giving us full support to survive without the fear we experienced during 1963-1974.
Yes, if they address you!
* Prof. Dr. (Civ. Eng.), Assoc. Prof. Dr. (Int. Relt.), Dean, Cyprus Science University, Political Advisor to the President of the TRNC