Newpaper letter from Peter Droussiotis

Sir,

Unfortunately, your editorials have become all too predictable in relation to Cyprus (“Engaging Turkey”, 8 September 2009). The Cyprus problem has been reduced to a caricature in which the Greek Cypriots are invariably portrayed as the “ugly bunch”. The next step will be to depict Turkey as the ‘Dove of Peace’ in Cyprus and the re-writing of history will be complete.

Turkey’s role in Cyprus cannot so easily be airbrushed out of the picture though. For more than 35 years, Turkey has defied the will of the international community with impunity in relation to Cyprus. This country has continued to act in breach of numerous United Nations resolutions and the UN Charter and has, similarly, continued to disregard numerous judicial rulings by international courts.

The facts on the ground in Cyprus cannot be swept under the carpet so that Turkey’s European aspirations can advance: for more than 35 years, more than 40,000 Turkish troops have continued to occupy the northern part of the island, a country with a total population of less than a million people. During this period, Turkey has created, in the occupied area, an illegal regime which no one in the world other than Turkey recognises. What is more, the Turkish army has presided over a deliberate policy of colonisation in the area it occupies in order to change the demography of the island. Turkish nationals transferred from Asia Minor to settle land belonging to the legal inhabitants of the island now significantly outnumber indigenous Turkish Cypriots living in the occupied area. During the same period, Cypriot properties in the occupied north have been usurped and are exploited for economic gain, while the cultural and religious heritage of the island in those areas is being actively desecrated and destroyed. Additionally, to his day, Turkey refuses to investigate hundreds of cases of people who went missing during its military invasion, contrary to rulings of the European Court of Human Rights which Turkey blatantly disregards.

I am pragmatic enough to know that geostrategic and economic interests colour your judgment in this matter, but the truth is that the Cyprus problem could relatively easily be resolved on the basis of European and international law provided that Turkey changes its intransigent and anachronistic position. A reunited and democratic homeland without armies of occupation and lines of division, in which all Cypriots can live as free European citizens without the fear of foreign military intervention by an aggressive neighbour, is the only sensible way forward and the best incentive that can be offered to both communities on the island.

I have always been supportive of Turkey’s eventual membership of the European Union as have the governments of the UK, Greece and Cyprus but this cannot happen for as long as Turkey does not abide by its obligations to the Union. The reunification of Cyprus and Turkey’s acceptance of a truly independent and reunited Cyprus are prerequisites to Turkish entry and would do more to facilitate this than any other single factor. The benefits which would flow from this scenario would be huge for all interested parties and for the entire region.

Peter Droussiotis
Federation President
Britannia Road, London N12 9RU
www.cypriotfederation.org.uk

Cyprus conference

The latest news to come from Nicosia is that the the annual conference of Cypriots from the diaspora has gone as well as expected with the usual speeches and long discussions at the Akropolis Hilton. The local press has shown a bit more interest this year with the national newspapers and key journalists commenting on the fact that those of us who are based abroad, (and there are as many of us as there as there are living in Cyprus) are anything but a homogeneous group. What surprises Byzantinos is that fact that very little has been said or done to achieve greater integration and no effort has been made to address the issues and grievances Cypriots returning back to Cyprus have with the state. It will appear that the government in Cyprus sees the gathering of Cypriots from the diaspora as an annual party with no clear political aims or objectives and no follow up in other words wasting a brilliant opportunity. Byzantinos is hoping to have a presence there next year which will follow the operation Greek vote initiative which is key project for those of us here in Britain.

Can we learn from history?

The reality is that history tends to repeat itself and trends come and go. The world keeps changing and man evolves and learns from previous experience. We as a nation of Hellenes have found ourselves in difficult situations when we allowed ourselves to become more focused on material gain. Another one of our problems comes from polarising and losing unity.

The Hellenes are not and never have been a homogeneous race. We have always been a good and diverse mixture of people who have a number of cultural individualities in common. We were best united during the Byzantine times and what brought us together was our culture, our religion and our language. We somehow allowed ourselves to lose that unity and faced occupation for 3 centuries and have been trying to define who we are since independence in 1825. But that should not be a great task as the elements that brought us together before as Greeks from Crete, Macedonia, Thrace, Cyprus or anywhere else are still there. We should all be proud of our specific differences but should also celebrate what unites us. We are modern Hellenes sons and daugthers of Byzantium and we must never allowe disunity to bring us down again.

Na tin valoume ti sklava pli sto throni, na tin proskinisi o kosmos rigisa trani...

Operation Greek Vote

This is an initiative that needs to be developed and the work has to start to ensure that a coordinated campaign around the municipal elections (London region) in May 2010 and the general election take place. The initiative has to start around November 2009 to ensure that we are able to get Greek voters to vote tactically in the coming elections. Byzantinos will prioritise this in the next few weeks and those who have given their support will be asked to do more. There is still time to get the right people put in the right constituencies so activists like Peter Droussiotis, John Kazantis or our own Nick Venedi must be targeted and encouraged to stand.

Maria Arvanitaki

Protecting our identity

There are fundamentally two issues that concern those of us interested in preserving our Hellenic identities. The first is whether we as a community are able to pass on our history and culture to the generations that follow us and the second is whether we are able to defend the historical image we have inherited in a country where we as a group of people are part of a small minority.

But as some of us have observed there have been a number of obstacles in the way and the most dangerous one is the image promoted by those of the host country showing us as people of certain habits and characteristics that simply fit in to their own stereotypes. In some instances this is to do with an attempt to attack the confidence of those of us in the Hellenic community who may feel weakened by this attack. The notion or the obsession of certain parts of the media to associate a Greek with a kebab shop is an example of this negativity.

And of course the reason we are raising this as an issue is to question as to whether we as a community and our leaders have been able or capable of identifying these problems and doing anything about them? The Greek community in the U.K has a number of distinguished people amongst its own ranks and they are the ones we should be projecting but who in the community is doing this job and do we have a good PR machine to deal with these fundamental problems?

Questions need to be asked.

Helen Nicholas

Return the Parthenon Marbles

We need to start a campaign to coincide with the Olympic ceremony in London in 2012 to put pressure on the British museum and the government here to return the Parthenon Marbles to where they belong. There is no longer an excuse to keep the Marbles in London and we must do more as a community to ensure that these go back to Greece. This was the decision taken by Byzantinos at its board meeting last night. We therefore invite all organisations to contribute to this major objective of such great importance.

Helen Nicholas

The need to review

The reality is that we need to review and appraise where we are and where we can get to as a Greek community. We are constantly marginalised and regarded as a minority within a plethora of other minorities. That was the message Nick Venedi, Chair of the Greek TU wing of B send out to those on the editorial board and to Trade Unionists who believe in the rights of ethnic and other minorities to be treated fairly and on equal terms. The review of our structures and how we work to achieve equality should become our priority in the next few months.

Helen Nicholas