Message for the day after the storm?

I am personally still unclear on what tCypriots want. I fear that highlighting the problems may not be enough. I can't see clearly the next day, the day after the storm. Can you? tCypriots must not only visualize it, they must plan it on REALISTIC assumptions as opposed to a feels-good-must-be-right approach. gCypriots are not ready to let go the comfort and security of the Republic of Cyprus. Why should they? It is one thing risking something real and tangible and totally another something pseudo, illegal and crumbling. More is needed by tCypriots! Political vision and maturity and an honest desire to compromise. A far more important message to the one to send to the Turkeyish establishments is the message to send to gCypriots! 

I cannot discern the message. Can you?

The calm before the storm!

Beethoven Piano Sonata No 17 in d (D minor), op. 31, no. 2: 'The Tempest'!! (The calm before the storm), was the critics reaction to the 17th piano sonata referring to the strange tension created by the contrasting emotions of the work. Written in 1803, but it does not refer to the Shakespeare drama. The title 'Tempest' has been attributed to this sonata because of the way it builds from nothing to something... similar to a storm.

(Enjoy Wilhelm Kempff in Beethoven's Tempest Sonata below)

Leader of illegally occupied northern Cyprus fumes at lecturing by Turkey | | Hürriyet Daily News

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Turkish Cypriots are no different from Turks living in Turkey, says Eroğlu.

Angry criticism in Turkey against the country’s financial support for northern Cyprus has drawn a reaction from Turkish Cypriot leader Derviş Eroğlu, who told journalists Wednesday that the comments made him “very upset.”

“These arguments make me very upset. We founded this country [Turkish Cyprus] together; we are as Turkish as you are, we are no different than you,” Eroğlu told a group of finance journalists in Istanbul.

Cyprus should be ruled by Cypriots by Orhan Kemal Cengiz | Sunday's Zaman

"When we heard the story of Adalı (1935-1996), we not only got a clear picture of how a dissident went to his death step by step, but also a sense of the quite Kafkaesque atmosphere created by the Turkish deep state on this small island in the Mediterranean. I got the sense that Adalı’s murder was the Cypriot version of the Hrant Dink murder ... They should try to solve Adalı’s murder, for example. Thus, they would help to create a bright future both in Turkey and on the island. After all, in both Turkey and Cyprus we have been suffering from the same deep state!"

The Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus

The Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus

Checkmating fascism in Cyprus!

@Erhan from Lefkosa | Sat, February 12th 2011 at 23:45 [see Erhan's comment below]

Great post. From the heart, before you do anything you need to have guarantees about how gCypriots think. And above all you have to know what will feel fair to you & will be accepted by the masses of tCypriots. Get your leader(s) [imho Eroglu is compromised & his democratic credentials in doubt], Talat may be perfect in that he is experienced enough, knows Christofias, and can embody the hopes, fears and frustrations of tCypriots, to sign on a single sheet the principles based on which RoC v2.0 will be worked out. In my opinion his proposals need to be a LONG-AWAITED response to the NOVEMBER 30 1963 document! Once you have that in WRITING, then ...

From Cyprus with love!

From Cyprus with love to all the Ergenekon/TSK/MIT fascist scum!

Tahrir Square? Don’t overlook İnönü Square in Nicosia | Hurriyet Daily News

It is important to know that Turkey is approaching the end of the road in northern Cyprus. The removal of Turkish Ambassador Kaya Türkmen last Thursday and his replacement by a non-diplomat in charge of the austerity plan marks a turning point and a milestone on the road to de jure annexation. It shows the Turkish intent to not even pretend to consider northern Cyprus as an independent country and calls a spade a spade, or a protectorate a protectorate.

A showdown is inevitable | Today's Zaman

“A showdown is inevitable,” said one senior diplomat, speaking to a group of journalists in İstanbul this week. “We are now looking to see how this showdown will take place and what results will come out of it.”

Speaking to Today’s Zaman in an interview, Andrew Duff, a British member of the European Parliament, went further ... if Turkey does not bring a solution, he said, “there is no chance of a settlement in this generation and there is no chance that Turkey can continue the formal accession process.” “The reason why I am so outspoken on this is that I’m getting tired of pretending that everything is fine, while we all know privately that it is not,” said Duff, who has been a strong supporter of Turkish accession.

Guess who the clown is ... free Starbucks mug if you guess right!

“As far as the Commission and the other states are concerned, I think the real question is how long can we let this spoiled member of the EU – the Greek Cypriot administration – hijack the interests of the European Union at large,” he said.

“It is time for the 26 other nations to wake up and smell the coffee.”

Antifon says: ...

Egemen Bağış's nightmare!

Turkey can do without the EU and the EU can do without Turkey, but Cyprus cannot do without Turkey in the EU, according to Turkey’s chief EU negotiator Egemen Bağış.

"If I was a Cypriot, my biggest nightmare would be what if Turks decide to turn away from its full EU membership aspirations,’ the minister says 

Cyprus cannot do without Turkey in the EU, minister says Friday, February 11, 2011 ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Antifon's commentary follows:

Why Christofias does not take the talks more serioulsy?

"You suggest Christofias should take the Cyprus talks more sereiously?!

To be honest given the real situation in the north of Cyprus, and who really calls the shots (Turkey), can any one really take these talks with Eroğlu as any thing other than a joke? Under the circumstances I think the gCypriots take this farce more than serious. There is an internal and external aspect to the cyprus problen, and as long as the external one gets ignored and Turkey's true intentions in Cyprus ignored by the international community the settlement talks have no chance."

Turkey's uphill route to the EU Enlargement - Foreign Affairs Committee

The Cyprus-Turkey deadlock, lack of dialogue among Turkish political parties and the undermining of press freedom and other basic rights in Turkey are the key factors slowing down its EU accession talks, say Foreign Affairs Committee MEPs in their resolution, approved on Thursday, on the 2010 progress report on Turkey

What a mess!!

The Cyprus Mail reports that the community leaders of Cyprus yesterday [9/2/11] agreed to intensify their meetings after they met for the first time since they both saw UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last month in Geneva.

Shouldn't Christofias instead be speaking to Turkey's newly appointed "ambassador" to the pseudo state, slowly eliminating middle-men, Eroğlu, pseudo-ambassador, Erdoğan, Gül, in order to expedite reaching the desired final destination, the real decision maker as per the very Turkish constitution, the head of the Armed Forces?

And that's the way the cookie crumbles!

"I'm sorry you feel the way you do, TC from Kyrenia, no one can suffer so badly that they can not forgive. It is a noble quality for a person to have the ability to forgive.

In the case of recent Cypriot history (you are not the only one to suffer) we have all felt pain and suffering. Not a single Cypriot can honestly say they have not. In terms of greater misery, I think the refugees have suffered the most as it has been 37 years and none can live in their villages again. In fact, we are products of events that led up to independance, the misguided failures of 63/64, the stuff up of 67 and the coup and invasion/intervention of 74. All Cypriots have been manipulated from time to time by those that claim to have strategic interests or lust for power."

Antifon on the Economist!

I can't give you an explanation why my blogging on Cyprus and Turkey started on September 11th 2009 on The Economist website but I guess that date left a profound mark on all of us.

The link to my comments on The Economist site can be seen by clicking on this sentence. Through my comments you can access the relevant articles on which I have commented, the vast majority referring to either Turkey, Cyprus or both. Through my comments you can follow the associated discussions, something I urge you to do since they offer a plethora of views from the Cypriot, Turkish, Kurdish and third party perspectives.

Cyprus' Turkeyish problem!

I will insist because i know i am right. Let us all stop referring to it as the Cyprus problem. It is not! At least not from the perspective of Cypriots, and that's what truly matters, the Cypriot perspective.

The perfect name for the problem is:

Cyprus' TURKEYISH PROBLEM!

Saluting Captain Christofias!

The winds have certainly changed! As a gCypriot who voted right consistently (abstained last time consciously, knowing that Christofias would be favored as he had a healthy lead in the polls, unsure whether I wanted a staunch communist for my 'Economist in Chief'), I STRONGLY believe that Christofias is the ideal captain to navigate the ship in these truly historical times we live through.

Chritofias talks to Foreign Policy on September 30, 2010

An Island Divided 

Cyprus's president talks to Foreign Policy about why Turkey is blocking a resolution to his nation's reunification.

INTERVIEW BY DAVID KENNER  |  SEPTEMBER 30, 2010

You are demanding we get rid of our rights (4/4)

Viewpoint [tCypriot] writes on Feb 08, 2011 12:01 am:

So you are saying the EU will protect us and we will be able to say no when and where necessary? Exactly how do you propose to do that when the EU cannot protect anyone, they are a useless body of pen pushers who need to have 10 meetings before deciding to buy a pen let alone rush to step in in times of crisis, they have let us down time and time again we do not trust them at all.

How dare you !!!?

Tue, February 8th 2011 at 03:08
gurkuda [a tCypriot] from Central Europe comments:


As a tCypriot, I cannot cope with the audacity of Erdogan's statements. Can someone help me out here? Am I missing some fundamental pieces of information? We are to stop complaining and be grateful to Turkey for what exactly?

Is a T-Cypriot/Turkish Federation of N. Cyprus looming? Hallelujah - Aleluya !!

The "TRNC" [Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus] is facing extreme social tensions between its 65% Turkish Cypriot (herein tCypriot) population and its 35% "legalized" illegal Turkish settler population (herein LITS). I will ignore the non-"legalized" illegals which may be dealt elsewhere.

I have two suggestions for tCypriots (with loads of affection and admittedly a wicked smile on my face):

You are demanding we get rid of our rights (3/4)

Viewpoint [tCypriot] writes on Feb 06, 2011 10:38 pm:

Thank you Antifon for taking the time to put together such an elaborate response but with all due respect you are not saying anything different form those that wish to force us into minority status with no real effective say in our own future.

Antifon [gCypriot] responds on Feb 07, 2011 1:33 am:

Perhaps not. Your future is a guaranteed EU future as Cypriot citizens. You will not be in a position to stop the majority of RoC's decisions [simple arithmetic] but you will be able to block those decisions that aim to undermine your community's well being.

Cyprus High-Level Agreements of 1977 & 1979

High-Level Agreement of 12 February 1977 / The 10-Point Agreement of 19 May 1979

High-Level Agreement of 12 February 1977

The following is the text of the agreement between the then President of the Republic, Archbishop Makarios, and the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr. Denktash, concluded on 12 February 1977 during a meeting under the auspices of the United Nations Secretary-General.

You are demanding we get rid of our rights (2/4)

(cnt'd) exchange between Viewpoint [a tCypriot] and Antifon [a gCypriot] on Sun Feb 06, 2011 | Cyprus Forum / Cyprus problem / 'Too late for Turkish Cypriots to negotiate the 1963 ideas?' discussion thread

Viewpoint [tCypriot] writes:
I appreciate where you are coming from but don't you feel that going back to the 1963 agreements which you yourselves so adamantly refused to accept will achieve anything, the TCs see it has taking a step backwards although personally I feel it has it own merits and deserves to be considered which some prominent people in the north so raise and support like Ali Erel.

You are demanding we get rid of our rights (1/4)

"It's a beautiful island which we all love but the north means more to me than the south, I don't know the south nor do I recall it and as time passes it matters less and less to the younger generations.

You are demanding we get rid of our rights to be partners in our own country we can never give up that right and never will. You want to dominate us and force us into becoming a minority in a GC state, this we will never accept. You want to take away the north, this we will never give up."

Litmus test for genuine Cypriotness!

It's the litmus test for genuine Cypriotness! You get an A+ if by the end you are in tears. I was too, but let's keep it between us.

Who is to blame & who is to fix?

In the 1950s gCypriots decided on an action without consulting tCypriots. They are in essence to blame for what ensued. They lacked strategic vision to use contemporary jargon, although at the time such words probably were as foreign as sushi to Cyprus.

Kurdish-language Roj TV gets Nobel nod from Tutu

Desmond Tutu

The Kurdish-language television station Roj TV has been nominated as a candidate for a Nobel Peace Prize by a group that includes former honoree Desmond Tutu, a South African archbishop. The 150-member group that suggested the Denmark-based station also includes Inge Genefke, who works on behalf of torture victims, and Tue Magnussen, a member of the Danish Helsinki Committee, as well as various human-rights activists. The five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee is responsible for the selection of eligible candidates and the choice of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates.

Cyprus' Turkish problem: no quibbling over semantics!

We must all stop referring to the problem as the Cyprus problem. Calling it so perhaps is normal for foreigners with a stake in Cyprus. Not so for Cypriots.

The problem is in fact the Turkish (Turkeyish?) problem of Cyprus. Cyprus, an EU and UN member, has a Turkish problem. Or if you prefer both a Turkish and a T-Cypriot problem.

The United Nations through a large number of resolutions recognizes Cyprus' Turkish or T/TC problem to be two-fold:

"Don't forget to tell old Papa-what's-his-name what I told you - you hear?"

President Lyndon B. Johnson 63-69

"Then listen to me Mr Ambassador. Fuck your parliament and your constitution. America is an elephant, Cyprus is a flea, Greece is a flea. If these two feckless fleas continue itching the elephant they may get whacked by the elephant’s trunk, whacked good… We pay a lot of good American dollars to the Greeks Mr Ambassador. If your Prime Minister gives me talk about democracy, parliament and the constitution, he, his parliament and his constitution may not last very long.

Don't forget to tell old Papa-what's-his-name what I told you - you hear?"