A Typical Conversation with a Turkish Cypriot

A typical conversation with a member of the Turkish Cypriot minority suffocating in her/his own version of reality:

Cypriot: The Greek Cypriot majority granted you the privilege of exclusive education in Turkish as far back as in 1960. Do you support exclusive Kurdish education for Kurds in "Turkey", who constitute 20-25% of the country's population?

TC: What does the Kurdish issue have anything to do with Cyprus?

Cypriot: Well, for one I am trying to establish the pricniples we are trying to uphold, regardless of the people involved. Second, Kurds are a community of the country you claim to depend on for your security and rights. So how that country treats it's own ethnic community is relevant, would you not think so?

TC: The Kurds have nothing to do with us. You stole our rights and now you are trying to find excuses.

Cypriot: I see what you are saying. But, hypothetically, if Kurds were to ask a charter like the one you achieved in 1960, would you support them?

TC: You are a fascist. I will not talk with you anymore.

If this ... why not this?

The over four fifths Christian majority of Cyprus, its historic community with non-stop cultural dominance on the island that spans millennia, wanted union with Greece. The British, the colonial power at the time, said no. Along with "Turkey", the patron of the circa 18% Muslim minority, they devised a political apartheid solution to grant Cyprus a crippled independence in 1960. The 1960 charter was never put to a vote.

Language Hypocrisy Extraordinaire

"Turkey" says 80.000 Turkish Cypriots (of Cyprus) must be educated exclusively in Turkish. They must not even learn Greek, the language of the land non-stop for millenniums and of the historic Christian majority. Why then in "Turkey" 20 million Kurds cannot even learn theirs, being forced instead for full exclusive education in Turkish? Why Recep? Why Ahmet? Why Mustafa? Why Espen? Why Barack?

Zones, Hypocrisy and Cyprus

The Pendadaktylos Mountain in Keryneia, a "zone" with
millenniums of uninterrupted Christian and/or Greek history

The zones in Cyprus were the result of an illegal, unwarranted invasion. Cyprus never had zones in its history. Or if you prefer all zones in all of Cypriot history (which spans millenniums and did not start when Ottomans invaded in 1571) have been majority Christian and/or Greek or wholly Christian and/or Greek. Therefore federation is equivalent to accentuating 1960 injustice by superimposing magic zones which are majority owned by Christian refugees. This is why it will never be approved.

Furthermore, the precedent would be disastrous. What next? Muslims in Birmingham seeking their own zone? Kurds in Istanbul (a city 20 times the size of Cyprus)? I fail to see the logic behind rendering a monstrosity part of international law because of an unfortunate historical alliance between Kemalist fascism and the Anglo-Saxon world.

Makarios was right in 1963. A minority cannot demand privileges of the kind Turkish Cypriots demand. No European in their right mind would accept them for their minority. Neither will Cypriots.

Language Hypocrisy

Why is Turkish an official language in Cyprus but Kurdish not an official language in "Turkey"? Why are the EU and US silent?

Turks have always been a minority in Cyprus since they first appeared in the late 16th century, never founded a town and never constituted the majority in any Cypriot district, whereas Kurds are a separate people with their own lands, part of which constitute almost the entire east of "Turkey", historically known as north Kurdistan.

Both Turkish Cypriots and Kurds form circa 15-20% of their respective countries' populations.

Exclusive Kurdish Education

There was a time, not long ago, when all Cypriots spoke Greek, including the Turkish Cypriot minority.

This all changed when a "Turkey"-supported (UK too) constitution was imposed on Cypriots which stipulated exclusive education in Greek for the Greek Cypriot majority and in Turkish for the Turkish Cypriot minority.