By Elias Demetriou
Head of the Rapprochement Bureau of EDON
With three discussions held in Nicosia, Larnaka and Limassol under the title “The missing people issue – A common pain of Greekcypriots and Turkishcypriots” EDON highlights the missing people issue in this year’s Ten-Days of Rapprochement. The main speaker at the discussions was Sevgul Uludag who was awarded this year with the “European Citizen” award of the European Parliament along with the Greekcypriot poet Michalis Christofides. Along with her, G/c and T/c relatives of missing people speak regarding their personal experiences when and at the same time send their own messages for the future of their country. Two discussions have been held so far in Nicosia and Larnaka and a discussion in Limassol is planned for the 23rd of April.
It’s true that the missing people of Cyprus issue has been approached chronically one-sidedly by the leading forces and the official educational system of each community, g/c and t/c, which were reproducing and spreading the dominant ideology based on their values and beliefs. This led to a stereotyped and surface perception on the issue by the collective memory of each community and especially the youth. On the one hand Greekcypriots tend to believe that missing people exist mostly within their community as victims of the Turkish army in 1974. On the other hand, Turkishcypriots tend to consider that themselves had been the main victims of Greekcypriots during 1963 clashes and later on within EOKA B action in 1974.
Of course, the reality is more complex and if its dimensions will not be totally cleansed, we cannot take the correct historical legacy that will lead to the healing of the wounds of the past and the future coexistence and cooperation of the two communities. This is related to the fact that in the stories of massacres that were committed in this country, the root has been one – this is called nationalism-chauvinism within the wider framework of the imperialist plans for Cyprus.
Unquestionably, the missing people issue is primarily a humanitarian issue- and secondly political – and this is how it must be approached. Because, the pain of the mother who loses her children or of the children that have lost all of their family is not counted in articles of the international law and the International Criminal Court. The pain is not counted based on whether it was caused by an invasion of a foreign state, by personal disputes or by chauvinist massacres. The pain is pain and it must be healed by the identification of the bones of each missing person and by the provision of concrete answers to their relatives regarding the historical-political context in which each of them was lost.
The presentation of Sevgul Uludag’s work as well the witnesses of G/c and T/c relatives of missing people show the inhuman part of the History, as well the complex reality. Because missing people come of Turkish soldiers that killed Greekcypriots, by greekcypriot paramilitary groups that killed Turkishcypriots, by murders in local and non-organized level etc. On the other hand we can see stories of Greekcypriots and Turkishcypriots, who had been victims of factors of their own community due to their political beliefs etc. Nevertheless, a reality that must also be known further are the stories of Greekcypriots and Turkishcypriots who saved lives of people of the other community which are not mentioned in school books from the one side or the other of the green line…
These discussions are proven to be a significant experiential for missing people relatives who tell their stories. In some cases, people who for several personal reasons could not speak about those issues for decades, they had the opportunity to break their silence. Lastly, this dialogue is especially useful for the new generations, the future custodians of the unstoppable and peaceful continuation of a united country. Young people have the opportunity to come in contact with these issues and become participants in a discussion in which several, less or more known, parts of the History of Cyprus are raised.