Is north Cyprus the new Greece of Asia Minor?

Sir,
IN early 1920 Greece invaded Turkey. After just a short while the Greeks were booted out of that country by Ataturk and 1.5 million Greek refugees were crying over the graves of their dead ones. Over night they were left with no home of their own.

Now, 80 years on and these poor millions of souls have not seen a penny, not an iota of there land back from Turkey! Why? Why did Greece have to invade Turkey? Did the Asia Minor Greeks realise that the invasion was a gross mistake of their motherland, and therefore they didn’t ask for any compensation whatsoever or their houses back like Greek Cypriots are demanding now? Are the Greeks of Turkey mature enough to realise it was wrong of Greece to invade a foreign land, are and therefore not asking for their houses back?

If 1.5 million people didn’t get compensation or their rightful land back then how can Cyprus’ 200,000 refugees possibly get what they want? This, to me, sounds ludicrous and we seem to be going in circles and chasing after our tails.

We have mistreated the Turkish Cypriots for so long (1963-1974) – just like Greece mistreated Turkey by invading it – how can Turkish Cypriots possibly trust us to move back to their old, pre-1974, mixed, but violent, communities?

I know if I were a Turkish Cypriot, I would definitely hold on tightly to Turkey’s protective arm.

Now with the Greek Cypriots’ ‘OXI’ the misunderstandings and lack of forgiveness is just like an echo of the troubles of the years before 1974. Should we Greek Cypriots follow the road as our Asia Minor Greek refugee cousins and write it of as a bad debt? Will history repeat itself here in Cyprus?

It seems like it – within the past year old hatred, prejudice and misunderstandings are bringing new walls up – in our heads – which are more difficult to break down than physical walls. Is ‘North Cyprus’ the new Greece of Asia Minor? There are a few thousand Greeks left in Istanbul of the 1.5 million there were 80 years ago.

Sad, but it looks like its heading that way.
Yiota Christodoulou
South Africa

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