Teachers join hands to pledge to work for peace

TEACHERS from both sides have pledged to work together for peace in Cyprus in 2009 as they toasted the New Year with cake and wine at the Ledra Street crossing yesterday.

Dozens of Turkish Cypriot teachers crossed to sign the joint declaration with their Greek Cypriot counterparts, as a Vasilopita was cut and huge dishes of ekmek kadayif were passed around to participants and onlookers.

“We have to knock down the walls between the two communities,” said Costis Achniotis, one of the leaders of the Platform of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot Teachers for a United Cyprus.

“We must knock down not only the outer walls but also the inner walls,” Achniotis said. “We know as teachers that in the past our schools have followed policies that helped no one. We hope that with our work we can reverse this so our children can have a peaceful future,” he added.

Adnan Eraslan, the head of the Cyprus Turkish Secondary Schools Teachers Union, said the teachers had come together to sign the declaration of hope and optimism for the New Year.

“We believe that teachers can help knock down the walls. Politicians are moving very slowly in this process, but we are here to support them because each day is a loss to both the Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, and we are hoping that 2009 will be a year that is very good for us and we will work very hard for this and co-operate together and will make this an island of peace and hope,” said Eraslan.

In their joint declaration, the teachers said that under leftist rule on both sides, the first serious effort to modernise and humanise was taking place in schools to bring them to European standards.

“Instead of the reactions, the disorientation and neutralisation games of the nationalists and the conservatives inside and outside the schools in both communities, schools in Cyprus have started moving forward with determination for the future of all children in Cyprus, which will be peaceful and independent of national origin or the faults of their ancestors,” the declaration said.

As far as the Cyprus problem was concerned, the Platform said it currently appeared to be operating on a wait-and-see basis. “But we want to believe that soon it will accelerate and become more fruitful,” the declaration added.

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