We cannot accept a solution at any price

Sir,
I couldn’t help feeling somewhat angered when I read the letter by Feridan Yusuf of Louroujina (‘I’m beginning to change my mind about reunification with the Greek Cypriots’, July 23) and particularly the closing comment that the Greek Cypriot people do not deserve the friendship of the Turkish Cypriots because of the ‘no’ vote and the actions of President Papadopoulos in resisting the opening of ports in the north of the island. While I can understand his resentment to the opposition to the opening of the ports I feel no sympathy and it is clear to myself that he has no understanding of the problems from the perspective of the Greek Cypriots and the challenges faced by the President.

I am not a resident of Cyprus and my father is English, and one may say that it is little concern of mine what happens in Cyprus, but I am of Greek Cypriot heritage my ancestors coming from Ayios Amvrosios, a settlement the Turks now call Estempe, and that makes it a great concern of mine. To make this point, I will ask Feridan if he is living in the north of Cyprus to step outside and scan the countryside around him for beneath it lies the bones of my ancestors of thousands of years who make me what I am.

I travelled to Cyprus before the referendum as I felt I would have great difficulty returning if Greek Cypriots had voted ‘yes’. I would have had trouble looking Cypriots in the face for the betrayal I would have felt. I believe now as I did then that the proposal did little to address in full the main issues of free movement and the right of return for refugees. Worst of all it confirmed the treaty of 1960, a treaty and a constitution that was not designed to further the democratic rights of the nation.

If Greek Cypriots had have voted ‘yes’ in the referendum it would have given a foreigner more rights in the north of Cyprus than my own relatives whom I will argue have the greatest right to the land. ‘Equal’ to that of any Turkish Cypriot but above those of any recent Turkish settler that arrived during what is an illegal occupation.

I can live peacefully with Turkish Cypriots and I know that the Greek Cypriots are a people capable of it. But not at any price. Just as I will not forsake my ancestors, I will not go to them and say I gave up on the legacy that I was born with.

So have patience with the President, feelings run high on these matters.

Dimitri Jordan,
Huntingdon, UK

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.