Lift these walls

“LIFT these walls, destroy and remove them all, no more torture like this, and no more songs like these,” sings Turkish composer and singer Zulfu Livaneli in ‘Walls’.
Thousands of people from both sides of the Green Line packed into D’Avila Moat in Nicosia on Friday night to hear Livaneli perform with Greek musician Maria Farandouri in their first concert together on the divided island.
Livaneli and Farandouri first performed together in Istanbul in 1979, starting a partnership that has since taken them back and forth between Greece and Turkey, Europe and America, and into the recording studio for joint albums. They were joined by legendary Greek singer Mikis Theodorakis in 1986, forming the Committee for Turkish and Greek Friendship.
“All of our work was to promote friendship between Turks and Greeks, and we have seen some positive results,” Livaneli told the Sunday Mail in an interview this week.
“Cyprus is very important, because when we speak of Turkish and Greek friendship Cyprus is at the pinnacle. And the pain that these two communities have experienced, the sense of insecurity and suspicion is only natural.
“But I believe that relations in Cyprus can improve, and the atmosphere created on the island can spread throughout the world as an example of peace,” said Livaneli.
The Turkish singer was visiting the south of the divided capital for the first time: “I have seen the barbed wire and it has naturally struck me as being strange. We used to see such things in Berlin, and now we see it here.
“I believe the people of the island, whether they are of Greek descent or Turkish descent, deserve a prosperous, happy life.
“Hopefully they will not leave a legacy of blood and feelings of revenge, but live together in beauty.
“For this reason we are here to sing together. This is a historic moment in our partnership,” he added.
Livaneli was criticised in some sectors of the Turkish Cypriot press in the build-up to Friday night’s performance, accused of serving Greek Cypriot interests by coming over to the south.
“I don’t feel this is fair. The issue was to give a concert, a Green Line concert, and I wanted the concert to be held on the Green Line.
“I pressed this issue, but there were two hours of negotiations with the United Nations, and they said security in the buffer zone would be difficult to provide for such a large crowd – and security was an important issue.
“The songs and the crowd on Friday gave the answer to these criticisms,” Livaneli added.
But in addition to being an author and a film director, Livaneli is also an active member of the Turkish parliament with the Republican Peoples Party (CHP) representing Istanbul.
A junior member of the Turkish government coalition, the CHP backs the policies of Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash. Did his open support for the opposition in northern Cyprus not put him in an awkward position in his party?
“The CHP is a large public party, and to have individuals with different views and opinions is normal. I have devoted myself and struggled for Turkish and Greek friendship for such a long time, and I will continue to work for this.
“I openly express my views, and thus this is an indicator of the democratic process within the CHP,” he added.
As for the governing Justice and Development Party ‘s(AKP) stance on Cyprus, Livaneli said: “Their approach on the Cyprus problem is similar to their approach on other topics: they do not display a clear position.
“They express some desires, propose some action, then I don’t know what happens, but they are cautioned by some entity and they take a step back. Then they try to move forward a bit more, only to take another step back.”
But he refrained from talking about Denktash. “I’m not here as politician, and I am not a person to debate all the intricate details of the Cyprus problem. As a general concept, as we have done until today, I believe that it is necessary to take steps forward to find a peaceful solution. There can be problems between people, but these problems cannot last forever, and people cannot live in pain forever.
“I cannot understand why this has not happened in Cyprus. The two Germanies have united, and if in this bi-polar world Russia and America can come closer, why can’t two peoples unite who, when you look at them, you cannot tell them apart?
“We have to overcome old arguments and old hatreds.”
Livaneli is now working on a album that will be a compilation of renditions and interpretations of his music by other musicians. He says he will not release a new album of compositions until after these compilations are completed.
“I have experienced three revolutions in my life, these revolutions have forced me into prison, have forced me into exile, my work has been banned. I am now responsible for organising my past so that future generations will be able to experience these clearly. I have to accomplish this before I write any new compositions,” said Livaneli.
Asked to describe the Cyprus problem with one of his songs, Livaneli replied: “I would love to say one of my lyrics in response to those criticising me in the north: ‘Brothers don’t hear you, but foreigners can’.”

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.