Only through forgiveness can Cypriots grasp peace 

Upon returning from her trip to Cyprus as Britain’s new Special Representative to Cyprus Ms Joan Ryan MP cautioned Cypriots that they do not have to forget about past injustices but should forgive. The words of Ms Ryan who has acted as MP for North London’s Cypriot community for many years and understands only too well the thousands of stories of suffering and injustice of both Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities left me touched. A simple but powerful message, Ms Ryan’s words are sadly one that few in the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities have so far digested. Even after 33 years, few Cypriots are ready to forgive. But the dilemma is how can we invent the possibility of peace without forgiveness?  

THE PAST

I need not look far to observe this; for my own father alone forgiveness is something he cannot bring himself to feel. Born in Episkopi village, near Limassol in Cyprus, my father Mustafa Caglar’s childhood memories of living with Greek Cypriots are varied like that of most Cypriots. At home he recounts his encounters with the Greek Cypriots, which he has never forgotten.

In 1966, when he was ten years old standing outside his father’s bar in the village, young Mustafa overcome his childhood shyness and began to talk to the local Greek Cypriot truck driver who delivered regular supplies of alcohol to his father's business since he was a toddler. Conscious of the tensions on the island during his childhood, young Mustafa asked the truck driver, “If there was a war, would you kill me?” Looking him in the eyes, “Yes” replied the truck driver. My father has never forgotten that moment.  He relives that moment every time he explains the story to me. His encounter on that day has come to define his relations with Greek Cypriots even forty years on today.  

My father now begins to explain to me about his adolescent years. He was 18 and sought employment from Fasouri, a Jewish owned farm in the Limassol district, where both Greek and Turkish Cypriots worked as labourers. The manager however was a Greek Cypriot who was entrusted with the responsibility to select from the daily queues who will be given the privilege of paid work for that day. There were two queues which were both long, one consisted of Greek Cypriots and the other of Turkish Cypriots, each waiting under the Cypriot heat patiently. When the manager began to choose, he counted all the Greek Cypriots before letting them all in. Then he turned to the Turkish Cypriot queue and began to select only a few workers for that day. The rest had to return home. Made to feel like a second class citizen my father lost trust in the Greek Cypriots on that day. 

To confirm his decision to exclude Greek Cypriots from his life thereafter, my father also recounts how in his mid twenties he applied for a passport before going off to work in Libya. At the passport office, a long queue of people stood in front of him waiting to be served by Cyprus’ slow civil service. Upon discovering from my father’s name that he was a Turkish Cypriot, an arrogant official brought him to the front of the queue to be served. With some knowledge of Greek, my father remembers how the official told the rest of the queue of mostly Greek Cypriots that he was putting this “Turk” in front, so that he can get his passport and leave. My father is no different to thousands of other Turkish Cypriot fathers who lived in Cyprus during the inter-communal conflict. Likewise I’m sure there are thousands of Greek Cypriot fathers too with their own experiences.

FORCED TO RELIVE MY FATHER’S PAST

However, while I can never fully understand the pain because I never lived through this period myself and while I totally respect the experiences of my father and others, I feel it is the future of the young generation of Cypriots that is being determined by these pact acts. For my father and no doubt other fathers Cyprus is still in 1966; nothing has changed, nobody has changed. But even a Mediterranean country like Cyprus, where life is slow change occurs in fact no country can avoid change even if they tried hard to prevent it.

As a British Cypriot even though I have not lived the pain, I feel I too am being forced to re- live my father’s past and by doing so like Cypriots in Cyprus we are being deprived of peace each other. This is as difficult in Cyprus as it is here in London where Greek and Turkish Cypriots frequently come into contact with one another. Dangerous, for some young Cypriots among the diaspora, the stories recounted arouse them so much that it leads some to entertain the idea of revenge. But when will this conflict ever end if each Greek and Turkish Cypriot seeks revenge? When will we have peace? As the philosopher Confucius once said, “When setting out on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.”  

WHY FORGIVE?

So why forgive? Well, let’s look at the alternative. Shall we hold anger and hatred in our hearts? Who wants to be angry all the time? This is no life and besides it uses up all one’s energy.

Forgiveness by letting go and no longer holding a grudge against an entire community does not mean doing somebody else a favour; it means freeing yourself from the pain of the past. Forgiveness also does not overlook justice. It does not mean you have to forget the past nor does it mean the oppressors who committed human rights violations and other atrocities no longer have to take responsibility for their actions. But just like perpetrators of crimes, victims too must find their own peace.

However, grappling with issues of forgiveness is not easy. In fact it will be difficult. Former US Senator George Mitchell admits a “peace processes typically have ups and downs” and nobody should expect a smooth journey into peace. Mitchell reminds skeptics too that “there is no conflict that cannot be resolved. “Violent conflict is created and sustained by human beings, and it can be ended by human beings.”  But the dilemma is if Cypriots, whether diaspora or those based in Cyprus want to really contribute to peace, they can only do so through the powerful expression of forgiveness.  

THE FUTURE

Only a peace process based on forgiveness can halt the transfer of hate from one generation to the next and help Cypriots design peace. Freeing oneself from the shackles of the past, allows one to remove the constraints and clutter of the past to reveal a new blank canvas on which you can paint anything you desire. In the case of the Cyprus problem that could be the possibility of a future of peace.  With forgiveness there is hope for launching a new beginning. And if the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaderships are serious about grasping peace then they should not just listen to Ms Ryan’s advice but make it an integral part of the peace process.