Let’ s Deadlock!
Yesterday, Wednesday, I had this Poem in my back, which I will present to you below, and I thought that it is not suitable to confront you with nothing more than such as a contribution or article. Since I did not really have a another topic, I decided to go for a walk through the quarter behind the Kyrenia Gate. While I was walking I thought maybe I should go for several days to Karpaz - an area which I have not visited yet. I am more than 1 year on the island - shame on me! I know!
The before mentioned poem I wrote on the day when I was here exactly one year, Tuesday. It was raining that day in the afternoon and I was sitting in a small cafe, where people speak Arabic or Kurdish most of the time. I go there, because they serve a marvellous tea, next to it is a restaurant with a wonderful rice and a real big salad to it, which is even brought to my table in the cafeteria, so I do not have to stand up - everybody is very friendly there.
Not far away from this typical south-east-Anatolian atmosphere is a shop, where I get my books from and where I once in a while meet pretty interesting people of the cultural life on the island - and not only from the north -, the Isik Kitabevi, the Isik bookstore. The two persons running the place are really helpful and, of course, extraordinary friendly.
Yesterday, Wednesday, when I sat in the Isik bookstore a Greek from the other side came in. I realised that quite many Greeks seem to go there, the ones which have interest in Turkish language in particular. So I spoke with him in Turkish and he told me that he will go to a bi-communal meeting in the Goethe Zentrum.
What surprises me is not that I met the same people that I had been meeting approximately 2 weeks ago there, when the book ‘Cyprus Orange’ was presented, but that they met and that I did not know of it. I am obviously still not in their communication channels, which I, from my point of view, should be, because it is the 4th time that I went to one of their meetings. Whenever I went to such a meeting I filled out a paper asking my name, the organisation I work for, my email address. Usually I do not mention an organisation that I work for and leave this part empty, but I leave my email address and of course my name, always.
Up to today I have not received any mail from anybody of this people. This somehow makes me think they are not really interested in interesting newcomers about their activities - otherwise, I suggest, they would inform at least the new-comers to their meetings on these lists about the coming events. If I am not completely mistaken, the date of their get-togethers are not made public in newspapers. Maybe their meetings are not public - this idea strikes me, while I write this here. But then nobody told me yesterday and the other times not to enter the place, or not to join in.
I understood they had invited to south-African sociologists. At least from one of them I know that he is a sociologist of the other, a bright and very positive lady, I do only know that she had worked in workshops in South-Africa with the aim of bringing the people (black, mixed, white) together. It was her yesterday evening to start the evening with her speech.
I loved every word she said. It was so positive and she formulated exactly what I could not have expressed any better. I actually - I must admit - did not dare to speak of such ideas up to now and in connection with the Cyrus-Problem topic, because I did not want anybody to mark me as an esoteric or lunatic. But, you know, most likely this is what people of our trade have to risk: to be not always conform with what is being said and thought.
This lady emphasised in the beginning on the fact that she does not want to give any advice or lecture. She said that she hated most, when working in South Africa, people coming from outside, which know after 3 or 4 month being around everything better - so she did not want to make the same mistake. Her presents, though, and the discussion that followed convinced me that a certain influx from outside is very necessary. It is then in particular necessary, when people not only talk about deadlock but if they get into some kind of deadlocking!
„Little steps“, she mentioned, could be taken. For instance could one open workshops and work with language - „find a common language“. One could create a workshop on so many small aspects of life. But instead, she actually continued with this point the beginning of her speech, Cypriots seem to have developed a „culture of blaming one another“. Here I would like to add: the ones meeting in these so-called bi-communal meeting have developed a culture of blaming with profound knowledge about real or fictive figures of once upon a time. The conversation that was going on, was once again too theoretic. One learned person tried to appear more learned than the other, it seemed that way at least to me. I can understand therefore that so-called ‘normal citizens’ are not amongst the participants of these meetings - and if they are there then they do not contribute with spoken words. This fact I find rather bizarre.
This findings make me repeat my suspicion which I already wrote about in the Cyprus Times, when I wrote about the book-presentation: Cyprus Orange. Obviously most of these people who meet in these bi-communal meeting seem to live of the Cyprus problem or question. Some may organise projects financed by international organisations or the EU, some may write their master thesis or books on it and some may have other income sources out of it.
The South African lady could not succeed in convincing them that a positive thinking is necessary. I mean to say: She may have convinced them, but they did not understand, what she was talking about, because they continued with what they seem to know best: blaming directly or indirectly of the other. She could not make them understand and realise that this positive thinking can not remain a theoretical thing - the kind of existence preferred by most of the participants obviously. To talk about an action which could be tried and put it into existence right now and there, was to far for this learned people - a connectedness in or with the practice is so it seems not yet into their focus of thought.
What is the use in going through all these numbers and names of politicians of the past and who is guilty what for this or that, if one wants to start something new? If one wants to do something together, one must plant a little seat of trust in oneself and others and this seat must be taken care of and, of cause, it has to be spread.
So I sad there wondering, why they do not respond to this positive woman and more over her terrific hint and why they kept on going about those unpleasant facts of the past instead?
Well, I concluded the following: the Cypriots of both sides - not taking their island situation too much into account - did miss out on a pretty important development, which took place, when they were smashing each others heads and when their hearts were full of hate and mistrust. It may sound strange, but the following may be a part of the explanation on why these intelligent and even travelled people yesterday night were not at all able to adapt to the idea, the concept, of positiveness.
My explanation: they had not lived the 60’s and 70’, the flower power movement. This was a ‘grass’-route movement and it meant to free people from strange traditions, which were connected to hate and the concept of contest, contest contest to the bitter end. They simply made people aware at the time to take their time as well for one another, „make love not war“, have peace, be nice to the birds and the trees. I know, I sound most likely nuts or crazy and lunatic to many of you, but such a spirit was once prevailing in the West, taking footnotes from the East (India, China, American Indians etc.). The bunch of this was transformed into a global vision wrapped up in music, fashion and wonderful books to be read: a brand new life-style.
Cypriots at that time were busy with other things and when they had time to realise what had gone on in the world the ship had already passed. So it may as well be that all this is can be dealt with as another hyper-theoretic something, just like the conversation about Cyprus and the efforts to solve the problem in the frame of bi-communal meetings at the Goethe Zentrum. By the way: why do they always meet in the Goethe? Why not meet in times somewhere in the north? After all, the ones coming from the south can go to the north. And if the participants of such meetings are anyway ‘only’ academics, who most likely may have the right to cross over to the south, then why not meet anywhere in the south of Nicosia in times? Why does nobody realise that a worker or none-academic maybe does not feel comfortable going to an institution like the Goethe?
For breaking open stereotypes - I want to add here not provocative, but as a contribution: it may be worth it to get rid of the name bi-communal meetings. Why not, as this wonderful lady from South Africa suggested indirectly and very tender call such meetings „common“ meetings?
I would love to open a workshop on POSITIVE-thinking. Anybody interested? If yes, please write to me (iskenderr@hotmail.com
Please allow that as a jubilee I dare to sing this serenade here aloud, next:
Jubilee Serenade
One year on the isle
Nothing that I’ve got to regret - no smile!
I haven’t got a steady income yet,
but still, there is nothing to regret.
Rain kept falling, winter’s going to come,
no reason to worry, no reason to get clumsy.
As a matter of fact, now are the golden days,
the days in which fruits are ripe,
days in which walking in the bright sun is fun
and when it rains, it is like Cyprus has swung,
has swung open its door after 1 year of sun, laughter and real fun.
One year on the isle.
I really won’t regret a minute of it.
The boarder, the Green-Line, well they obviously mean something,
they obviously try to turn things blue.
As I wrote before in the newspaper: let’s instead paint Cyprus Orange!
Orange now that the oranges are getting ripe,
the time were Lemons seem to be no hype,
so yellow, so orange the orange and lovely blue the sky.
How could I turn blue, where at night I almost breath in the moon?
The moon, the stars over Cyprus what a grace,
there must be ONE in charge here on the island - straight.
It is 1 year here for me,
there might be 1 person in this world,
to understand me, to understand you.
Cyprus is a special touch, a touch made of Cypriots, Turks, Greeks, Arabs, Kurds, English, Jews, others and, whenever you come to stay, you!
Yes, it is a special-maker in itself.
It turns you special, gives you bits of its wealth.
The art, though, is to grasp such and to understand,
Cyprus belongs to Cypriots! You ought to tell,
and Cypriots are people, who like actually to help,
to get you out of your ghetto or western thing,
to turn you ancient-modern with its east- Mediterranean wings.
Yes, why not meet the so called orient, were it melts.
Cyprus, although divided, kind of melts.
Isn’t the heart you bear in your chest made of two mutual chambers?
If only one heart could beat here, imagine what could happen - who could or would it hamper?
1 year here, nothing to regret.
1 year here for me its division even became a somewhat interesting set.
A set in which I can be two personalities in one.
I wouldn’t mind, though, to be one in one and leave the other to the magnificent sun!