Cyprus Action Network

Title: Yes, I said it, and I don't regret it.
By Andreas Paraschos
Translation: Cyprus Action Network

A good colleague of mine from Politis asked me yesterday afternoon whether I had given an interview to a Turkish television channel, and if I had, whether I had apologized for crimes Greek Cypriots have committed against Turkish Cypriots. From what he said, I understood that some colleagues wanted to find out who could have said such a thing. Who had committed this crime?

Well, I am the criminal, but I don't regret it. After all, why should only those who carried out the coup be without regrets? (translator's note: Greek Cypriots who received orders to carry out a coup against Makarios in 1974). On a more serious note, though, whatever I said on Genc TV (TC private channel) on Thursday night, I had already repeated many times in this column without anybody getting upset. Is the problem now simply the fact that this time it was heard by the TCs?

Here is what happened. My colleague Kyriakos Pieridis and I took part in a panel discussion, which was translated live by someone sitting on the panel with us.

In the context of an issue that I raised about the missing people, I argued how important it was to eliminate the bad blood between GCs and TCs. I said that we all had to work together to find out what happened to these people. I added that the families of the Turkish Cypriot missing should give blood samples for DNA tests, and I made special reference to the list of the Turkish Cypriot missing made public last Monday by the Republic of Cyprus. By referring to this list of missing persons, one can easily see what happened in the village of Tochni on the 14th of August, 1974: eighty-three Turkish Cypriot men are buried here in a mass grave. According to the dates of birth on this list, the youngest was 14 years old, and the oldest was 75 years old. It is a well-known fact that these Turkish Cypriots were executed in cold blood. Many other similar episodes are documented on the list, including the one of July 20th in Alamino, where exhumations took place recently. There are even worse cases, such as those in Marathas and Aloas, where children and women are included on the list. The date of birth of the youngest victim is 1974 (!) and of the oldest 1894. All were executed on 14th of August 1974. Last Thursday, on a private Turkish Cypriot channel, I openly and honestly voiced my apologies to my Turkish Cypriot compatriots, for the responsibility that my generation bears for those cold-blooded crimes. And I will repeat that apology whenever necessary.

I am consistent in my principles and efforts with respect both to the issue of the missing people, and to the issue of a peaceful and permanent solution to the Cyprus problem. I am not afraid of the truth.

But it is worth asking why some people were annoyed with what I said aloud the other day, when they had voiced no objections to what I had written in my column. Specifically, in 'The missing are a responsibility of all GCs and TCs,' I had concluded, "Only if we take care of the wounds of the others, soothing the pain that has drowned us for years, will we manage to live peacefully. The day when we, TCs and GCs, join together to offer flowers of honor and love to our dead, only that day will we have signed, with our tears of gratitude to the dead, the real solution to the Cyprus problem."

What is the problem now? Is it the fact that I openly stated on a Turkish Cypriot channel what all of us privately admit: that Greek Cypriots have also committed crimes against Turkish Cypriots?