Sometimes a film, a book, a paragraph, or a piece of writing that tells someone else’s story can bring about profound changes in your life.
Whenever you watch that film, you remember your turning point or what you were thinking in those days.
Whenever you see or read that book, you are reminded once again of how your ideas changed…
Whenever that paragraph comes to mind, you remember that event, that person…
I too have films, books, and paragraphs in my life that have deeply affected me and led to turning points…
In 2012, together with Mine Çeliker, we prepared an exhibition presenting glimpses into the life of our Founding President, Rauf Raif Denktaş. We decided that for the exhibition to have meaning, it should include not only Denktaş’s photographs but also his words.
We collected dozens of books on the subject. One piece of writing we came across among them affected us deeply.
From that day to this, whenever a new year comes around, I remember the piece Denktaş wrote on January 1, 1964, after the events of 1963.
I will end today’s column with the words of Denktaş, written 51 years ago, which affected me deeply, clearly express what was happening in those days, and belong to a leader who never lost hope, no matter what.
The words are Denktaş’s:
“The happy people of the world, celebrating the arrival of 1964, have still not woken from the deep sleep brought on by the evening’s weariness!
The wish of all humanity is for 1964 to bring them happiness…
But what about us?
What will 1964 bring to the Turkish Cypriots, who have been fighting a life-and-death struggle for days, crushed along the roads of displacement, brutally murdered, and massacred?
We do not know…
We are in the midst of a struggle.
We are on the narrow line between existence and extinction…
Yesterday, the food distributed from the cold storage gave some relief to people who have barely been getting by since December 21…
The first sun of 1964 is rising.
The first morning of 1964…
I pray to my God for the Turkish Cypriots: ‘May we not become another Crete. May our children not grow up in captivity, may the call to prayer never fall silent, and may we live freely, happily, and in peace.’
I am making the rounds of the positions in Nicosia.
The fighters have been in the trenches for days.
Hungry, tired, and sleepless.
There is a shortage of food. ‘Do you need anything?’ I ask.
‘We only want weapons and ammunition,’ they say.
A deep silence reigns in the streets of Nicosia…
The clinics are full of the wounded.
The sobs and cries of the mothers of martyrs, women, and children tear through this silence.
They surround me and ask, ‘What will become of us?’…
What will become of us?
We will be all right…
Turkey is behind us…
God will sooner or later teach the oppressors a lesson…”
Denktaş, Rauf R, “Rauf Denktaş’s Memoirs,” p. 12, 1996, Boğaziçi Yayınları - Istanbul