I am someone whom some circles have come to call “Turkish Cypriot,” but originally describe as “from Turkey”...
I am someone who is “from Turkey” and unwanted by certain circles...
I am someone whom some circles say has “now become a Turkish Cypriot”...
Back in my hometown of İzmit, I am called “Cypriot”...
Sometimes news is written about me as a “journalist,” sometimes as a “journalist from Turkey”...
When I visit abroad, however, news is written about me as a “Cypriot journalist”...
(Just as it makes me proud when news reports and articles about me put the country I come from before my profession, being called a “Cypriot journalist” abroad gives me that same sense of pride...)
I have no problem with it... This is simply the fate of people who live away from home... And this is not something unique to this country... For example, when my uncle lived in Germany, people in our neighborhood called him “German Yakup”... In other words, people living away from home are foreigners everywhere. You have become a foreigner in your own homeland, and where you live, you are already a foreigner... Although it is a difficult situation, for those who are treated this way, the saving grace is the reassurance they give themselves: “Where you can feed yourself is your homeland.” It is the same for me: I have lived and worked in this country for years, I have a child who was born here, and whatever people may say about me, this place, as well as the place where I was born, is now the homeland of both me and my son...
That is how things are for me. But I am now wondering what things are like for those who took part in the protest in Brussels...
Why?
As you know, a group of Turkish Cypriots went to Brussels the other day and staged a “ghost” protest. I think the form of the protest and its messaging were very effective and clever. Although the fact that participants used Republic of Cyprus passports may seem contradictory and strange, we can say that the protest achieved its aim and made an impact.
But I think the truly strange thing was the statements made by some unions yesterday. KTÖS, KTOEÖS, BES, KTAMS, Tıp-İş, Basın-Sen, Çağ-Sen, DAÜ-BİRSEN, KOOP-SEN and Güç Sen representatives came to the front of Parliament at 11:00 yesterday and made statements. Citing the way the protest was attended, KTOEÖS President Gökçebel said that those who protested in Brussels did not represent Turkish Cypriots... Very interesting...
According to the Greek Cypriots, who make being a “genuine Turkish Cypriot” a condition for obtaining a Republic of Cyprus passport, those who are “genuine Turkish Cypriots” and received passports are apparently not “genuine Turkish Cypriots” and have no right to represent anyone, according to certain unions that consider themselves “the most authentic Turkish Cypriots”... In other words, those who are Turkish Cypriots according to the Greek Cypriots are not Turkish Cypriots according to the unions...
In that case, my advice to the protesters, who have now become “foreigners” according to the unions, is to do as I do and carry on, saying, “Where you can feed yourself is your homeland”...
Meanwhile, I should state that I oppose the police violence against the protesting students, which the unions drew attention to... Our police should take the Brussels police as an example...
And yet I cannot help asking: have the unions criticizing the state-organized protest in Brussels ever taken action, or held up banners, in support of the Greek Cypriots who for years have filed lawsuits through the state and staged demonstrations around the world with state support?
And/or have Greek Cypriot unions ever held up banners in front of the Greek Cypriot parliament, saying that the Greek Cypriots who stage protests with state support do not represent Greek Cypriots?
If you are looking for strangeness and contradiction in these events, you should also take the strangeness and contradiction in your own actions into account...
It seems that those who went to Brussels and those who criticized them have overlooked the strangeness and contradiction...