‘Hit me, but listen to me’
General Themistocles to Admiral Eurybiades, 480 B.C
‘Hit me, but listen to me’
22/09/2013 - 12:58am
We have reached a point, where people have started wondering how it could have ever been worse. Where will this bumpy road lead us. How will the wounded grassroots react, now that they realise that the past five years have brought about the pulverisation of their dreams.
There are people who offer part of their possessions to soothe the pain. I do not know whether this will be sufficient. Poet and philosopher Kahlil Gibran writes in his “Prophet”:
You give but little when you give of your possessions it is when you give of yourself that you truly give”.
Probably some people have really given of themselves as well. Probably…
I was 20 years old, when the people of this country commenced searching for their targets and their dreams. In general terms they didn’t make it. Almost all the assessments and decisions reached, were proven to be wrong. The people had upgraded the word “NO” to a symbol of heroism. They could not tell between real heroism, which difficult national decisions require, and the heroic stupidity of populism. They gradually ruined the country and their lives.
I would like to go back into history:
1.From the year 1948 until 1958 we had 4 proposals for the solution of the Cyprus problem, which were all better than what ensued: Consultative Assembly (1948), Harding Proposals (1955-56), Ratcliffe Constitution (1956), Macmillan Plan (1958). We shouted “NO” to all of them. We opted for the armed struggle with the target of enosis (Union with Greece). A target of which Greece herself had no approved. We had great, really heroic acts during the struggle. But the objective was not achieved. Amongst other things, we caused the uprising of the Turkish minority of Cyprus (18% of the population) which until then was satisfied with a “second violin” role – with their rights safeguarded. We gave them power and status and we converted them into a “community”. So, we ended up in 1960 with the Zurich-London Agreements and the Republic of Cyprus. And we cried out with joy: “We have won”.
1.From the year 1948 until 1958 we had 4 proposals for the solution of the Cyprus problem, which were all better than what ensued: Consultative Assembly (1948), Harding Proposals (1955-56), Ratcliffe Constitution (1956), Macmillan Plan (1958). We shouted “NO” to all of them. We opted for the armed struggle with the target of enosis (Union with Greece). A target of which Greece herself had no approved. We had great, really heroic acts during the struggle. But the objective was not achieved. Amongst other things, we caused the uprising of the Turkish minority of Cyprus (18% of the population) which until then was satisfied with a “second violin” role – with their rights safeguarded. We gave them power and status and we converted them into a “community”. So, we ended up in 1960 with the Zurich-London Agreements and the Republic of Cyprus. And we cried out with joy: “We have won”.
2. In 1963 we said “NO” to the 1960 joyous achievement. We committed the fatal blunder of pursuing a revision of the 1960 Constitution on very sensitive issues touching upon the rights of the Turkish Cypriots (against the advice of Greece). We thus planted the seeds of partition.
3.The 1963-1974 period was rife with “NOs” to logic. We were aiming at the unattainable. We were again and again after enosis, contravening the constitution. I was not in politics at that time, but as an entrepreneur-industrialist I was following events with a lot of uneasiness. Turkey started threatening with “invasion” since 1965. I was amongst the very few who feared that this might happen – we were the “danger-mongers”. Nobody would believe us. Finally in 1974 we had the Greek and Greek Cypriot coup d’ etat, which fully opened the gate for the Turkish invasion.
This happened despite the many theories that Turkey could not invade, because we were a sovereign state, a member of the United Nations, a member of the Council of Europe, a member of the Non-Aligned, a country which had signed in 1972 an Association Agreement with the European Communities (EEC). It had never occurred to our leaders, that this is a world where “interests” and “power”, not “principles” prevail. We thus lost more than one third of our country.
4.From 1978 to 2004 we shouted “NO” to all important initiatives for the solution of our problem (which were getting worse and worse as time went by): The Anglo-American-Canadian Plan (1978), the Indicators (1983), the Consolidated Documents (1985-6), the Set of Ideas (1992), the Troutbeck-Glion Initiative (1997), the Annan Plan (2002-4). In short, we, ourselves, buried the Cyprus problem.
5.By the 1983 (Indicators) “NO”, we paved the way for the unilateral declaration of the Turkish Cypriot “state”. We had many warnings. I warned myself as well. But our top leadership did not pay any heed. That is when I resigned from the post of Foreign Minister.
6.In the years 1996-1998, with the active involvement of Greece, we said NO to logic and ignored the Turkish military supremacy and we ordered the S300 missiles. I was the only one in Cyprus who dared question the above decision. We eventually wasted S270m on the missiles which now rest in peace thrown away on the mountains of Crete.
7.In the years 2000-2001 we said NO to the rules of the economy and the markets and we created a stock market “bubble”. When it burst the financial and social balances of the country were turned upside down.
8.From 2008 to 2012 we had a fiscal deficit of more than €6 billion, through non-existent financial planning. Our banks lost €4,5 billion on the Greek Government bonds. €5 billion were transferred to Greece, which were used for uncollateralised loans. We lost our credibility which is now equivalent to “junk”. We were thrown out of the markets. “Looking proudly ahead” we said “NO” to the basic rules of the economy. We blew up our country. And our European partners, acting fiercely in an unprecedented way, gave us the coup de grace.
As stated above, when the search for our dreams began, I was 20 years old. Today I am 78. In the 58 years which have elapsed we were bankrupted nationally, politically, militarily and financially.
In almost all the above years I was one of the very few, who kept warning that we were gradually ruining our country. Nobody would listen. The stupid “NOs” became a symbol of our lives.
Roman politician and thinker Cicero had once stated: “To stumble twice on the same stone is a great shame”. We have stumbled more than 20 times on the same stone in 60 years.
Roman politician and thinker Cicero had once stated: “To stumble twice on the same stone is a great shame”. We have stumbled more than 20 times on the same stone in 60 years.
Now that I have reached the mature years of my life, I would like to give once more a piece of advice about the dangers emanating from natural gas, the efforts for which I first commenced as competent Minister in 1998.
Natural gas constitutes a huge wealth of a probable value of hundreds of billions of dollars. It is a blessing, which may turn into a nightmare if we are not cautious. Because a “prey” of hundreds of billions has always many dangerous predators. We should not forget that most of the wars today are due to oil and gas.
Turkey has been threatening for many years. She invokes the rights of the Turkish Cypriots and the fact that she has not signed and is not bound by the Law of the Sea Convention of 1982.
We invoke our sovereign rights, which are recognised by all countries. It should be noted that we were invoking these very same rights before 1974 as well – and we had their recognition by all countries. However nobody came over here in 1974 to stop the invasion or extend a helping hand. I remember, many people were waiting for Europe, the Non-Aligned, the Soviets, the Americans, to move. At the end of the day nobody came. We were left alone, with our “rights” and our fate. Forty years have elapsed since then, and not a single square kilometre out of the 3500 occupied by Turkey was ever returned to us.
We invoke our sovereign rights, which are recognised by all countries. It should be noted that we were invoking these very same rights before 1974 as well – and we had their recognition by all countries. However nobody came over here in 1974 to stop the invasion or extend a helping hand. I remember, many people were waiting for Europe, the Non-Aligned, the Soviets, the Americans, to move. At the end of the day nobody came. We were left alone, with our “rights” and our fate. Forty years have elapsed since then, and not a single square kilometre out of the 3500 occupied by Turkey was ever returned to us.
Furthermore we should not forget the continuous admonitions we have from Europeans, Americans, Russians and others, that we should not overlook the rights of the Turkish Cypriots. The most recent statement came from our friend the Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov, who said on the 17th April 2013: “Any exploitation of the natural resources must be based on consent, so that all Cypriots, without any exception will benefit”.
I am not presenting a fictitious risk and I never did so in my life. I am a realist. If my advice was adopted in the past we would not be where we are today. I am not suggesting that we should negotiate under pressure. I am simply suggesting that we should not put up another heroic “NO”, because I am afraid that we shall pay for it much more dearly than ever before.
We must not stumble once more. We should use natural gas as a catalyst in the effort to solve the problem of Cyprus and probably the wider problems of Greece and Turkey as well. I have been suggesting this for the past 6-7 years.
To some friends or opponents who would rather follow the course of the past, despite its disastrous results, I would repeat the words of general Themistocles to admiral Eurybiades, in 480 B.C. before the sea-battle of Salamis: “Hit me but listen to me”. new europe
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