by cymart1 » Sun Feb 02, 2014 12:09 am
I have not posted on this forum for a long time, mainly because I became sick of the slanging matches between some members and the pseudo-patriots and ultranationalists on both sides who have nothing constructive or useful to say anyway!
But as this film is about something in which I have a personal interest and also because I actively support the initiatives by people on both sides to get some real action to change the status of Varosha and allow it to be finally -re-opened I am making the following comments:
There are a number of films and many photos on the subject on You Tube and other web-sites which are well worth watching for anyone interested but this film is different because it contains interviews by both Greek and Turkish Cypriots who also have a passionate interest in Famagusta and Varosha and also believe that it can be a symbol for the beginning of a solution and this is encouraging.
But at the same time, I also think it is futile to expect that Ankara will allow this to happen at the preliminary stages of any negotiations and I have said this for years, knowing how they see the situation and how they expect trade-offs to make such a concession? In any case, enough time has already been wasted and trying to get a separate deal for Varosha could waste months or even years without any guarantee that it would succeed, delaying an overall solution even longer?
It is also a tragic reality that we lost several chances for Varosha to be returned in the past, in particular in 1978 and again in 2004 but to avoid going into the details now I will also add that it is even more tragic because certainly on the first occasion and also probably on the second, it could have been renovated and re-inhabited: now it is beyond that stage and will have to be demolished and then rebuilt from scratch! Perhaps a glimmer of light is the eco-city project for this which Vasia Markides and her team ran a special project about ten days ago and Greek and Turkish Cypriots participated, along with other international experts. This offers a unique opportunity and I fully support it but of course without progress on a political solution it will remain just a plan?
Whilst I also fully support Anastassiades efforts to get serious negotiations underway and want to believe that he is serious and will go ahead regardless of any opposition from the nationalist rejectionists,some of whom are in his governments co-alition I also think he was wrong to raise false hopes last year among people from Varosha that its return was imminent, especially without first ensuring that Turkey would agree to this and basing his optimism on mistaken hopes that the other players would make Ankara agree to such a preliminary move?
Finally I am glad that reality is beginning to guide more and more people about what a solution will produce after so many years, rather than spewing out more meaningless drivel about a 'long struggle for the ideal solution' which nobody believes anyway and which is used as an excuse by those who in reality prefer the status quo to ensure their careers and positions are unaffected?
40 years on many refugees have died and their children have built new lives where they are now so they would probably not return anyway and would prefer to sell or exchange their properties while some have already sold theirs via the Turkish Property board out of desperation and need, even for much less than it was worth! Sad reality but that is how the world is and there are new and far more urgent conflicts grabbing international attention...
