Cyprus Mail in Love with Denktash
Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 4:37 pmA life dedicated to the Cyprus problem
By Agnieszka Rakoczy
Whatever your opinion on Rauf Denktash, there is no denying the impact he has had on Cyprus history
Have you ever gone for a walk with Rauf Denktash? Thought not. I have. We went for a stroll in the Buyuk Khan area of northern Nicosia to take the photos to accompany this interview. The result of this photographic session you can see for yourselves. The conclusion of the walk? The 82-year-old former Turkish Cypriot leader and, at least until recently, probably the most hated man south of the Green Line, is well and kicking. And he still enjoys a lot of respect and popularity among his own people. It is actually quite touching to see both old and young greeting this elderly man in a worn-out jacket with the traditional “el opmek” (hand kissing), or kids gathering around him to have a photo together. Whatever your opinion about the man whom many Greek Cypriots blame for the partition of the island, Denktash is definitely part of Cyprus’ living history. And according to him, he is a workaholic who can’t stop working, even though he has been retired for almost a year.
The last time I interviewed Denktash was about a year and half ago, when he was still based in his ‘presidential office’ on the top of a hill overlooking the most strategic roundabout of northern Cyprus. Just visible from his palace was the office of Afrika newspaper, run by one of his antagonists, Sener Levent, and on the other side of the roundabout one could see the Turkish Embassy and the Turkish Cypriot ‘parliament’. But now the former British Governor’s building is occupied by his successor Mehmet Ali Talat. Denktash has moved to much more modest dwellings in Koskluciftlik. This traditionally Turkish Cypriot residential area in north Nicosia lies next to the Ledra Palace crossing and is full of beautiful villas belonging to the richest Turkish Cypriots. As a matter of fact, Denktash’s office is one of the least attractive of the buildings around. It is a small, yellow-stoned house surrounded by few citrus trees. I remember it from when it used to be the office of Cumhuriyet newspaper and, I have to admit, the former Turkish Cypriot leader, or rather his people, have done an excellent job renovating it. It used to look much scruffier. And even if the office is at a remove from the ‘main circle of power’ it is still very much in its centre. The headquarters of at least five Turkish Cypriot political parties are all within walking distance. And Denktash himself admits that he is constantly visited by people who want his comments on what is happening on both the local and international scene. There is even a rumour going around the north that he talks to Talat every day but Denktash denies it. “It is not true,” he says. “I don’t go to visit him. But if I want to say something I ring him. I respect him. He has guts.”
Neither is he in touch with the government of Turkey, except for President Sezer, whom he still visits regularly. “I disagree with them and I am a private citizen now,” he explains. “If I feel that the government of Turkey should know something I write to them but I don’t go and see them. There is no need.”
Denktash’s office is full of people working for “the Old Man”, as many Turkish Cypriots refer to him nowadays. Denktash himself occupies two rooms connected to each other, the first is a reception room, the second his working space. It has a desk, a TV and a bookcase, many of the contents of which are on the subject of Cyprus. On the walls hang a picture of Ataturk and quite a few photographs of Denktash’s son Serdar, now the ‘Deputy Prime Minister’. There is also a great portrait of Denktash’s dog, Bonjouk, an American cocker spaniel who greets me enthusiastically when I enter. And another one of the previous Bonjouk, who was killed by two wild dogs. Denktash has tears in his eyes when telling the story. His attachment to animals is well-known. “I feel sorry for the birds,” is his first comment when we talk about the bird flu and I bet that he sleeps with Bonjouk as the dog sees no problem in jumping from one armchair onto the other during my visit.
The other part of the house consists of the offices. All the people working there are, according to Denktash, “on the loan from the TRNC government”. So is his driver, his bodyguard and his official car. “It is a service for the ex-president,” he says. “It is done in Turkey and I think everywhere else. Protection and minimum service that is needed.”
Denktash comes to Nicosia almost every week day around nine in the morning, providing he is not in Turkey, where he usually goes twice or three times a month invited by universities, TV stations and various civil organisations to give lectures on Cyprus.
“I was going more often,” he says. “But last September when I spent only 10 days in Cyprus and the rest in Turkey I was so tired that I realised I have to limit those trips.”
He admits that he still works too much and doesn’t really know how to enjoy himself while not working. He gets up at seven, comes to the Nicosia office to write and meet people, goes back home to Kyrenia, has lunch with his wife, works again, has a light dinner around seven, watches the news and works again till about midnight.
“I was always like that,” he says. “Even at school. When everybody else played I used to write short stories. I don’t have a culture of enjoying life and I regret it. But I am trying to change and I hope I will. For example, the fact that I don’t stay in the office in the afternoon is a very good change. OK, I work at home but it is a change for me. I enjoy it. I look at my old documents. I have time to study the archives of the British or Americans, which is very interesting.”
He doesn’t play backgammon (“Makarios didn’t allow me to learn how to play it, I was too busy with the Cyprus problem”); doesn’t drink (“only a glass of wine or whisky”); and doesn’t smoke (“I stopped in 1974”). He also rarely goes to restaurants (“it interrupts my sleep so I don’t like it”); or the cinema (“I am going this weekend but the last time I went was five years ago”); and doesn’t cross to the south (“the message is it would be dangerous and I am not going to find out”).
So what does he do in his spare time if he has any at all?
“I read a lot,” he answers. “And every Saturday, my friends come to me for coffee. These are all old friends, non political. Some of them are doctors, one is a dentist, another a merchant, another an ex prime minister… We gossip for about an hour about the past, about what is happening, what so and so did or said. Then inevitably it goes back to the past, to our school days, and what happened to such and such and is he still alive or is he dead as well and then we say: ‘Oh my God, we are becoming a missing generation’.”
“On Sunday usually my family comes to have lunch with us. I had six children. I lost three of them, so now I have two daughters and a son and 11 grandchildren.
Sometimes I cook octopus or liver for them. I am very good at it. My grandchildren love it. I make octopus simple and light, and I cook it not with wine but with orange juice. As for the liver, it is important not to cook it for too long and not to add too much oil so it is tender. That is the secret. But I don’t cook too often. It is not a regular thing.”
Is he rich after being the leader of north Cyprus for more than 30 years? Does he have a very high pension? What does he do with it?
“I have a pension but it is not very high and I live on it,” he says. “And I am not rich. I don’t have luxurious cars or a luxurious life style. I never worked for money. But you know what?” he laughs suddenly. “Had there been no Cyprus problem, I would have been the richest lawyer in Cyprus. (When I first practiced) both Greeks and Turks used to come to me.”
Denktash on:
Cigarettes I used to smoke three packets a day until 1974 when my first grandson was born and the doctor called me and said: ‘He is here, come and see him’ so I went and when I entered the room as usual I had a cigarette in my mouth. The doctor told me: ‘Are you going to bring nicotine to this young man, throw it away’. I threw the whole packet away and I have never smoked since.
Life If they step on your nerves, they will continue to step on your nerves. So don’t shout. Don’t upset yourself. Retain your composure and just tell them what they should do. And if you can’t stop a stream running don’t try.
Great love Everyone has their first love and I had my first love when I was in primary school. It was great love but she married somebody else.
Marriage My wife is a granddaughter of my father’s brother. She is my second cousin. On the day when she was born, I was nine and I went to say ‘hello’ and her grandmother put her in my arms and said: ‘here is your fianc?e’. When I went to England to study, the family said officially: ‘When you come back she will be your wife’. It wasn’t an engagement but like a promise. And she was a very pretty girl. Probably had there not been this adjustment in my mind I would have stayed in England or married there. It was during the war, and until the university opened for education I was sent to the farm and there were German girls there as workers. One of them, and she was very pretty, wanted to marry me because she wanted to get out of the camp but I could not.
What if? Sometimes I look back and think had been no Makarios and enosis (union with Greece), this island would have been much better. Had the killings not started in 1963 and we had just struggled through the courts, Cyprus would not have this bloodbath between us and there would not have been this separation. We could have been an example to the world that Christians and Muslims can work together in harmony and it could have been a bridge of friendship between Turkey and Greece.
His saying that “There is nothing Cypriot except for Cyprus donkey” It wasn’t me. It was Makarios. He said this to a beautiful Italian lady journalist. I think he was overwhelmed. I told this story to the youth who under the opposition flag of those days were saying: ‘We are Cypriots’, and immediately the opposition took it and started making propaganda that Denktash insulted Turkish Cypriots by calling them donkeys. This is the story. Everybody has pinned it on me. Many things have been pinned on me. It doesn’t matter.
Greek Cypriot politicians I can’t blame Greek Cypriot politicians for having the national cause and working for it but I blame them for not being realists. Cyprus is 70 kilometres away from Turkey and it is for Turkey a strategic island, as it is for everybody else. To think that Turkey would allow Cyprus to become part of Greece was a stupid way of looking at things.
Clerides He has guts. Once he said to De Soto: ‘I went for a full check-up and doctors were all very pleased with me. They said: ‘Perfect, everything is perfect 100 per cent and so on. And I said: ‘Look, you examined me only from my waste up’. He he he.
Religion I believe in God. I believe in the Koran. I read the Koran several times a year. I am not fanatical. I am a Turkish Cypriot who believes in his religion and God.
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2005
Is it time for the Cyprus Mail Editor to be escorted by the men in white coats. I never thought I would see the day when a Greek Cypriot “newspaper” would do a “Helloesque” on the man dedicated to the Cyprus problem [sic].
Our little Moldavian Lap Dancer Agneiszka drooled with joy as young and old Grey Wolves came to greet this gentle old killer. Three of four gut wrenching paragraphs later we are enlightened with the thoughts of this Turkish Capone on anything from cigarettes (shame he didnt smoke more) to the realpolitik. What was the point of this shameful piece of Turkish propaganda? I am really at a loss to know to whom this worthless crap is aimed for? Anyway who can we expect next week from the Cyprus Mail? Pol Pot or Saddam or even better Gary Glitter.
Angeiszka some free advise, get back to know what you do best. Your journalism does somewhat pong of the cut and paste derivative shit that is from the kiss and tell Sunday tabloids. But they do it much better.
By Agnieszka Rakoczy
Whatever your opinion on Rauf Denktash, there is no denying the impact he has had on Cyprus history
Have you ever gone for a walk with Rauf Denktash? Thought not. I have. We went for a stroll in the Buyuk Khan area of northern Nicosia to take the photos to accompany this interview. The result of this photographic session you can see for yourselves. The conclusion of the walk? The 82-year-old former Turkish Cypriot leader and, at least until recently, probably the most hated man south of the Green Line, is well and kicking. And he still enjoys a lot of respect and popularity among his own people. It is actually quite touching to see both old and young greeting this elderly man in a worn-out jacket with the traditional “el opmek” (hand kissing), or kids gathering around him to have a photo together. Whatever your opinion about the man whom many Greek Cypriots blame for the partition of the island, Denktash is definitely part of Cyprus’ living history. And according to him, he is a workaholic who can’t stop working, even though he has been retired for almost a year.
The last time I interviewed Denktash was about a year and half ago, when he was still based in his ‘presidential office’ on the top of a hill overlooking the most strategic roundabout of northern Cyprus. Just visible from his palace was the office of Afrika newspaper, run by one of his antagonists, Sener Levent, and on the other side of the roundabout one could see the Turkish Embassy and the Turkish Cypriot ‘parliament’. But now the former British Governor’s building is occupied by his successor Mehmet Ali Talat. Denktash has moved to much more modest dwellings in Koskluciftlik. This traditionally Turkish Cypriot residential area in north Nicosia lies next to the Ledra Palace crossing and is full of beautiful villas belonging to the richest Turkish Cypriots. As a matter of fact, Denktash’s office is one of the least attractive of the buildings around. It is a small, yellow-stoned house surrounded by few citrus trees. I remember it from when it used to be the office of Cumhuriyet newspaper and, I have to admit, the former Turkish Cypriot leader, or rather his people, have done an excellent job renovating it. It used to look much scruffier. And even if the office is at a remove from the ‘main circle of power’ it is still very much in its centre. The headquarters of at least five Turkish Cypriot political parties are all within walking distance. And Denktash himself admits that he is constantly visited by people who want his comments on what is happening on both the local and international scene. There is even a rumour going around the north that he talks to Talat every day but Denktash denies it. “It is not true,” he says. “I don’t go to visit him. But if I want to say something I ring him. I respect him. He has guts.”
Neither is he in touch with the government of Turkey, except for President Sezer, whom he still visits regularly. “I disagree with them and I am a private citizen now,” he explains. “If I feel that the government of Turkey should know something I write to them but I don’t go and see them. There is no need.”
Denktash’s office is full of people working for “the Old Man”, as many Turkish Cypriots refer to him nowadays. Denktash himself occupies two rooms connected to each other, the first is a reception room, the second his working space. It has a desk, a TV and a bookcase, many of the contents of which are on the subject of Cyprus. On the walls hang a picture of Ataturk and quite a few photographs of Denktash’s son Serdar, now the ‘Deputy Prime Minister’. There is also a great portrait of Denktash’s dog, Bonjouk, an American cocker spaniel who greets me enthusiastically when I enter. And another one of the previous Bonjouk, who was killed by two wild dogs. Denktash has tears in his eyes when telling the story. His attachment to animals is well-known. “I feel sorry for the birds,” is his first comment when we talk about the bird flu and I bet that he sleeps with Bonjouk as the dog sees no problem in jumping from one armchair onto the other during my visit.
The other part of the house consists of the offices. All the people working there are, according to Denktash, “on the loan from the TRNC government”. So is his driver, his bodyguard and his official car. “It is a service for the ex-president,” he says. “It is done in Turkey and I think everywhere else. Protection and minimum service that is needed.”
Denktash comes to Nicosia almost every week day around nine in the morning, providing he is not in Turkey, where he usually goes twice or three times a month invited by universities, TV stations and various civil organisations to give lectures on Cyprus.
“I was going more often,” he says. “But last September when I spent only 10 days in Cyprus and the rest in Turkey I was so tired that I realised I have to limit those trips.”
He admits that he still works too much and doesn’t really know how to enjoy himself while not working. He gets up at seven, comes to the Nicosia office to write and meet people, goes back home to Kyrenia, has lunch with his wife, works again, has a light dinner around seven, watches the news and works again till about midnight.
“I was always like that,” he says. “Even at school. When everybody else played I used to write short stories. I don’t have a culture of enjoying life and I regret it. But I am trying to change and I hope I will. For example, the fact that I don’t stay in the office in the afternoon is a very good change. OK, I work at home but it is a change for me. I enjoy it. I look at my old documents. I have time to study the archives of the British or Americans, which is very interesting.”
He doesn’t play backgammon (“Makarios didn’t allow me to learn how to play it, I was too busy with the Cyprus problem”); doesn’t drink (“only a glass of wine or whisky”); and doesn’t smoke (“I stopped in 1974”). He also rarely goes to restaurants (“it interrupts my sleep so I don’t like it”); or the cinema (“I am going this weekend but the last time I went was five years ago”); and doesn’t cross to the south (“the message is it would be dangerous and I am not going to find out”).
So what does he do in his spare time if he has any at all?
“I read a lot,” he answers. “And every Saturday, my friends come to me for coffee. These are all old friends, non political. Some of them are doctors, one is a dentist, another a merchant, another an ex prime minister… We gossip for about an hour about the past, about what is happening, what so and so did or said. Then inevitably it goes back to the past, to our school days, and what happened to such and such and is he still alive or is he dead as well and then we say: ‘Oh my God, we are becoming a missing generation’.”
“On Sunday usually my family comes to have lunch with us. I had six children. I lost three of them, so now I have two daughters and a son and 11 grandchildren.
Sometimes I cook octopus or liver for them. I am very good at it. My grandchildren love it. I make octopus simple and light, and I cook it not with wine but with orange juice. As for the liver, it is important not to cook it for too long and not to add too much oil so it is tender. That is the secret. But I don’t cook too often. It is not a regular thing.”
Is he rich after being the leader of north Cyprus for more than 30 years? Does he have a very high pension? What does he do with it?
“I have a pension but it is not very high and I live on it,” he says. “And I am not rich. I don’t have luxurious cars or a luxurious life style. I never worked for money. But you know what?” he laughs suddenly. “Had there been no Cyprus problem, I would have been the richest lawyer in Cyprus. (When I first practiced) both Greeks and Turks used to come to me.”
Denktash on:
Cigarettes I used to smoke three packets a day until 1974 when my first grandson was born and the doctor called me and said: ‘He is here, come and see him’ so I went and when I entered the room as usual I had a cigarette in my mouth. The doctor told me: ‘Are you going to bring nicotine to this young man, throw it away’. I threw the whole packet away and I have never smoked since.
Life If they step on your nerves, they will continue to step on your nerves. So don’t shout. Don’t upset yourself. Retain your composure and just tell them what they should do. And if you can’t stop a stream running don’t try.
Great love Everyone has their first love and I had my first love when I was in primary school. It was great love but she married somebody else.
Marriage My wife is a granddaughter of my father’s brother. She is my second cousin. On the day when she was born, I was nine and I went to say ‘hello’ and her grandmother put her in my arms and said: ‘here is your fianc?e’. When I went to England to study, the family said officially: ‘When you come back she will be your wife’. It wasn’t an engagement but like a promise. And she was a very pretty girl. Probably had there not been this adjustment in my mind I would have stayed in England or married there. It was during the war, and until the university opened for education I was sent to the farm and there were German girls there as workers. One of them, and she was very pretty, wanted to marry me because she wanted to get out of the camp but I could not.
What if? Sometimes I look back and think had been no Makarios and enosis (union with Greece), this island would have been much better. Had the killings not started in 1963 and we had just struggled through the courts, Cyprus would not have this bloodbath between us and there would not have been this separation. We could have been an example to the world that Christians and Muslims can work together in harmony and it could have been a bridge of friendship between Turkey and Greece.
His saying that “There is nothing Cypriot except for Cyprus donkey” It wasn’t me. It was Makarios. He said this to a beautiful Italian lady journalist. I think he was overwhelmed. I told this story to the youth who under the opposition flag of those days were saying: ‘We are Cypriots’, and immediately the opposition took it and started making propaganda that Denktash insulted Turkish Cypriots by calling them donkeys. This is the story. Everybody has pinned it on me. Many things have been pinned on me. It doesn’t matter.
Greek Cypriot politicians I can’t blame Greek Cypriot politicians for having the national cause and working for it but I blame them for not being realists. Cyprus is 70 kilometres away from Turkey and it is for Turkey a strategic island, as it is for everybody else. To think that Turkey would allow Cyprus to become part of Greece was a stupid way of looking at things.
Clerides He has guts. Once he said to De Soto: ‘I went for a full check-up and doctors were all very pleased with me. They said: ‘Perfect, everything is perfect 100 per cent and so on. And I said: ‘Look, you examined me only from my waste up’. He he he.
Religion I believe in God. I believe in the Koran. I read the Koran several times a year. I am not fanatical. I am a Turkish Cypriot who believes in his religion and God.
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2005
Is it time for the Cyprus Mail Editor to be escorted by the men in white coats. I never thought I would see the day when a Greek Cypriot “newspaper” would do a “Helloesque” on the man dedicated to the Cyprus problem [sic].
Our little Moldavian Lap Dancer Agneiszka drooled with joy as young and old Grey Wolves came to greet this gentle old killer. Three of four gut wrenching paragraphs later we are enlightened with the thoughts of this Turkish Capone on anything from cigarettes (shame he didnt smoke more) to the realpolitik. What was the point of this shameful piece of Turkish propaganda? I am really at a loss to know to whom this worthless crap is aimed for? Anyway who can we expect next week from the Cyprus Mail? Pol Pot or Saddam or even better Gary Glitter.
Angeiszka some free advise, get back to know what you do best. Your journalism does somewhat pong of the cut and paste derivative shit that is from the kiss and tell Sunday tabloids. But they do it much better.
im going 2 be sick.