cyprus mourns the death of another cypriot, who died this week.
his name was Vetat Ahmet (?).
Vetat was a policeman since 1947. he continued being a policeman in the Republic of Cyprus. in 1974 , he was with other people responsible for Greek Cypriot prisoners. even though his own son (15 years old) was injured by a Greek Cypriot bullet, he has chosen not the path of hate , but he saw in every Greek Cypriot teenager his own son. not only he sneaked after midnight and brought food and water to Greek Cypriot prisoners , but he was also giving them at times money when he knew they would escape, and the following advice : Go , and donot join EOKA B. he was betrayed by a Greek Cypriot ( Shocked ) and was removed from that post. nevertheless he didnot gave up. at times he even fought with turkish officers to carry Greek Cypriot prisoners with his car , which he left free later on at safe places.
after 2003 , some Greek Cypriot searched for him and with help from a Turkish Cypriot journalist working in "africa" they found him.
two of the people he saved were present in his funeral , aristos hatjidimitris , and dimitris sidiropoulos :
Dear Vetat , our father, our teacher , our leader, we the children of yalousa, we beg you - now that you are in the sky, talk to god or allah, mohamet or christ. you can speak both greek and turkish. please tell them to enlighten our leaders. to give them the lesson you have given to us. that humanity is cypriot.
http://www.politis-news.com/cgibin/hweb ... V=articles
mustafa brims with tears
by giorgos kaskanis.
mustafa was the first Turkish Cypriot i met. he came alone into the offices of politis just bc he heard that the newspaper is in favor of reunification. he gathered all the knowledge of the greek language he had, and used to come in the south after 2003. he used to carry the id of the Republic of Cyprus as the most precious gift he has ever received in his life.
he was strongly against denktash and he used to give us information about the boom in the constraction industry and he was furious about it.
then suddenly the last months he didnot come any more.
mustafa comes from paphos. he is currently using a piece of Greek Cypriot land. he met with the original owners and became friends with them. he planted pricky pair trees , and gave a promise to the christians that he would take care of the land till it is returned to them.
but life moves on and does not wait for the average Greek Cypriot or Turkish Cypriot. it was decided that a road wil pass through that village. over the trees he planted. he reacted, he resisted, he shouted , and in the end he was even arrested. the road went through his pricky pair trees.
mustafa sais that and his eyes brim with tears.
he feels the injustice. he considers it his "failure" that he couldnot protect was he was trusted with. that he cannot fullfill the promise he gave. one of the few , people still connected with the land and the trees. one of the even fewer who cries for the property of the christians.
http://www.politis-news.com/cgibin/hweb ... -V=columns
the Turkish Cypriot "made his cross"
husein lives currently in kyrenia. he grows chrysomila, on a piece of land that he knows that it doesnot belong to him. 32 years later the owners , one of them an 80 year old woman who came from autralia just for this reason , visited their land. husein told them - you can go to your trees and take as many appricots you want with you.
the family thanked him , and filled three boxes with fruits.
at the check point they were stopped and were told that they can only bring 3 kg of fruits from the north -for personal use only. the Greek Cypriot family said : but we didnot buy them , we cut them from our trees. they couldnot convince the official. thats was written on the green line regulation. he insisted that the fruits are illegal and should be destroyed. instead of being destroyed the family turned back and called husein to come at the check points and take the fruits back.
husein was so shocked that he "made his cross". god help us , he said. he couldnot understand that the Greek Cypriot authorities were preventing a Greek Cypriot to take fruits with him , from trees that belonged to him before 1974!
but things like that appear to be happening everyday with this green line regulation
http://www.politis-news.com/cgibin/hweb ... V=articles
This story was told by Said Ilhan in his AFRIKA column of 26.3.06 :
One of Ilhan's close relatives who worked in the Republic of Cyprus was seriously injured in an accident.When she let her Greek Cypriot employer know she wouldn't be coming to work probably for weeks, she was expecting a polite"get well" message on the phone followed by a notice of dismissal...
She was very surprised when her employer sent two people from the company to visit her at home,who were only interested in her health and welfare,and who promised to do all they could to speed her return to work.The pair explained her worker's entitlements which included 6 weeks of sick leave on full pay and other social security rights.They also offered to send an ambulance to bring her to the South if her own doctor's certificates were not accepted by the Republic.
The story does not end here,Ilhan explains.He tells us how his relative found her job in the South. She was a refugee who lived in a Greek Cypriot refugee house in the North. It was the legal owner of the house who came for a visit two years ago and saw how badly she needed a job who helped her get it!!! So,chin up people...there is still hope for humanity winning in our Cyprus. Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy
