Tufan Erhurman is turning into a right con artist. And I mean that kindly. Who am I to call the man an actual crook? That’s a job for people closer to him.
You know how mates rib each other, half-joking, half-not: You old fraud, how did you pull that one off? Where’ve you got to, you old fraud? What’s your game now, you old fraud? Always friendly, on the surface. But there’s a little needle hanging underneath it too, a question mark over the man’s character, somewhere between betrayal and just letting things slide. Or plain old doubt.
You old fraud, then. Turkey has turned occupied Cyprus into one giant military base, not just to point at Greek Cypriots but to menace or control nearly every country in the region. The plundering of stolen Greek Cypriot property just keeps rolling on, we learned only yesterday that even Akanthou is being turned into a tourist trap. The occupation army keeps pushing forward in the dead zone regardless of what’s happening on the political front. So how on earth do you have the nerve to demand Greek Cypriots drop every last bit of self-protection, just so some “favourable climate” can supposedly bloom?
Even when Nikos Christodoulides tried sending a positive signal the other day, Erhurman rushed straight in to torpedo it. As if something terrible might happen if Turkish Cypriots caught a whiff of goodwill from Christodoulides.
Speaking to the Turkish Cypriot outlet Yeni Duzen, Christodoulides said he genuinely believed that he and Erhurman could “make history” together. If it were entirely up to the two of them, he said, “we could reach a solution to the Cyprus problem by next week.” Because, he added, he believes “Mr Erhurman genuinely wants a solution too.”
Same day, Erhurman comes running to slap that down (why, exactly?), firing off the opposite message. “Writing history together is anything but easy,” he posted. Because, apparently, “initiatives that ignore Turkish Cypriots” keep being pushed through, agreements with various countries, “mainly Israel and Greece.” And the best bit: “instead of new confidence-building measures being implemented,” trust is instead being battered “by issues like Barcelona, the festivals, the property question, and the European Parliament’s one-sided, biased decisions” (he means funding for a memorial to the 1974 rapes).
What’s that, clever clogs? Are you telling us trust gets built by Greek Cypriots holding their breath? Because that’s roughly what these demands amount to. Stop breathing, Greek Cypriots, until you decide how much oxygen we’re entitled to. Because apparently the oxygen’s a shared asset now.
And what exactly are you doing for trust-building, though? Has the plunder of Greek Cypriot property stopped, so the prosecutions of the plunderers can stop too? When you signed that gas pipeline deal with Turkey running through the occupied areas, did you happen to ask the Greek Cypriots first?
No, none of that damages trust, apparently. Signing deals with Turkey? Fine. Seeking recognition from Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan? Fine. Ignoring Greek Cypriots isn’t a problem there. But the moment the Republic of Cyprus signs agreements with Greece and Israel, suddenly trust is shattered and Turkish Cypriots are being ignored. And what’s the excuse for this swindle, this barefaced hypocrisy? Turkish Cypriots are partners and co-founders of the Republic of Cyprus, he says, a line he wheels out whenever it suits him.
Honestly, the nonsense we have to listen to. And we’ve got the usual blockheads among us insisting our entire problem is that Christodoulides won’t open one roadblock, Mia Milia, as if that alone would magic up all the trust Erhurman claims to want. What’s that, you old fraud? Give me strength.
