BY HASAN CEMAL
MILLIYET- In the ‘70s, Turkey was caught in a vicious cycle of violence and terrorism. Our political system was helpless and weak. The left and right were unable to put their heads together to solve things. There were calls for then Justice Party (AP) leader Suleyman Demirel and Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Bulent Ecevit to establish a coalition. However, neither man wanted this. Instead, they pretended to be open to mutual dialogue, then lashed out against the other to the press. This was a style which brought Turkish politics to a dead end, a bad habit of a consensus-averse culture. A political style defining everything as ‘black and white’ or ‘friend or foe’ didn’t help our nation.
I bring this up because of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas. He’s still looking at the world through the lens of the Cold War. As I watched him speaking on TV recently, I thought that a leader who is so shackled to the past can never make peace. Neither a solution nor peace can be achieved with a leader who talks about Greek Cypriots as if they are devils. Turkey has suffered greatly from this style. Of course the Turkish Cypriots have suffered enormously from cruelty and oppression at the hands of the Greek Cypriots. Everybody knows this shameful history. However, if you deal with only this side of history and approach it not with the language of consensus but rather animosity, nobody will believe you really want peace. If you insult and say bad things about people you’re due to soon negotiate with, nobody will believe your willingness to seek solutions. I no longer believe in it this either. I respect the past. However, Mr. Denktas is stuck in it, and has become a slave of it. Of course lessons can be learned from the past, but these lessons can’t consist only of enmity. But this is Denktas. For this reason, I don’t believe that he is capable of making peace.