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All photos: Marianne Ejdersten/WCC, 2019.
It has been 46 years since the
Turkish invasion of Cyprus led to the partitioning of the island, the
northern third inhabited by Turkish Cypriots and the southern two-thirds
by Greek Cypriots, whose government is internationally recognized. The
August 1974 ceasefire line became a United Nations buffer zone, along
which Cyprus remains divided.
The Church of Cyprus, a founding member of the
World Council of Churches (WCC), strives for the unity of the island,
together with other churches in the country.
Metropolitan Dr Vasilios, head of the diocese
of Constantia – Ammochostos in Cyprus, shared his reflections on the
ongoing quest for reconciliation. His Eminence was interviewed by email by the World Council of Churches (WCC) director of communication Marianne Ejdersten.
Your Eminence, can you describe the current peace process and the role of the churches and the interreligious dialogue?
Metropolitan Dr Vasilios: After
the collapse of the negotiations in 2017 there was time for reflection,
from a political point of view, for both sides. Some attempts were made
at a later stage to come together again by the meeting of the leaders
of the two communities, the most important being the decision of
developing measures of mutual confidence. Unfortunately, there are some
important factors which have influenced the development of a real
engagement for negotiations.
The first and most serious factor is Turkey’s
aggression against Cyprus which unfortunately gets more and more
aggravated, as it is clearly evident in the recent actions of Turkey to
send out ships and search for natural gas in the Exclusive Economic Zone
of Cyprus. The government of Cyprus has constantly declared that is
willing to go to the negotiations but not under any condition of
threatening by Turkey.
In addition to this, the Turkish-Cypriot community
is found in a pre-election period since last year, and given the fact
that Turkey finances the political structure of the so-called government
of the occupied area of Cyprus one understands the interventions of the
Turkish government in the whole procedure. This was particularly clear
in the statements of the opposition parties, favoured by the Turkish
government, which poison the whole situation and, consequently, destroy
any hopes for restarting the negotiations for the time being.
Also, during this period, again in the context of
the campaign in the election period, provocative actions clearly
promoted by the Turkish government took place regarding the reopening of
the city of Famagusta aiming to put it under the control of the
so-called government of the Turkish-Cypriot community, contrary to the
decisions of the Security Council of the United Nations concerning the
city of Famagusta, that the closed city since 1974 has to be given back
to the legal owners. Going even further into absurdity, it has been
claimed that the whole of Famagusta belongs to the organization of
“Vakoufia,” which, of course, provokes great pain to the refugees,
especially those originated from Famagusta, but also to the whole Greek
population of Cyprus.
Additionally, the current situation of the
pandemic of COVID-19 has also caused further isolation between the two
sides, given that the crossing checkpoints were closed and there was no
communication. It is only recently that checkpoints start to reopen.
How important is the prophetic role of the church?
Metropolitan Dr Vasilios: From
the point of view of the church, during this period we were not able
until now to conduct any services in the churches in the occupied area,
as it was the practice before.
Therefore, 1. The collapse of the negotiations, 2.
The situation created due to Turkey’s aggression and 3. The charged
atmosphere in the pre-election period and the COVID-19 pandemic, all
these together played a major role for not having any religious dialogue
or contact during this period.
Your Eminence, how do you look at
the U.N.-led peace talks between the two sides had more or less
collapsed in Geneva, Switzerland in July 2017. Do you see any signs of
hope?
Metropolitan Dr Vasilios: The
presidential elections in the occupied area are now postponed until
October and recently they have decided for parliamentary election
probably on January 2021. It should be noted that the actual
Turkish-Cypriot leader, who is a quite moderate politician and ready for
negotiations, is not favoured by the Turkish government and we have
read some news that his life is even threatened. Our government has
repeatedly said that after the elections in the occupied area, and in
agreement with the UN, there could be a convocation in the same form as
the one in Grans-Montana in 2017. A five-party conference with the two
Cypriot communities and the three guarantor countries Greece, Turkey and
the United Kingdom, under the auspices of the United Nations and an
observer from the European Union, in order to seek for a peaceful
solution to the Cyprus problem. Our government has declared its
readiness to do that but until now we do not have any signs towards that
direction from the side of Turkey. We would like to draw your
attention to the wider region of Eastern Mediterranean and the actions
of Turkey, which are very provocative not only for Cyprus but also for
other countries in the area, such as Israel, Egypt, Greece, France,
Italy and many others. Also, we should note the recent actions of Turkey
in Syria and Libya and lastly but very important to us, the conversion
of Hagia Sophia to a mosque. As the Holy Synod of the Church of Cyprus
has recently declared:
“The Holy Synod of the Church of Cyprus, echoing
the feelings of anger and frustration of the Cypriot people, and of all
the Orthodox alike, expresses its deep sorrow and grave concern, for the
recent decision of the Turkish Authorities to convert Hagia Sophia into
a mosque.
The Greek people of Cyprus has an additional
reason to express their concern and sorrow for this ungodly and
unacceptable action of the Turkish leaders, given that since 1974 the
majority of ecclesiastical monuments in the Turkish-occupied area of the
Republic of Cyprus have been plundered and destroyed, as the remaining
walls witness to this day. Some churches have become mosques, others are
used as stables or for military purposes, while some of them are
totally destroyed in the effort to obliterate any sign of the
traditional Christian identity of the land. After all this has been
the tactic of Turkey throughout its whole history with regard to the
lands they conquered. But, “if people remain silent, the stones will cry
out”. It is with sadness that we have seen statements of
Turkish-Cypriots who, in an attempt to support the Turkish
government, have falsely accused the Greek-Cypriots for destroying
Turkish-Cypriot monuments, while they can see in the occupied areas
where they live the destroyed Christian churches that they have
themselves ruined, but yet without being ashamed of that they come out
with such unsubstantial accusations.” […]
“We
are afraid that this incomprehensible and unjustified action, as it has
been rightly said, “might lead to a deep breach between Christianity
and Islam”. Although it might be an incomprehensible and unjustified
action for us, it is a conscious choice for the Turkish government since
they have decided to move away from Europe and fulfil their Islamic
vision of an Ottoman Empire. Consequently, the problem is clearly
deeper, we could say it is a systemic problem, as it is against the
Christian principles and the Christian faith, and also it creates a
Muslim identity which must be different from the Christian one.”
How can the global fellowship pray for you and accompany you in the peace process?
Metropolitan Dr Vasilios: Thank
you very much for your prayers and your interest about the situation in
our country, which is from the very beginning supporting the church and
the people of Cyprus. I do not see any possibility for a mediating role
of the WCC, at least for the time being, taking also into account the
difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that our church is
willing to have peaceful conditions for all Cypriot citizens,
Christians, Muslims and people from all religious communities, we are
closely following the whole situation.
