Cyprus: We should be ashamed of ourselves!

They arrested and handcuffed the man who had been raising our standard of revolt for decades, the Turkish-Cypriot hero who was living here with us and was always playing a leading role in the struggles against Denktash and his regime. Please read carefully the dialogue between a police officer and Ibrahim recorded by the cameras and seen on TV.
Police Officer: Who are you, sir?
Ibrahim: I am a citizen of the Republic of Cyprus.
Police Officer: Are you Greek-Cypriot?
In case you haven’t understood, only the Greek-Cypriots can be citizens of the Republic of Cyprus.
The Chief of Police, Mr. Panayiotou, as well as the Minister of Justice heard this, because I heard them both say that they saw the tape.

If, despite of what you saw or heard, the only thing that troubled you was Mr. Aziz’s attitude, then I’m afraid that you are both holding your post by mistake.
You have trained the Republic of Cyprus police and especially those who are stationed at the Ledra Palace to believe that only Greek-Cypriots are citizens of this Republic. Don’t try to justify yourselves, we all heard it with our own ears and saw it with our own eyes.

These pictures honestly made my blood freeze. We used to see similar scenes all the time when dissident journalists were arrested in Turkey. The pictures talk for themselves and there is no need for comments and explanations neither by ministers nor by leaders. You will surely say that this is an isolated incident, just like the deportation of the Turkish-Cypriot woman that you have been looking into for almost 4 months now, and keeping files on people at the barricades and many others.

There was a time, dear friend Ibrahim, when your presence here and your struggles for reunion of Cyprus were convenient. Certain so-called friends of yours were pretending to be internationalists and brothers of the Turkish-Cypriots. But now, my friend, in case you haven’t noticed, things have changed. There is a palpable risk of solution and reunion of Cyprus. And those ex-friends of yours start developing a frightening nationalism.
Nationalism, my friend Ibrahim, is a disease that may be hidden but is incurable. Those who handcuffed you and those who vindicate them in front of the cameras may be proud because they obeyed the letter of the law. And you may be wondering why they treated you this way since you have a Cypriot ID card and you are a citizen of the Republic of Cyprus.

We still have a long way to go, my friend Ibrahim, but we will keep walking firmly, no matter how long it is. As for those who are trying to block this road to us, will be swept away by history and they will be remembered as the most insignificant human beings.