KIBRIS COLUMNIST COMMENTS
COLUMNIST Akay Cemal, writing for Cyprus Today’s sister newspaper Kıbrıs this week, said that the plight of the Palestinians is a reminder for Turkish Cypriots of the importance of Turkey for their security.
“While the attacks on the Palestinians have caused various reactions around the world and especially in Islamic countries, the condemnations have not had much effect on the Israeli administration,” he wrote.
“As far as we know and see, there is no Arab country that stands behind the Palestinians and protects them. Most Arab countries don’t care about the destruction of Palestine. Many Arab countries that have the word ‘Arab’ in their name go ‘hand in hand, arm in arm’ and line up politically with Israel. While these oil-rich countries are living a life of luxury, the Palestinian struggle for existence doesn’t concern them.
“If these were people from another country instead of Palestinians, would the ‘imperial’ and ‘other powers’ that shape the world remain so passive?
“Or are these people being punished just because they are Muslims? Isn’t it the same in Arakan [in Myanmar]? Isn’t the murder of more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims [in 1995] in one night in the middle of Europe in front of the eyes of the world an indication that human rights and international law have failed?
“Turkey is always one of the first countries to react to such crimes against humanity. . . While chatting with the late TRNC founding President Rauf Denktaş at the ‘Conference of Islamic Countries’, Palestine’s departed leader Yasser Arafat sighed and couldn’t help saying, ‘would we be in this situation if we had a motherland?’ What Arafat said was true. To date, which Arab country has stood up for Palestine? They don’t have the courage to stand up for it.
“While the Turkish Cypriot people resisted against the Greek Cypriot attacks that started with ‘Bloody Christmas’ on December 21, 1963, despite all the difficulties, which country other than Turkey lifted a finger to help?
“Thankfully, a few Islamic countries spoke out and contributed but that’s all! Were it not for the guarantor country Turkey, there would really be no Turkishness left on this island today. Those who have ties elsewhere also know this, but they refuse to accept it because it doesn’t serve their interests.”