Misery of Divided Cyprus a warning to Ukraine Rebels - 19th August 2014
Misery of divided Cyprus should be a warning to
Ukraine rebels
19 – 8 - 2014 Heraldsun - Theo Theophanous
IT’S 5am and the sirens shatter the
morning silence signalling an invasion. For five minutes they sound to
commemorate the invasion 40 years ago by Turkish troops of the island nation of
Cyprus.
People here refuse to forget, even
while they are resigned to the division of their country and have little faith
in the negotiations to reunite it. They have lived with a Berlin-type wall
division of their capital for 40 years and that is unlikely to end anytime
soon.
It is another reminder that a nation
once divided can take decades to put back together. •
The parallels with the crisis in the
Ukraine are stark. In Cyprus a Turkish minority is “saved” by the power of the
Turkish army. In the Ukraine a Russian minority looks for salvation from the
Russian Army. The division of Ukraine seems inevitable to many in Europe, even
as the country has received a short-term reprieve as a result of the appalling
events surrounding MH17. It’s a terrible price to pay and it includes 38
Australian lives.
•Australian Federal Police are in the
Ukraine to help. In Cyprus, AFP members are still deployed on the buffer zone
between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. It is the longest Australian contribution
to peace keeping in our history.
Despite the catastrophe of MH17 which
may have tempered some of the more blatant support for the separatists by
Russia for a while, the forces that led to the current crisis will not go away.
There will be more loss of life and
more forced displacement of people.
Russia will continue its support for
the separatists — those who dream of a greater Russia will ensure that. And the
new administration in Ukraine’s east, drunk with the notion that they can be
ministers or in positions of power, will also ensure it continues.
But what does history tell us about
these kinds of divisions? In Cyprus, despite its economic problems, the Greek
South has a standard of living almost three times that of the occupied north,
with far better health services and
infrastructure. Many Turkish Cypriots
feel cheated by the Turkish invasion which promised them greater prosperity.
About half have emigrated only to be replaced by Turkish settlers.
In the Ukraine, the Russian speakers
who have been seduced into supporting breaking away from the Ukraine and who
seek protection from the Russian army should look to the example of Cyprus.
Both Greek and Turkish Cypriots continue to suffer but none more so than
Turkish Cypriots who live in an enclave that is unrecognised by any nation
except Turkey.
It is now a real possibility that the
Ukraine will be divided and develop into a more prosperous west supported by
the EU and a poor east occupied by the Russian Army. New Russian settlers in
the east will complicate matters and the mass displacement of people will be a
human tragedy as Ukrainian speakers in the east head west and Russian speakers
in the west head east.
Already the economic and democratic
consequences for Crimea of splitting off from the Ukraine are emerging as it
relies heavily on the rest of Ukraine for water and energy and as Russia
tightens its grip including on democratic freedoms.
My trip to Europe was planned months
ago and included Kiev. •It was to see the architecture and culture of a
historically and politically significant country.
But the message of MH17 is stay away
or risk the consequences. But now more than ever the Ukraine needs tourism and
moral and financial support. So I will go, not just be for the history, but in
solidarity with those who want a democratic united country and in sympathy with
Australians and others who died on MH17.
We must all reject the forces that
want to use fear to isolate the Ukraine and divide its people. For 40 years we
have witnessed the ongoing human consequences of the division of Cyprus.

Russian speaking Ukrainians should
know that if they accept what amounts to a Russian occupation, theirs will be
the greatest tragedy, as large as the tragedy for Turkish (and Greek) Cypriots,
East (and West) Germans or North (and South) Koreans — and it will last for
decades
Theo Theophanous is a political commentator and former Victorian government
minister
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