CYPRUS
"ENOUGH
IS ENOUGH!"
WOMEN DEMONSTRATE FOR PEACE IN CYPRUS
A small group of Cypriot women, calling themselves "Hands Across the Divide",
has started actively campaigning for peace in Cyprus.... They have to communicate
by e-mail, because face to face meetings between people living in north and
south Cyprus are so difficult to achieve.
Since 1974, the island of Cyprus
has been divided by a barbed-wire fence, which runs from coast to coast and
through the heart of the principal city of Nicosia.
Partition... This UN partition line was set up after a long period of ethnic
violence beginning back in 1963, compounded by meddling on the part of other
nations with an interest in the region. Ever since, the Turkish Cypriot population
of the north of the country has lived in complete separation from the mainly
Greek Cypriot population of the south. There's only one checkpoint in the 'Green
Line', and a Cypriot can't cross it without permission. Such permissions are
rarely given.
Women organizing... Hands Across the Divide was formed in March 2001, and one
of its immediate aims was to press for more freedom of contact and communication
right away between the two parts of Cyprus, and for early progress towards a
solution to 'the Cyprus problem'. As a group they want the right to organize
freely together. At a personal level they want to be able to visit friends as
and when they like, roam in every part of the island, and in general stop living
under intimidation from a continual threat of renewed violence. Turkish Cypriots
are also very fed up with the isolation and poverty of northern Cyprus.
Joining the European Union... Decisions are going to be taken very soon about
the pace and terms of Cyprus's accession to the European Union. This has concentrated
the minds of some politicians - Cypriot, and Turkish in particular, but also
the US, Britain and EU member states have had to refocus on their responsibilities.
And the result is: 'peace talks'.
New initiative... In early December, Glavkos Clerides and Rauf Denktash, respectively
the leaders of the two parts of Cyprus, startled Cypriots by announcing that
they would meet, for the first time in four years. First, in December, the two
old boys non-committally entertained each other to dinner. Now, from January
16, serious sustained peace negotiations have begun. While war breaks out or
continues in a lot of other places in the world, in this corner of the Eastern
Mediterranean there's a ray of sunshine.
Pressing for action... The women of Hands Across the Divide have been quick
to seize the moment. They are determined not to let the government of the south
of Cyprus take Greek Cypriots into the EU without getting a constitutional agreement
first that will bring Turkish Cypriots into 'Europe' simultaneously. They wrote
a letter for UN officials to deliver to the two men during their first meeting.
Turkish Cypriot women have been out on the streets from the start of the process.
Drivers in the early morning rush hour traffic have been faced with placards
reading: "It‚s Enough! Agree - Solve it - Sign up - Let‚s get
into the European Union!".
Dinner date... When Clerides crossed to the northern part of the island to have
dinner with Denktash, women in the northern part with candles flew white doves
and white balloons and carried a placard in Turkish and Greek saying, 'Peace:
Let‚s go for a shared country!' When Denktash crossed to the southern part
for dinner with Clerides, this time women from the southern part did the same,
carried the same placard and flew doves, expressing their desire for peace.
Women from the north were at the check-point at the same time in the north,
lighting candles and singing Cypriot songs in Turkish and Greek. When Denktash
and Clerides met on January 16 the women carried even tougher messages: 'Sign
or resign' and 'Reunite the island or we will do it!'
Involving civil society... In the north the activity of Hands Across the Divide
is framed within an alliance of women's organizations called the Women's Civic
Initiative for Peace who in turn act in concert with a much larger alliance
of progressive groups called "The 41 Organizations". In the south
the women of Hands Across the Divide are on the streets alongside other bi-communal
groups in what hopefully will become a wide mobilization of civil society organizations.
Inclusion of women... Hands Across the Divide want women to be enabled to make
an input to negotiations about a future Cyprus - scarcely a controversial demand
since a landmark UN Security Council Resolution of Oct 2000 called for the inclusion
of women and a gender perspective in all peace-making processes and peace-keeping
operations. This is the very first public political intervention by a bi-communal
women's group in Cyprus doing parallel action at the same day and time despite
the divide. More action is planned. We'll keep you informed.
If you feel like sending encouragement or for more information, mail a message
to: handsacrossthedivide-owner@yahoogroups.com.
Please send this article round all your e-networks. It would be good to get
the widest possible coverage for news of the forgotten Cyprus conflict, this
tentative peace process, the women's group and their actions.
Cynthia Cockburn London,
January 17 2002
Photographs and updates available. Contact in London for 'Hands Across the Divide':
Cynthia Cockburn WIB 00 44 20 7482 5670
c.cockburn@ktown.demon.co.uk