If you give way, you will
instantly have to meet some greater demand, as having been
frightened into obedience in the first instance; while a firm
refusal will make them clearly understand that they must treat
you more as equals. Make your decision therefore at once, either
to submit before you are harmed, or if we are to go to war, as I
for one think we ought, to do so without caring whether the
ostensible cause be great or small, resolved against making
concessions or consenting to a precarious tenure of our
possessions. For all claims from an equal, urged upon a neighbour
as commands before any attempt at legal settlement, be they great
or be they small, have only one meaning, and that is slavery.
[Speach of Pericles - Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian
War, Chapter V]
Dear Fellow Greek-Americans and Philhellenes,
Most of you by now should know that United Nations Secretary General Kofi Anan has presented the government of the Republic of Cyprus and the factotums of the Turkish occupation forces with a plan that is intended to help resolve the Cyprus problem. The plan largely aims to mollify Turkey, to reward it for its patience in sticking to its demands over the last twenty eight years. As Mehmet Ali Birand wrote in his regular column in the Turkish Daily News (16 Nov 2002), "[t]he Cyprus package presented by the United Nations finishes off a 50-years-old problem by acknowledging legally the basic theses of the Turkish side. This package crowns the efforts of those who have devoted years to this cause, Denktash especially. Regardless of arguments to the contrary, the Cyprus plan put on the table by United Nations Secretary-General Annan is a victory for the Turks. The Turkish Cypriots and Ankara should make their pleasure known without suffering from any complexes, without feeling any need to hide it."
The response from the Greek and Greek-Cypriot political elites has been mixed; they are willing to discuss the plan in order not to put to risk Cyprus' accession into the European Union. This is a reasonable motivation. The risk lies in the acceptance of the terms and modalities of this "plan," from the pressure created by the short deadlines it imposes to the basically undemocratic assumptions underlying the proposed entity's form of government, in the guise of protecting the Turkish-Cypriot minority. A vast number of details combine to create a reality that essentially reflects the values of Turkish stratocratic regime as opposed to the European liberal democratic tradition. In fact the Anan plan will lead to the creation of a Turkish dependency that may become a wedge against Europe. Potentially it will enable Turkey not only to interfere in Greek affairs and impose its terms, but also have a say in the affairs of the European Union. No doubt those who conceived of it also had this in mind.
The response in Greece and Cyprus against this pernicious document is beginning to crystallize: it is reported in today's press in Athens that representatives from all Greek parties are forming a group to oppose this massive surrender. Other groups in Greek society are mobilizing. Among the clearest and most cogent positions was that taken by the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, in support of the position taken by the Holy Synod of the Church of Cyprus. I am taking the liberty of reproducing the Synod's Statement below for your information. Please feel free to circulate this so that we can inform our fellow Hellenes wordlwide.
It is then imperative for us to provide feedback to the government of Greece and Cyprus indicating our support for a policy that would not surrender historic parts of Hellenism in an effort to placate the predators of Ankara. The acceptance of the Anan Plan in substantially its present form, according to Professor Neoklis Sarris, one of the foremost Greek experts on Turkey (and himself a refugee of the pogroms against the Greeks of Constantinople) will spell the beginning of the end of Cypriot Hellenism. It will furthermore certainly increase the appetite of the Turkish stratocrats so that the Aegean Sea and Thrace will be their next targets. The Greek government then will be faced with a choice of capitulation or a war of defense. Thus a plan that ostensibly aims to bring peace will be the direct cause of war a few years from now. We do not want war. The best way to prevent it is by a firm and prudent policy of safeguarding Hellenism's frontiers now.
With
greetings to you all,
Aristide D. Caratzas
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