Blogcritics: Comments on Another War Flower Blossoms

Comment by Doctor Slack

Thu, 1 May 2003 07:13:24 EDT

Given the intense nationalistic interests involved, accurate accounts of how the current situation in Cyprus came to be are hard to come by, but there's a good start here. There is, of course, a long history of Greco-Turkish enmity preceding the events in Cyprus -- dating back at least to WWI and atrocities committed against Greeks in Asia Minor by the Ottoman Empire -- which helps explain (though doesn't excuses) the fervor for enosis of the Greek nationalists and the actions they took in pursuit of it. As for what's motivating Rauf Denktash (he's the president of the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus) -- he has been under intense political pressure from both his Turkish Cypriot constituency and the Turkish government since December (well before the US' diplomatic debacle with Turkey) to move toward reconciliation, and his state has been under EU embargo since 1994. Ascribing the recent events on Cyprus to Iraq is therefore about as plausible as blaming Clinton's "atmosphere of permissiveness" for Enron. Now, if this stuff goes anywhere... then we can talk about the Iraq war creating "a new atmosphere."

Comment by Perry Perdis

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 21:27:11 EDT

Being a Greek American,i totally disagree. Cyprus was an island of GREEK TERRITORY. Cyprus as it is now was made that way by the AMERICAN government because they wanted to expand their military bases in the Middle east and Turkey was in a prime position for that. I remember being in Washington at 8 years old with my family and thousands of other Greek Americans protesting this ridiculous theft of a piece of a nation. The worst part was that this was not the first time the United States acted in it's own interest which was against the interest of an ally. Cyprus should be retured to Greece because IT IS GREECE.

Comment by jadester

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 11:08:43 EDT

aye, i still don't agree with messrs Bush and Blair, but it is undeniable the war in Iraq has made some large influences that can only be for the better (in the lnog run at least).