Independence Day

50 years and two weeks ago (celebrated today to allow Cypriots to escape the island during the hottest part of the summer in mid-August), Cyprus gained its sovereignty from the British as the Republic of Cyprus. This holiday is only celebrated by the Greek-speaking community of the island because it was their citizens who became members of “EOKA”, a movement whose “freedom fighters” rose up against British forces on the island in the late 1950’s.

When I attended the parade this morning in Nicosia, I found myself uneasy with the celebration. One would hope that a celebration of freedom after centuries of foreign rule would bring about a festival of culture and identity. On the contrary, a military parade heads north on a main thoroughfare towards the Old City of Nicosia and the Buffer Zone. The buzz of military helicopters in the airspace above and the tremors produced in the wake of Renault tanks on the hot asphalt only a few feet in front of me was alarming. The stone-faced soldiers at the helm of this heavy artillery and lines of armed marines chanting Greek phrases in unison marched down the wide road in the direction of the  massive land flag representing the unrecognized occupation by the Turkish military in the Turkish Cypriot community, which they call the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” or “TRNC”.

For me, the parade was a scary display of how serious the tension and nationalism is on this island. With the Greek and Cypriot flags hanging from parade route’s lampposts on one side and the massive flags representing Turkey and the “TRNC” on the other, I see this parade as more of a muscle-flexing display of partition than a representation of coexistence in a sovereign nation. After all, this celebration only began about 20 years into the 50 year history of the Republic of Cyprus, after the Turkish military claimed occupation over the north third of the island.

Here is the opinion of the local paper.