This text is based on a speech made by the representative of Bağımsızlık Yolu (Path to Independence), Ali Şahin, at the 6th annual “The Left and the Cyprus Problem” Conference. Read also the speech by New Internationalist Left in the same conference here
Nationalist movements on both sides of divided Cyprus have been on the rise for quite some time. Although this situation is not based on the same dynamics in the north and the south in every aspect, it is being experienced through similar processes. However, one thing that is absolutely the same on both sides is that fascism and nationalism are not only strengthening their organizations, but also shifting the entire political spectrum to the right.
The right-wing parties in the center are shifting even further to the right under the pressure of the strengthening fascist movements and the distinctions between these two sides of the right are practically disappearing. This general shift to the right naturally creates an atmosphere of despair about the division of Cyprus. However, the effects of the nationalist upsurge are not limited to the Cyprus question. Growing fascist movements are strengthening the right-wing ideological understanding of every issue that falls within the sphere of political struggle, from everyday problems faced by the people to multidimensional issues such as the Cyprus problem. In short, both unemployment and the Cyprus problem are trapped in the shallowness of the right-wing mentality. Therefore, we can see the negative impact of fascism on the Cyprus problem in all areas of life. For this reason, we should seek its solution in all areas. However, without addressing this aspect of the issue in detail, let’s take a brief look at how fascist movements in Cyprus have exacerbated ethnic tensions and deepened the Cyprus problem in parallel. Because, unfortunately, the history of Cyprus contains countless examples of nationalism harming the peoples and their common struggle.
Yesterday
The Cyprus problem emerged with the expansion of capitalist relations on the island, and since the mid-1950s it has included intermittent but long-lasting periods of conflict. The policies of Enosis and Taksim, which disregarded the right to self-determination of the other “compatriot” with whom they shared the same island, were embodied in the masses during this period, and the waves of opposing nationalist waves they created have brought us to the present day on the basis of great pain whose wounds have not yet been healed. Therefore, when analyzing the current state of fascism and its impact on the Cyprus question, we must look not only at today, but also at the past that has turned into today.
Although nationalist politics in Cyprus have regressed from time to time, they unfortunately continue to be one of the main determinants of politics due to the conditions in which the national question has not been overcome. The escalation of ethnic tensions into conflicts and wars has created a favorable ground for the right in the past. However, this “success” does not only belong to right-wing subjects. Yes, geographies with national problems create favorable conditions for nationalists. However, these conditions may also change according to the presence of political rivals.
Unfortunately, in Cyprus, the right has been struggling with a left that has been dragged behind it. Certain examples are key to understanding the situation. Before 1974, AKEL, which for years had been “riding on the coattails” of Enosis by claiming the right to self-determination, not only strengthened the nationalist front but also stood by and watched as the leading cadres of the Turkish Cypriot left were massacred by the Taksimists and the Turkish Cypriots were imprisoned in a nationalist blockade. At the same time, this situation has turned the accumulation of a long history of common class struggle, in which AKEL has an important share, into a thing of the past to a large extent. Blaming the division between the peoples of Cyprus solely on imperialism has led to the left’s failure to see its duties, and instead of fighting nationalism, it has allowed the right to become the dominant factor in intra-Cypriot dynamics. It should not be forgotten that the ethnic conflicts that resumed in December 1963 and played a major role in 1974 were largely the product of these Enosisist and Taksimist internal dynamics. This misconception persisted even in the post-1974 period, when the utopia of Enosis was largely lost but nationalism continued to blow in different forms, leading AKEL to take a position behind Papadapoulos. The Turkish Cypriot left, which has mostly followed the right’s lead, albeit through pressure mechanisms at various breaking moments such as the Declaration of TRNC and the imposed economic packages, has both moved closer to the right and has not been able to go beyond the political boundaries imposed by Ankara on the solution of the Cyprus problem. As such, years that were critical in preventing the deepening of the Cyprus problem were generously squandered.
It is important to note that nationalisms on both sides have often come to each other’s rescue in this state of subversion.
Today
Today’s rising nationalist movements have historical ties to the past, but they are also rising out of new dynamics emerging in the current circumstances. ELAM, a neo-fascist party, has been growing steadily in the south of the island since 2008. After becoming a party in 2011, it has increased its votes in every election it has entered. The party, which produces politics not only on the basis of “hatred of Turks” but also on the basis of xenophobia, has pulled the already quite broad nationalist front even further to the right with its growth. Therefore, from economic problems to democracy issues, the political ground has been shaped by the arguments of the right. Leftists, who watched ELAM’s first steps of growth with a reckless indifference, today rightly underline the danger of fascism with an understanding that ignores their own share in this growth.
However, it is not only ELAM that is growing, but a nationalist front that includes parties such as DISI, DIKO, EDEK, the Greens, etc., and this front is a major obstacle to the reunification of Cyprus.
A similar process is taking place in the northern part of the island, although it cannot be materialized solely through a party like ELAM. The UBP, the traditional party of the right, has been expanding the right-wing front since 2018, together with the DP and the YDP, which has grown on the basis of organizing Turkish Cypriots of Turkish origin. This front, which is also formed with an unconditional AKP-MHP support centered in Turkey, dominates the Turkish Cypriots in every sense and the politics of 2 separate states has risen with the wind of this front. However, the bloc, which is the embodiment of separatism and reaction, did not grow in a day, just like in the case of ELAM. It was also formed thanks to the indifference of the CTP, which saw and ignored the comfort of political Islam, which started to settle with the impositions of the AKP. Moreover, the CTP and its followers defended this mistake for years on the grounds that the AKP supported a solution in Cyprus.
In short, we can say that a “left” has emerged on both sides of the island from the past to the present, distancing itself from leftist politics, and that this “left” has succumbed to the understanding that compresses all politics into the parameters of the right with the Cyprus problem.
And Tomorrow!
As can be understood from what we have said so far, the Cyprus problem continues in an uncertainty created by various nationalisms. On the other hand, the rise of these fascist and nationalist movements should not be read independently from the rise of the right in the world. While the dynamics outside the island are only interested in a Cyprus that suits their interests, a significant part of the dynamics within the island consists of the nationalist circles we mentioned. And this situation has brought the danger of a permanent partition to a more critical point than ever before.
In the face of this bad trend, socialists need to go beyond the general tendency to be mere observers, and take action to create a political alternative. It is then necessary to ask Chernyshevsky’s timeless question. “What is to be done?” Although the Cyprus problem has taken a multi-actor form since the past, the most important and indispensable subjects for its solution are the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot peoples, that is, the internal dynamics. External dynamics have already been able to get involved in the problem thanks to the opportunities created by internal dynamics and have increased their role within the opportunities they have found. So another question is how the internal dynamics in favor of peace and the brotherhood of peoples can “assume their role?” The answer to this question is the class struggle against nationalisms. The class struggles that will rise from within the two peoples, albeit separately, will strengthen both the left and thus the struggle for peace. The only force that can stop the nationalist and fascist rise is the class struggle that will bring the two peoples closer.
We can confront forces like ELAM and YDP not with an abstract pacifism, but only with a concrete power organized within the class. Although the division, which has left behind its 50th year and the differences between the conditions of the two peoples that have emerged in parallel with it, make it difficult for these struggles to physically converge, we must accept that the current course of events is already entrenching the existing separation. Therefore, we must continue to pursue the impossible in a realistic way, rather than allowing the difficulty created by reality to turn into an excuse. Today, the only possibility that will both turn the ground where the right is rising towards the left and force external dynamics to different moves is the potential created by the class struggle. The hope for a different Cyprus tomorrow than today lies in this potential alone.
