Why
are Cypriots so fond of their island’s map? Whenever a book is
published on Cyprus the map is on the cover. It is on posters
for seminars, meetings and cultural activities. It is the logo
of companies. It is everywhere. There is no other country, which
has placed its map at the center of her flag. The map has become
a kitsch. It is on ashtrays, coffee cups and on every kind of
souvenirs for tourist. I think many Cypriots think that their
map is very esthetic. Although some artists do not share this
view. I once talked about this to the painter Asik Mene and he
directly said “ No, its anti-aesthetic; it should have been carved
better”
He entered into a detailed analysis: “ The
neck and body has proportional mistakes. There is no connective
proportion between main body and neck. The west part has very
funny particularities; like the back of a duck. The Limassol bay
is very sentimental contrary to the rest. With all its inclinations
and erotic carvings it carries the particularities of a kitsch.The
most impressive part is the pregnancy of the map. I like this”
There are several different views about what this map resembles
to. Once the humorist George Mikes said, “
The Cypriots know that they can not become a world power, but
they have succeeded in becoming a world nuisance, which is almost
as good.”
Alone in the Mediterranean it looks like a steak
chop. Delicious and longed for. It is the food for gentlemen and
ladies. Steak is part of sanguine mythology as Roland Barthes
states: “ It is the heart of meat, it is
meat in pure state and whoever partakes of it assimilates a bull
like strength.”
It is very interesting that in Homeros’s Odyssey people never
eat fish. Who knows, perhaps Odysseus did not like fish. But how
could the heroes eat those weak animals, which are caught very
easily. Of course they were going to eat the meat of those strong
big animals!
Yes, Cyprus is a steak chop always ready to be
eaten by the heroes. It is a gift given by Antonio’s to Cleopatra,
by Richard the Lion Heart to his fiancée Berengaria. It is a tiny
little present. People give carvings of the Cyprus maps to each
other as presents to be hanged on the walls.
It is a ship alone in the sea with an unknown
destiny. It has halted at a certain time in history and can not
move.
It is a violin playing sad tunes.
It is like a historical monument conquered by
many.
It is the center of the world for the Cypriots
but hardly visible on the world map.
It is small and “small is beautiful.” It is a
baby with two mothers and since they can not share it they tore
it apart.
It is like Pinocchio; its nose becomes longer
as it lies.
It is like an imperialist finger pointing to
the Middle East.
It looks like a seashell; precious and rearly
found.
It is almost noble. The island of the queen.
Still in the streets of Kyrenia you can notice some old English
gentlemen and ladies g-oing around in the nostalgia and pretence
of being the masters of the island.
Othello must have been very angry with Desdemona
when he said:
“ You are welcome sir, to Cyprus, goats
and monkeys.”
The island is cute but a bit snobbish with her
nose up. It looks like saying, “Everybody
desires me. Of course I am Aphrodite’s island with the legend
that the first whore of the world was from Cyprus.”
It is a cookie beaten by many. It looks like
a gun, an alligator, very dangerous.
Once it was a carnivorous bird, perhaps Phoenix.
It should have been a gentle swan with its attractive brightness.
One day it could not carry its weight and gently descending from
the blue heavens landed on the Mediterranean Sea and was turned
to stone. The Gods could not carry this sin.
It was discovered early on in history. One of
the earliest surviving references to any map in Western literature
includes Cyprus; it appears in Herodotus history. Many versions
of it were drawn throughout history. The Italian Dali Sonnetti
is claimed to be one of its cartographers.
In a sonnet written by him he boasts:
“ To prove this feat achieved by me
Bartelemo dali Sonetti
I intend to demonstrate with true effect
How I have searched the Aegean Sea
And how, with compass to the wind
I have stepped repeatedly upon each isle
Its ports and bays, its rocks both bare
And filled with growth, and with stylus
Marked their true position on the chart. ”
In official Turkish history it is stressed that
once it was attached to the Iskenderun Gulf and then broke adrift.
Certainly she is the daughter of a Turkish mother! It seems to
be carved from the Bosphorus bay and thrown into the Mediterranean.
By official Greek history it is shown as a continuation
of the Greek islands and is put in a frame and carried to the
Aegean. She is the eldest daughter of mother Greece.
It is like a cloud in the Mediterranean sky.
It matches with the heavens. It is independent and envied by many.
That is the reason why it does not have political independence.
Some say that the Carpas Peninsula, which was
on the bargaining table during the 1964 discussions, the prize
of the Turkish Cypriots in a possible division, looks like a penis.
That is why “she” may be “he”.
It is like a bribe to be given in the bargain
of big territories. “ Accept as a gift please!”
It look likes a piglet who lost its way in the
sea.
It is like a butcher’s knife; the bloody knife
of history.
It is a baby’s cradle. A child to be adopted
by many. Mermaids and fishes are singing her lullabies.
It is a suffering mother who has lost thousands
of sons. The “ Sorrow Mother” for poet Fikret Demirag.
To comment about it is dangerous. It gives away
your political position. We must remember that once a Turkish
Cypriot TV programmer was punished for wearing a T-shirt with
an undivided Cyprus.
The dividing line?
It’s a contribution of history to the map and
our artist comments about it:
“ The line inside does not fit with this
already awkward island. If we consider the two portions of a whole
in accordance with forms and aesthetic criteria none of them gets
a score especially the southern part. So hopeless… So hopeless…”
It looks like a pan where a magic dish is cooked
by the witch of the Mediterranean.
It is a dragon. The protector of the sea.
It is a man with a big nose. Cyrano de Bergerac
wandering in the Mediterranean.
It is a means to bargain. It is on the political
table. Actually it is a non-map.
Children think that the division line hurts and
bleeds. So why do they call it “green line “ rather than “red
line”?
The red line is used on the political table to
draw a country for the people according to percentages.
Turkish soldiers send their families their photographs
placed in a heart in the middle of divided Cyprus: “I, the hero,
have protected this babyland for the sake of our glorious nation."
In Greek Cypriot propaganda documents blood is
dripping from the North. “ Don’t forget the invasion” is the message.
The island is suffering and raped.
Turkish Cypriot propaganda documents stated for
many years that there was happiness and prosperity in the North;
the division line is proudly stressed. A white dove of peace is
on a military tank. The sun rises from the North. Mother Turkey
saves her baby.
It is unstable. It can loose its balance at any
moment and be drawn in the sea. It is said that this happened
three times in history.
For Lawrence Durell it is the island of bitter
lemons:
“…………………….
Better leave the rest unsaid
Beauty, darkness, vehemence
Let the old sea nurses keep
Their memorials of sleep
And the Greek sea’s curly head
Keep its calms like tears unshed
Keep its calms like tears
unshed”
An island is a place for Utopia. It is a reference
to realization of dreams. Island is an I-land but “ no man is
an island”
The cartographer does not want to break his wife’s heart and he
adds an island to the world map for the sake of the senyora who
says: Darling, please add a little island
here, just for me.”
It is an open prison. The guardians are all around.
An island is a place where you make plans to escape from or you
might dream of seeking escape .
But what kind of a home is an island when so
many aliens come and become the new landlords?
It is a place where blue and green meet and dance.
Sometimes green turns red and fights with blue.
If you are looking for something to take home
a lot of souvenirs are present for the tourists The Cyprus map
is needlework on tablecloths and pillows. Cypriots sleep and wake
up with their map. It is on ashtrays and coffee cups (There is
a big confusion if it is Turkish coffee or Greek coffee)
It is printed on silk, to be hanging on the walls;
ornamented with signs. Hellenistic signs are stressed by Greek
Cypriots whereas Turkish and Islamic symbols are avoided and vice
versa for Turkish Cypriots. You can read the fortune of politics
on the coffee cups.
But if you want to buy a Cyprus kitsch I suggest
that you buy a wineglass. This is much closer too Dyonissos.
It is the island of Eros with the Aphrodite cult.
It is a lovesick woman centuries old with its erotic carvings.
Many lovers have left their marks on her and her latest romance
is a love triangle.
It is very strategic. As if situated on the sea,
as a military base. It looks like a tank ready to fire.
It is homework for children to be drawn by memory
A cake to be shared with the enemy.
It is a teardrop shed by Anatolia who has been
a mother for so many ethnicitys. It is pregnant since it is laboring
for centuries for the baby of peace.
