“We” Tries to Unite Cyprus on the News

International Herald Tribune – August 29, 2005

J. Alex Tarquinio

 

 

NICOSIA For an hour before dinner each weeknight, many Cypriots on both the Greek and Turkish sides of this island tune into the same TV show. It is called "Biz" in Turkish, and "Emis" in Greek. Both words mean "we."

 

The program first aired in March 2004, succeeding a similar half-hour weekly news program called "Mirror," which was introduced soon after travel restrictions were eased here in April 2003. Cyprus has been divided into Greek- and Turkish-controlled zones since Turkey invaded this Mediterranean island in 1974, in response to a Greek-backed coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece.

 

Viewer response to "Biz" was initially mixed. "In the beginning, many people opposed it," said Natasa Louca, the show's producer. Some Greek Cypriot viewers objected to hearing Turkish spoken on Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation, better known here as CyBC, the state-sponsored television channel on the Greek part of the island. "But slowly, slowly they accept it," Louca said.

 

Until 2003, broadcast journalists from the two sides had not worked together since 1963, when strife erupted on the island. Now, some of the young Turkish Cypriot journalists for "Biz" commute daily from the Turkish side of Nicosia - the last divided capital city in the world - to work on the Greek side.

 

Other journalists here are cooperating on projects like Cyprus Dialogue, a weekly newspaper with articles in Turkish, Greek and English.

 

But reporters still face many obstacles because of the division. For instance, Greek Cypriot journalists need permission from the Turkish Cypriot authorities to report in the north, the Turkish-controlled part of the island.

 

Turkish Cypriot journalists do not need approval from the south anymore. But correspondents from Turkey who are based in the north do still need permission to report in the south - and frequently, it is denied.

 

Obtaining permission from either side can take 48 hours, effectively ruling out the coverage of breaking news. But even with advance notice, permission is not assured. Early this month, the Turkish Cypriot authorities submitted a list of about two dozen mainland Turkish journalists who wanted to cover a historic soccer match between Greek Cypriots and Turkey on the Greek side of the island. All were refused.

 

CNN Turkey, a joint venture between Time Warner's Turner Broadcasting International and Dogan Media Group of Turkey, ran into problems in February when it flew a Turkish crew to the northern part of the island, landing at Ercan, an airport that the Greek Cypriots consider illegal. Mehmet Ali Birand, a well-known television host in Turkey, had no trouble crossing to the other side, because he carries a Belgian passport. But his eight-member Turkish crew was held up for a week before obtaining permission to walk across.

 

Despite the difficulties, determined journalists soldier on. Reshat Akar, the Turkish Cypriot editor behind Cyprus Dialogue, had dreamed of starting a trilingual newspaper ever since Alekkos Konstantinides, a Greek Cypriot journalist, suggested it to him 23 years ago.

 

The staff at Cyprus Dialogue, which has been publishing weekly since December, is mostly Turkish Cypriot. Konstantinides, who contributes a weekly column, is an exception. Most of the 5,000 issues are given away at crossing points between the two sides, but roughly 1,000 are sold each Friday for 1 new Turkish lira, or about 75 U.S. cents.

 

Akar said he had decided not to seek grants. "I don't want this to be a UN or an EU publication," he said. The costs are mostly covered by advertising. In the 36 issues so far, Turkish Cypriots have purchased about 70 ad pages, and Greek Cypriots, about 10 pages. But in the future, Akar said he hoped to open an office on the Greek side and hire more Greek Cypriot staff. "Step by step," he said. "I am not in a hurry."

 

"Biz" remains the most visible collaboration between journalists from both sides. The dozen reporters, producers and translators who work for Louca, the producer, are evenly divided between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Many of them lost homes in the partition of the island in 1974. One of the show's two leading reporters, Christodolos Christodolou, grew up in a Greek Cypriot village where the church was literally cut off from them by the Green Line, as the UN buffer zone here is called. Growing up like that, "it's normal that you have feelings of sorrow and pain," Christodolou said.

 

The Turkish Cypriot job candidates were asked one crucial question during their interviews with CyBC: whether they could use Greek Cypriot political terminology.

 

At the start of the show, two Turkish Cypriots read the official Greek Cypriot news in Turkish.

 

But the two sides use very different language to refer to historic and current events. So when Turkish presenters read news produced by CyBC, they are required to use some language that their compatriots might find uncomfortable. They must, for example, refer to their homes in the north as the occupied territory and use the phrase "so-called" in front of Turkish Cypriot titles like president or foreign minister.

 

But in general the staff of "Biz" tries to avoid the politically loaded phrases used by both sides, said Husein Halin, the program's leading Turkish Cypriot reporter. "We're trying not to get stuck on terminology," he said. "We're trying to focus on the human aspects of the Cyprus problem."