Sunny is Great

this pretty island is Cyprus

However, the story of this pretty island is not that pretty

Cyprus is a divided nation. 1/3 of the nation is occupied by the Turkish Cypriots and the rest by the Greek Cypriots, with the UN buffer zone in between. When i found out that Cyprus was divided i immediately thought about Korea’s division. However, i soon realized the different nature of the problem. Cyprus has two major different ethnic groups, the Turkish and Greek. They are very distinct in religion, heritage, and language, so the it contrasts with Korea, where the people are one. Anyhow, the sad division started as Cyprus became independent from the British. In the process of implementing and interpreting the constitution, the Turkish Cypriots and the Greek Cypriots had clashes. It was said that the complicated practices that could protect that Turkish Cypriots were the hindrance of the effective and efficient ruling of the government. Consequently, the president tried to make some amendments that could get rid of these practices. This act enraged the Turkish Cypriots, which led to many internal conflicts. Later the Turkish declared that they would no longer work in the government. Gradually, the the two Cypriots separated themselves from mixed villages. Finally, after much violence, the Turkish Cypriots set a new provisional administration.

Also, there were offenses led by the Greek Cypriots against the government for abandoning the enosis, which made the Turkish Cypriots hop in to the fight for protection.

At the end, most of the Turkish Cypriots fled to the North, and the Greek to the South, which is the nowadays Cyprus.

There were efforts made for the reconciliation of these groups but none of them could extract positive outcomes. However, finally, after the icy years followed by the rejection of the UN’s peace plan in 2004, peach talks managed to rekindle, with the help of the cooperative new president of Cypriot Mr. Christofias.

It seems that finally spring has come to Cyprus since the division of 1974. At this point, i could not help but asking myself why not Korea?

Frankly, i am quite neutral when it comes to unification. I understand both sides of the issue. Koreans, being one race from the same heritage share much history and culture. Also, it is cruel to just separate the families and so on. Moreover, there are predictions that Korea can grow more as the natural resources and surge of population will help Korea’s industry. On the other hand, there are pessimistic people who think that it is too early for Korea to unify. The economical disparity is great, yet South Korea is not yet capable of covering North Korea and to yield success. Most of these people adduce Germany as an example as even prosperous Germany had to struggle after the unification. I believe both argument are valid. However, the positive air of Cyprus made me think of Korea’s current state, because Cyprus is managing to go into a positive direction in spite of the differences of the people.

Unification must not be a simple procedure that can be done in a snap, but it is sure said that Korea remains to be separate when ironically the whole WORLD is trying to get together for globalization and cooperation.

picture credit:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/Images/modis_cyprus_lrg.jpg

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Unification_flag_of_Korea.svg

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