Acknowledging each other's pain.
Celebrating our togetherness through the reunion of old friends and co-villagers from the two communities.
As far as the first objective is concerned, an open bi-communal panel discussion will be organised, where journalists from both communities will refer to specific cases when "our people" hurt innocent people from "the other side" and vice versa. These cases will be explained in the context of a political analysis of the tragedy in our island. As people of justice and peace we condemn violence irrespective of who the perpetrators are. The panel discussion will take place in Ledra Palace on Sunday, 23rd of September at 11:00 a.m. If the Turkish-Cypriots are not allowed to attend, the event will take place at the United Nations Headquarters in Pyla square.
"I want to see my friend Mustafa"
To achieve the second objective, we are asking the public to fill in two forms, which can be found at the end of this document. This activity is being undertaken simultaneously by the peace activists in both communities.
The first form is a signed statement in which the Cypriot citizen expresses his/her desire for free communication with his/her fellow countrymen of the other community. If someone has ten friends, he/she will make ten separate statements in ten different forms, if he/she has twenty, he/she will make twenty statements, and so on.
It is possible for each one to create his/her own statement in any way he/she wants to. For example, he/she can create a statement on a coloured paper of different sizes, using markers or paint. You can even create your statements using your personal computers. The only thing we ask is that all statements should use the phrase "I want to see my friend……" and then your name, signature and date. The more important the person is, the more time you would want to give to this statement. We have a case of a teenager who has painted her the statement on a big piece of wood and another where it has been written on a sheet….
We have already collected hundreds of such statements from both communities and we hope that, with the help of the public, we will collect thousands by the end of September. All these statements will be presented in a creative and symbolical way in the large bicommunal meeting, which will take place at the 30th of September and thereafter they will be presented in various international organisations.
The second form will give us more details about your friends whom you want to find again. For example, we want information about their age, village, employment, etc. All this information will be exchanged by e-mail between the organisers of the project in the two sides. They will search in their own community for the people mentioned in the completed forms. Then they will notify the organisers in the other community who will convey the results of the search to the interested people. The forms should be sent to the following addresses:
Turkish Cypriots send them to: Greek Cypriots send them to: "The September Project", "The September Project", P.O. Box 247, P.O. Box 45089, Aradippou, Nicosia Larnaca 7110.To collect as many statements as possible we plan to visit towns and villages throughout September to speak to the public about our project. Any citizen who would like to help us in organising such a meeting in the town or community he/she lives in, please contact us at 0542-8559735 (for Turkish Cypriots) or 09-498531 (for Greek Cypriots) or send a message to our common e-mail address: yepforcyprus@yahoo.com
The organisers
These come from bicommunal groups of young people who are supported by other bi-communal groups with older members. All these groups operate in Cyprus on a volunteer basis in very difficult circumstances due to the obstacles put against bi-communal activities. It is symbolically important that the attempts to build bridges of peace on our island are undertaken mainly by bicommunal groups of young people. So that we shall not to lose hope…
Web pages with text, pictures and movies concerning the activities of the bi-communal youth groups can be found in the following sites:
Meetings of co-villagers in Pergamos
http://www.peace-cyprus.org/VillagersMeeting/July1/
http://www.peacecyprus.org/VillagersMeeting/Paphos/
The Youth Encounters for Peace (YEP) project
http://www.peace-cyprus.org/Youth/youthmarch/YEPform.doc
Youth Festival in Pergamos
http://www.peace-cyprus.org/Festival/
http://www.peace-cyprus.org/Youth/YouthFestival2/
For more information call 0542-8559735 (for Turkish Cypriots) or 09-498531 (for Greek Cypriots) or e-mail at: yepforcyprus@yahoo.com