Paphos town council votes to rename Kemal Ataturk Street

Paphos’ town council on Monday night voted to rename the town’s Kemal Ataturk Street, with the street, which is located in the historically Turkish Cypriot neighbourhood of Moutallos, now set to be known as “Memory and Hope Street”. According to news website SigmaLive, the change was passed by a majority vote of the town council, with acting mayor Angelos Onisiforou among those in favour of the change, with Akel and Diko both abstaining, saying that they wished to be informed of the foreign ministry’s position on the matter before making a decision. Disy councillor Nina Gkaraklidou, who had introduced the plans, described the decision as “historic”. Akel had said last week that some town councillors were making “systematic efforts” to “rename Turkish streets in the Turkish Cypriot district of Moutallos”. Related Articles • Akel comes out against plans to rename Paphos’ Kemal Ataturk Street • Ustel bemused by plans to rename Paphos’ Kemal Ataturk Street • Paphos’ Kemal Ataturk Street to be renamed “The issue is particularly sensitive and must be treated with due seriousness. Moutallos is the Turkish Cypriot neighbourhood in the municipality, which is temporarily inhabited, for the most part, by Greek Cypriot displaced persons who were uprooted due to the Turkish invasion,” it said. In renaming the street, it said, “we would essentially be implementing ourselves that of which we rightly accuse the Turkish Cypriot side – renaming streets and place names”. It added that “our concern is the just solution to the Cyprus problem and the reunification of our land and people”, and that “the Cyprus problem is a priority and we will fight until we succeed”. “Let the proponents of these plans tell us why it is necessary to take this action. Have they accepted the idea of participation, and of two states?” it asked. Moutallos had been home to Paphos’ Turkish Cypriot community Prior to 1974, Moutallos had historically been the town of Paphos’ Turkish Cypriot community, and the names of the streets in the neighbourhood reflect that fact, often being named after Turkish and Turkish Cypriot historic figures, such as poet Namik Kemal, late Turkish president Ismet Inonu and the Republic of Cyprus’ first vice president Dr Fazil Kucuk. However, since then, with the neighbourhood becoming the home of displaced Greek Cypriots, and the wider Paphos area experiencing an influx of Pontic Greeks following the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, moves have been made to rename some streets bearing names deemed offensive by those communities. Talat Pasha Street was renamed as Justice Street in 2021, with Paphos’ Pontic Greek and Armenian communities pointing out that the late Ottoman grand vizier had been convicted and sentenced to death for organising massacres of Greeks and Armenians during his stint as grand vizier and, earlier, interior minister. While Talat Pasha was sentenced in absentia and thus escaped execution, having escaped to Berlin with the Ottoman Empire facing defeat in the first world war, he was later shot dead during organised assassinations carried out by the Armenian revolutionary federation. Distaste at Mustafa Kemal Ataturk among Pontic Greeks is sourced from the Greco-Turkish war, during which both sides committed sundry atrocities against one another, including massacres, torturing and the burning of towns and villages. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk Ustel said idea ‘reveals true face of Greek Cypriot side’s mentality’ However, Turkish Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel, himself a Paphos native, had said that the plan “clearly reveals the true face of the Greek Cypriot side’s mentality”. “The Greek Cypriot side, which makes calls for ‘peace’ and ‘goodwill’, is attempting to change the names of streets bearing the name of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, our nation’s leader, and a man in whose footsteps the Turkish Cypriot people are proud to walk,” he said. He added that “the Turkish Cypriot people, as in the past, will continue to uphold their values, their flag, their state, and their ties with their motherland, Turkey”, before saying that “the Turkish Cypriot people have always respected the religious values, flag, and sacred things belonging to the Greek Cypriot community”. “Our people expect the same from the other side,” he said. He then said that the planned renaming of the street serves to “completely destroy trust between the communities” and “serve conflict, not peace, and enmity, not friendship”. “The path to lasting peace and tranquillity on this island lies in mutual respect. However, such actions taken by circles which cannot tolerate the Turkish presence and are driven by dreams of Enosis are undermining trust between the two peoples,” he said.