Süleyman Ergüçlü smiles shrewdly behind his sunglasses. He has just pulled one of his many jokes, something about where Jesus was born, and it was not Nazareth… He always has one in stock and you never really know when it will come.
“60 years I have become, but if you look at my cycle, I’m 120,” he says with an expression that seems to want to tell a story. “I am happy with my age. I dance when the music is playing, and go out to bars sometimes.”
He is the editor of KMG – Kibris Media Group, a media group which includes the popular Kibris TV, Kibris radio station FM, Cyprus Today and Kibris Gazetesi, the largest Turkish-language newspaper in Northern Cyprus. The company has 150 employees and its own printing and distribution. His spare time he spends with his family at Aphrodite Beachfront Village, outside Güzelyurt where he has an apartment.
“The last months there has not been much free time due to the local elections, where there is high pressure in the newsroom.”
“I was born in Nicosia, I grew up there. I have lived all my life in Cyprus and I love this Island. I went to England in the seventies to study, and after the unrest in Cyprus, I went to Turkey for four years and worked as a newsreader on the radio.”
Our conversation soon led into the situation in Cyprus between the north and south side.
“I see my Island as a whole. Greek Cypriots look at it the same way. It would be best if the two sides had two different administrative regions united under one federation.”
He means the reason for this is many bad experiences from the past. “It would be the best way out of more risky situations.”
“We Cypriots have been subjected to much suffering. I’m happy to be born in the Turkish sector. I had no real estate that I had to leave. I was lucky, most Cypriots suffered a great dela during the war.”
“My life represents a whole generation of people: When I was four years old, I experienced tear gas from the British soldiers. When I was nine, in 1963, we experienced the inter-communal conflict. At the age of 15, I had to become a soldier, a student at daytime and soldier in the evening.”
“When I was twenty, in 1974, I had to fight in the war. I do not want my grandchildren or grandchildren of any of my Greek friends to have to experience something similar. When I was fifteen, I was afraid to be alone in the dark but at the same time I had to stand guard at night. And it was the same for those on the other side.”
What does Süleyman like about North Cyprus?
“The best about North Cyprus today is that we, along with Turkey, are working on a solution. I hope they continue and that it is reached as soon as possible.”
“Cyprus is the most beautiful place on earth. Cypriots are a beautiful, friendly, and receiving people.”
On being asked how he sees the future of Cyprus, he says:
“Once we get a solution to the situation the embargo will be lifted and we become true citizens of the world! The future I see before me is a Cyprus without a problem, where Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots will fully cooperate.”
