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Losing Karpas?
Who is the head of the Biologist’s Association,
what is he, what does he do?
Mustafa Kofalı, President of the Biologist’s Association
I learned all my values from my parents
while working in agricultural production as a family.
The values that make us who we are
come from the work we do, that is our substance.
I don’t want my kids to be deprived of the opportunity to love nature,
Because nature never tires of repeating itself,
so it is the best teacher to learn about life.
Living a natural life is where my kids can learn good values.
And nature’s love for us is unconditional…
It’s interesting that animals got used to living with us,
but we haven’t been able to get used to living with them.
They are playing by our rules, but we are not doing the same;
there is a problem there.
The donkeys that we caged in Karpas today
Were once the greatest help to human beings.
We used to follow their tracks, their guidance,
but now we look down on them.
When we were first established in 1999
as the Biologist’s Natural Research Association,
the first place we wanted to draw attention to was Karpas.
Karpas was the final fort of nature
which hadn’t yet been lost,
the authorities at that time wanted to bring electricity to the area.
They installed electricity pylons all the way to the tip of Karpas
without doing any prior research.
And we could guess the reasons behind
bringing 11,000 volts of electricity
Niyazi Türkseven, General Secretary of the Biologist’s Association
which can serve 15,000 people in a place
where only 2,000 people live.
What scares me most is that a beauty like this
appeals to some capiltalist appetites,
and I think that they want to trade off this beauty.
Whenever politicians act like a certain place
does not have importance,
I sense a big danger.
Electricity, widening of the roads…
and it’s not just about building a road,
Tuğberk Emirzade, Member of the Biologist’s Association
such as the filling up of the water courses,
the cutting down of trees…
all the things that alter the balance of nature.
I believe that unless there is a solution
it is unavoidable that we will lose Karpas.
I don’t know how much of it has already changed hands.
That’s what I worry about most.
Of course as the Biologist’s Association we have been
Fighting hard to preserve Karpas,
but unfortunately we don’t see
the same reaction from the community.
Our people don’t have bad intentions,
but they are harming nature because there is a lack of awareness.
Maybe this is due to the situation of Cyprus,
that there isn’t any long term planning,
and that may be why people don’t feel ownership
of the mountains, fields and plants.
Instead, they feel like other people own it.
But at the end of the day we belong to the earth
and the earth belongs to us.
They asked me why I don’t draw [Cyprus] as divided and I answer,
“Cyprus, when it was created by nature,
wasn’t made as two pieces, but as one.”