Zenon Stavrinides: a celebration of his life
Zenon Stavrinides, the well-known Greek Cypriot intellectual and Cyprob aficionado, passed away last October aged 78 and my column this week is in celebration of his life.
He was the eldest of three children of the late Andreas Stavrinides, a judge of the high court of Cyprus and his wife Elli, who died a few years ago age 102. Sadly, Zenon did not live as long as his mother but he was a rare bird – a philosopher king without a kingdom.
Zenon grew up in Nicosia and attended the English School at a testing time in Cyprus which was to inform his politics the rest of his life. During the Greek Cypriot struggle against British rule 1955-60, Greek Cypriots were discouraged from attending a school that was thought of as designed to perpetuate British colonial rule in Cyprus – it adapted and evolved after independence into a top school.
The Turkish leader, Rauf Denktash, was an ES alumni and a member of its governing body until the big split. Since independence in 1960 the ES became the school to attend if you wanted to study at UK universities – with A level results that match the best in England. As an inter-communal school its students were Greek, Turkish, Armenian and Maronite as well as an international contingent that included the children of diplomats.
Zenon’s contemporaries at the ES remember him as a jovial, fun-loving boy who loved pranks, parties and music – he was the music master’s favourite and played the piano during morning assembly. This was in contrast with the serious persona he projected in later life. In the end he took his studies seriously and, together with his lifelong friend and rival Harry Davidian, was top of the class – history and Greek being his favourite subjects.
After the ES, Zenon studied at King’s College, London where he obtained a highly commendable first in philosophy followed by an MPhil from Cambridge. He peaked early but obtained his doctorate too late to fulfil his ambition to become a philosophy professor at a top university
In 1975 he published a controversial book about the Cyprob at a time when emotions were too raw for it to be received well in Greek Cypriot circles. The Cyprus Conflict, National Identity and Statehood was critical of Archbishop Makarios’ handling of the Cyprob before it became fashionable to be critical of Cyprus’ first president. It was very courageous but probably unwise to publish such a book at the time. Makarios was very displeased with it and sued Zenon, though in the end a compromise was found and the case settled.
My take is that Zenon was a touch contrarian and that as a philosopher he viewed the Cyprob as much from a Greek as from a Turkish perspective. I do not think he was unfair to Makarios or that he was unpatriotic. With the benefit of hindsight, his criticisms of the mistakes made by the Greek Cypriot leadership between 1955-74 are common currency amongst many Greek Cypriot commentators nowadays – a luxury Zenon did not have in the 1970s.
Zenon had a genuinely positive view of Turkish Cypriots in Cyprus though he was dead against any form of separatist partition. He was welcome in Turkish Cypriot circles and was frequently invited to speak at Turkish Cypriot universities. He was even invited to lunch with the late Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash at a time when northern Cyprus was not accessible to Greek Cypriots let alone for lunch with Denktash.
He told me that after he returned from the katehomena (occupied territories)to the eleftheres periohes (free territories) what interested his Greek Cypriot circle of friends was not what Denktash told him about the Cyprob, but what he had for lunch at chez Denktash – ti se taise? (what did he feed you?) was what his friends wanted to know first and foremost.
Zenon’s circle of friends comprised the political cognoscenti of Nicosia, but their priorities were typically Cypriot – ti se taise indeed! He told me the menu included chicken imam bayildi – pot roasted chicken and potatoes cooked with aubergine, tomatoes and garlic. He showed me pictures from his visit – both he and Denktash were keen photographers and Zenon was also well known amongst his friends as a great chronicler of events.
Zenon founded and served as secretary of the Association of Cypriot Greek and Turkish Affairs for many years. It was an association he set up with his friend, the well-known author and journalist, Keith Kyle to enable the free flow of ideas between Greeks and Turks. He organised and ran many meetings and discussions in UK at Friends House, the London School of Economics and the House of Commons for many years all of them designed to promote Greco-Turkish friendship.
It was Zenon’s great disappointment that a bicommunal bizonal federation was not set up in Cyprus. He fervently believed a federal Cyprus could be made to work and there is nothing he would have liked more than help make it happen. Alas it was not to be.
Zenon was not married though he did enjoy relationships with women and his close friends and was known to spend long hours on the telephone to both. Zenon was a big man and an intellectual heavyweight with a long list of interests apart from philosophy including law, medical ethics and human rights.
Alper Ali Riza is a king’s counsel in the UK and a former part time judge
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