We
have lost a dear friend, Greek Cypriot historian Rolandos Katsiaounis on 30 June
2014! He was always proud of being a graduate of Oxford University and I got to
know him at the Cyprus Research Centre (CRC). His doctoral thesis “"Labour, History and Politics in Cyprus during the Second Half of the
Nineteenth Century" was published in 1996 by the CRC in English and it is
still a unique study in its own field, which could not be overcome.
Unfortunately, he could not realize the second overviewed edition of this book.
Rolandos (1954-2014)
was a militant Marxist, who took history seriously and he could not refrain to
declare his political views. He was complaining that his own party AKEL have
not given him enough support. His uncle, Christos Katsiaounis was among the
leaders of the Cyprus Communist party and he was one of the members of the AKEL
Central Committee, who fought against Hitler’s fascism in the Second World War.
Rolandos published
his second book in Greek in 2000, where he recorded lots of new information,
which shed light to today, related with the political developments between 1946
and 1948 and with the experience of “The
Consultative Assembly”, which the British Colonial Administration proposed to
our island.
He mentioned to
me about his project of writing the history of the KKK-AKEL, when we met after
a meeting organized by PEO and DEV-İŞ on 13 October 2005 in Nicosia about the
“1948 Miners’ Strike”. I was so happy to hear that he would deal with this
subject. Rolandos wanted to learn my opinion about the book, dealing with this
important past, whether it should be a short or a long story. I told him to
write two versions: One, in more than one volume, where all the documents and
information would be found in a detailed history and the other one would be a
concise history, which could be read by an ordinary reader.
Unfortunately he
could not finalise his studies. When the diagnosis was done, the incurable
illness was already advanced and at the end, he left us behind. He was a 60
year old Famagustan and he had a lot of studies to accomplish.
I talked to him
as my last on 27 April 2013 at a bi-communal meeting on “The birth and the
development of Nationalism in Cyprus”. I had learned about his illness
beforehand and I rather wanted to see him and to listen to his contribution on
“Nationalism and Left” at this meeting. He told me about the side-effects of
his treatment and he was complaining very much. Thus, his life adventure was
this much, until this point.
The working
class movement of Cyprus has lost one of its very dear members. As I convey my
condolences to his relatives, I hope that his studies will be a guide for the
new generation of historians.
(Obituary by Ahmet Cavit An, published in the “Friends
of Cyprus Report”, Issue No.57, New Year 2015)
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