Cyprus Action Network of America  (CANA)  

NIKOLAOS TANERIS

I started the Cyprus Action Network of America (CANA) in 2007. We began with a loud protest outside of the Turkish Embassy in Washington DC (the first ever organized by Hellenes) to mark July 20^th, the day that the Turkish military launched its criminal military-invasions of Cyprus. The protest was in response to a growing need to raise awareness on this issue of Cyprus, with the passage of some 33 years, since the criminal Turkish military-invasions. Since then CANA has dealt with many concerns.  The main focus is confronting issues of crimes against humanity and human rights violations, and to raise genocide awareness, especially in regards to Cyprus, and the wider Balkan and Asia Minor region.

I was born in Washington Heights in Manhattan, a borough of New York City, in 1972.  I went to the Bronx High School of Science. I graduated from the City College of the City University of New York and Portland State University.

I was politically unconventional in High School in that I was involved in a wide spectrum of political clubs and organizations.  Bronx High School of Science had close to a hundred or so political clubs and organizations to choose from.  I first started participating in demonstrations during the war against Yugoslavia in the 1990s while watching the war unfold on American television.  Hearing my American friends join the war drums to demonize one side against another led me to the anti-war movement, and eventually to the issues of genocide denial.  My father’s  history of sacrifice in the anti-Nazi resistance as part of the Hellenic left, and awareness of the Yugoslav alliances and axis relationships, left me open to hearing all sides of a story. I was always opposed to injustice, and was involved with human rights causes, eventually becoming a student area coordinator and region wide campus leader for Amnesty International.

It was during this time, in my post-graduate life, that I became cognizant of the Turkish denial of their responsibility on the issue of Cyprus. I came to know this racism while auditing a class in the Political Science dept, taught by the chair of Turkish Studies at Portland State University, whose chair was made possible by monies paid directly by the Turkish Embassy in Washington. What led me there was a thirst for knowledge , I actually wanted to study Turkish and the history of the Ottoman Empire, and Portland State had the cheapest and most admissible Turkish Studies program in America at the time, and I naively expected a balanced, somewhat personal  search for truth through an American university, --my own father has roots in Ottoman-ruled Constantinople, and my scant readings of such classics as Marjorie Dobkin’s SMYRNA 1922, the historical narrative dealing with the Armenian Genocide and the destruction of Hellenic Smyrna by Turkey, and my exposure of personal stories by family friends dealing with Turkey’s crimes in Cyprus.

In the University classroom, I heard various Professors associated with the Turkish Studies program describe the Smyrna Massacre, as “a fire set by Greeks and Armenians”, the Turkish history in Cyprus described as “an attempt by Greeks to commit Genocide on Turks”, and saw the Armenian Genocide being presented through the distorted lens of notorious Genocide deniers such as Stanford Shaw and Justin McCarthy, whose racist denials hurl blame on the victims and attempt to exonerate Turkey of its crimes. In some places in Europe, people are fined and arrested for such racist genocide denial and distortions, but Turkey has managed to finance programs across the US, in dozens of American Universities, in a far flung genocide denial campaign.

The rude awakening I had to the extent of Turkey’s international industry of denial in such a seemingly banal setting, left me disgusted with the Turkish Studies program , and led me to join, headfirst,  the growing activist movement of scholars and communities across America, and around the world, concerned with the Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocides perpetrated by Turkey.

 Instead of joining the Turkish Studies programs, I fought them, and managed to get others to fight them alongside us, in fact, we led several demonstrations-- some big, some small, some got little attention, some made it onto major local networks—but regardless we shamed all those involved in dinners and banquets with Turkish Embassy officials advancing their denial.

I learned that peaceful, yet assertive exposure of Turkish denial at high profile events, will lead at least some Americans to also become disgusted with Turkey, and walk away, and there were many couples and individuals who turned in their tickets and walked out of banquets and events organized by the Turkish Embassy, the message was delivered.

Along the way, for the past 8-9 years, the friendships and comrades in the struggle for full recognition and justice for Turkey’s crimes, has burgeoned into a Network, hence the name Cyprus Action Network of America (CANA). My own personal journey has involved the nurturing of many new activists, and coalitions, that is the beginning of a new generation that will face the Turkey state, head on, in a struggle for justice for all those innocents who were denied the chance of justice and peace, and ultimately, closure.

The news of a protest for July 20^th last year, was covered by Simirini, the largest circulation paper in Cyprus, and by several Astoria-based radio interviews, including on the popular Cypriot dialect show Κυπριακοί Ορίζοντες or Cypriot Horizons hosted by Andreas Savvas, and written about extensively by Astoria-based Sevasti Boutos, the renown Hellenic poet and writer, who is now our Hellenic Communications Director.

CANA has been long in the making, and has friends and supporters in the widest spectrum of Hellenic community life, in America, and in our homelands, ranging the entire political spectrum, and drawing on the talents of people from literally all walks of life, basically we are a true grass-roots organization.

I've written a lot here about my motivation because with many causes, one never knows for sure with whom one is dealing. At least you should know this: Cyprus Action Network of America (CANA) is a labor of passion for justice.  

GEORGIA MARATHEFTIS

Georgia Maratheftis is a lawyer, born in London; her heritage is from Amohosto , Ammochostos, Αμμόχωστος (also known as Famagusta)  in Occupied-Cyprus.

SEVASTI BOUTOS

Sevasti Boutos is a published poet, writer, and Mathematician; she is originally from Athens, but now lives in Astoria. She is the Hellenic Communications director for CANA, and is responsible for translations and correspondence in the Hellenic language.

IOANNIS FIDANAKIS

Ioannis Fidanakis is the current President of Panthracian Union of America “Orpheus”. He holds the honor of being the youngest elected official for any Hellenic Organization in the tri-state area and most possibility the whole country. Ioannis has a BA in Political Science; with a concentration in International Politics and a minor in History. He is currently pursuing his Masters in Public Policy. Ioannis' father's family comes from the small village of Sofiko, Evros. His mother's family, from Bloomfield,  New Jersey.

Last Modified December 29, 2008

The Cyprus Action Network of America (CANA) is a grass-roots, not-for-profit movement created to support genuine self-determination and human rights for the people of Cyprus.

To this end, we work to influence the policies of the United States government and international institutions as they relate to Cyprus. The history of U.S. support for Turkey's illegal invasion and occupation of Cyprus underlies CANAs efforts to achieve accountability for those responsible at home and abroad for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed from 1974 on.

CANA remains unique in the U.S. in its emphasis on support for Cyprus and few groups engage in grassroots education and advocacy on Turkey's Crimes Against Humanity.  

Ultimately, CANA works tirelesly towards an end to Turkish aggression against all its neighbors, especially Cyprus, and the removal of ALL Turkish soldiers from non-Turkic homelands, especially Cyprus. Turkey's government is guilty of major war crimes and Genocide, CANA supports justice in the name of Turkey's many victims, past and present.

A Classic book for sale: The Pontian Question In The United Nations.
Michalis Charalambidis (International League For The Rights and Liberations Of Peoples)

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