turkcyp wrote:To my disapointment the survey more looks like
"what would you accept as a change to Annan Plan so that it is acceptable to GCs"
rather than
"what kind of changes do you want to Annan Plan"
Turkcyp,
further to my response above, here are the changes
which the great majority of TCs considered desirable or essential: (I will include the ones already mentioned above, so that we have a complete list here)
- The Presidential Council to be elected directly by the people.
- The Federal State to place limits on the public borrowing of constituent states.
(very interesting result, we always assume that the TCs prefer a weak central state and a freely-deciding constituent state, but it seems here that they would not trust TC state authorities - or GC state authorities for that matter - on such a serious economic issue which could bring down the whole economy. They've exprerienced enough economic hardship already)
- Strong Implementation mechanisms for the departure of illegal workers.
- Strong implementation mechanisms for the withdrawal of military weapons kept in the homes of GCs
- Turkey to continue its current annual contribution to the TC constituent state for ten more years after the solution.
- International Donors to finance a greater proportion of the cost of the solution.
- The terms of the solution to form primary law of the EU, so that they cannot later be overturned through the application of European Law.
- Enforceable international guarantees for the implementation of the solution, with serious consequences for the side that breaks from what has been agreed.
- Each refugee that will not receive his original home to be entitled to a new one in the same town or village
(they were probably hoping here that this would mean new homes for TCs in the south - an interesting thought actually, but I think their response here also shows a genuine concern that their right to stay in their current homes will not mean totally trampling on GCs right of return)
- The compensation for property to be in cash, not bonds and shares.
- The right to become a resident of the other constituent state to be given much sooner than currently provided for in the plan
(TCs, it seems, have also gotten fed up with having their rights limited)
- More incentives and compensation for those who will have to leave Cyprus because of the solution.
- Firm limits to the number of immigrants from Turkey that may in the future come to Cyprus after Turkey enters the EU.
- More equitable cost sharing in the Federal Government
(from this I infer that TCs have self-respect, and don't like the idea of living off GC donations)
- Greater incentives for the creation of bicommunal business ventures.
- The education of GCs in the north and TCs in the south to be the responsibility of the Federal Government.
- Free instruction of English and Greek for all TCs who may want it.
- Provisions that will encourage the development of bicommunal political parties.
- The new state to be the legal continuity of the RoC
(I was very surprised by this result, it seems that most TCs remain attached to the common state created in 1960, despite official rhetoric, and they are also concerned that the new state of affairs will have legal status and that they won't fall into a non-recognition trap again)
So, my friend, it seems that
TCs would consider desirable or essential (not just tolerable) 19 out of the 32 changes suggested in the survey ...
If anyone has any interesting explanations of the above results (why these changes are so popular amongst TCs) I would be very interested to listen ...
