Cyprus-Forum.com

[Realist]

I also don't believe that a German style reunification could have been possible. Soviet forces withdrew, there were no significant numbers of settlers in East Germany, and the displacement of the population wasn't as severe.

Why did Turkey initially open the gates last year anyhow, Why was this done after 30yrs of seperation, there were no major changes in RoC policy or Turkish policy on the Cyprus issue, so why was this action taken?

[insan]

Why did Turkey initially open the gates last year anyhow, Why was this done after 30yrs of seperation, there were no major changes in RoC policy or Turkish policy on the Cyprus issue, so why was this action taken?

The opening of the gates was brought into TC agenda a several years ago while US-UN sponsored NGOs exerting effort for rapproachment of two communities. I think the idea of opening the gates developed in parallel of US-UN sponsored bi-communal activities, rapproachment studies and Annan Plan.

[brother]

Actually it is said that with the growing unrest with denktas and his failure to bring a solution he opened the gates to avert the attention away from himself.

[Saint Jimmy]

Actually it is said that with the growing unrest with denktas and his failure to bring a solution he opened the gates to avert the attention away from himself.

...perhaps in the hope that a blood-bath would follow the mixing, so that he could prove his point - that only two separate countries forming a loose confederation can work in Cyprus.

[cannedmoose]

Actually it is said that with the growing unrest with denktas and his failure to bring a solution he opened the gates to avert the attention away from himself.

I think that is a moot point brother. It cannot be a coincidence that the restrictions were eased at the same time as growing dissatisfaction within the TC community was being openly expressed. And Saint Jimmy's following remark is also close to the mark. I'm sure Denktaş was secretly hoping for some trouble, so that he could turn round and say 'look, I told you so'. Thankfully, the policy rebounded on him and all seems to have gone well so far. I certainly haven't heard of any incidents of violence based on a clash of ethnicities.

I think it also offers us the hope that Cypriots can mix without violence, as long as they feel safe at home. Which strengthens the case for a loose federation, with both communities essentially in control of their own affairs in Constituent States.

[insan]

Actually it is said that with the growing unrest with denktas and his failure to bring a solution he opened the gates to avert the attention away from himself.

The ones who were orchestarting the events behind the scenes were US and UN. Most of the political activities have took place in North during 1998-2004 have been orchestrated by US-UN sponsored political parties and NGOs. Although majority of TCs already enraged to Denktash; US and UN were preparing the ground for Annan Plan. Actually, it was an excellent plan. I mean the whole plan. TC revolt against Denktash, opening of the gates, bi-communal activities, rapproachment studies, Annan Plan. However, it failed because Hellenic Ruling elite based its plan on "European Solution" which is something beyond the basic parameters of Annan Plan. In 1998-2003 period, the US funds granted for the solution of Cyprus problem was 3 times more than the previous period.

[boulio]

concerning the gates did you every think that it truly was dektash who opened the gates hoping for conflict between the to communities and it actually backfired on him.by hoping for conflict his theories of the last 30 years that we cannot live together and there are two seperate peolpe in cyprus and that we have to live seperate would have been justified.

[erolz]

concerning the gates did you every think that it truly was dektash who opened the gates hoping for conflict between the to communities and it actually backfired on him.by hoping for conflict his theories of the last 30 years that we cannot live together and there are two seperate peolpe in cyprus and that we have to live seperate would have been justified.

Conflict is easy to cause if you want to. So maybe Denktash did 'hope' for strife (and maybe he didnt) but there can be no doubt that he did not resort to _creating_ clashes in order to gain a political objective. If only this had be true for all of Cyprus' history as an indpendent state

[MicAtCyp]

The opening of the gates was a clear effort for detonation.Both of the TCs and the GCs. And it succeeded. It also had another purpose to show the "realities" to everybody, so that nobody would come up with huge surprises with the "to be" Anan Plan solution. Remember IT WANTED the GCs to cross too, not only the TCs! That's why it was launched during the Easter Holidays so that all the RoC Government would be caught on sleep and be unable to react/prevent the GCs from crossing. Some Gcs were already aware of the game like for example Klerides, Markides (the ex-attorney general) et al.

[brother]

Still what ever the motivation was it still started a coming togethar of cypriots and that is worth its weight in gold.