Erol,
erolz wrote: However if the issue is how easy it may be to return properties to GC after a settlment then Karmi represents a less difficult senario than eslewhere - precisely because the land remains under TRNC 'ownership'. The TRNC - as far as I understand it has made no 'profit' from these properties - yet have found a way for them to be maintained, looked after and in most cases substaintialy improved - whilst still keeping 'ownership' that could make their transfer back to pre 74 owners a lot easier than where title deeds have been issued (almost everywhere else in the North).
I agree with you here. In my mind, giving temporary leases for GC properties in the north is a very acceptable approach under the current circumstances. In fact, it is a pity that the Karmi approach was not also done elsewhere, and furthermore it is a pity that the Guardian of Turkish Cypriot Properties in the south has not employed a similar method to maintain TC properties in an acceptable state and raise rental income to be returned to original owners after a comprehensive settlement, along with their properties.
It would have been so simple to write contracts so that leases would last, say, for 30 years, and if a Comprehensive Settlement was found before then, the non-Cypriot lease holder would be compensated for the remaining value of his lease.
Instead, Greek Cypriot properties in the north have been sold off while Turkish Cypriot properties in the south have been left to become derelict.
erolz wrote:I understand how sensative and emotional the property issue is to GC. I do not seek to 'belittle' this position at all. I am just confused why Karmi seems to attact so much GC attention (and anger) when in fact comparatively it represents a 'better' possibility for the return of properties following a settlement. There is much evidence that Karmi has attacted a disproprotionate degree of GC attention and I am trying to understand why this is the case.
You are right to point out that this focus on Karmi is not rational.
I think this "mutual animosity" between GCs and non-Cypriot residents of Karmi began only days after the lifting of restrictions in April 2003: In those days, the GC TV channels were filled with stories about how GCs would go to their original homes and be greeted graciously by Turkish Cypriot residents, how they would be given back their family photo albums which the Turkish Cypriot resident had meticulously kept, and dozens of other very touching stories of reconciliation. Amidst this background, a Greek Cypriot attempted to visit his house in Karmi, and was thrown out by an english woman who lived in it, and who in fact threatened to call the police. That event sent out ripples of rage amongst the GC community, who were somehow reconfirmed in their deep belief that "it is the foreigners who are the real enemies, we Cypriots were getting along fine before they came to mix us up" - you know, divide and rule, the cold war, CIA's involvement, Nixon etc. etc. I don't personally subscribe to this total "let's blame the foreigners approach", I am just reporting to you how it was thought out by the majority of Greek Cypriots. So, from that day on, Karmi became a hated symbol of foreign exploitation. The Karmi residents kept up the oppositional approach, thus making matters even worse.
You were counselling me in the other thread that "anger leads to the dark side". What you say is true. I am not afraid of my own anger so much, because I know myself to be able to put limits to it, so I just use anger to maintain a sense of what is right and what is wrong - rather than attacking and destroying "the wrong-doer". I am, however, afraid of the anger of people who cannot control their instinctual urges, because they are indeed capable of criminal action.
