Cyprus-Forum.com

[Sega]

I started wondering about the people in the UN-bases. I would love if somebody knew the answers.

1. Who do they vote for? Are they allowed to vote for the Turkish-side and the Greek side?

2. Who supplies their electricity and water?

3. Where do these people work, Greek or Turkish side?

4. Since they are not actually in the occupied areas, who do they belong to?

5. Do they have Cypriot ID cards?

6. Are the allowed to leave the occupied areas, if so which side are they allowed to go to?

7. Do the people there know Greek or English? I remember going to the occupied areas and the family that was in our house knew v.little English.

8. Who supplies them with food?

9. Where do they shop?

10. Is it safe for a GC person to be there, or will he be arrested?

11. What TV do they watch?

12. Are the TC there in tuned with GC culture or do they maintain there own?

Some UN-bases have no checkpoint so therefore it would be easy for a GC to accidentally cross over if he was from another country.

[cyprusgrump]

Do you mean the ‘green area’?

I asked the question as to who farmed the land in the green area.

I was told by a UN commander that the green area land was donated by the Greek Cypriot side and was therefore farmed by them.

[Sega]

Yes i mean the green area. It's just something I have been wondering for ages.

[Sega]

Does nobody know the answers?

[CopperLine]

1. Who do they vote for? Are they allowed to vote for the Turkish-side and the Greek side?

UN personnel can be divided up into roughly three groups : (A) UN military personnel i.e, UN forces in Cyprus; (B) UN civil service personnel eg. UNDP, Office of Sec. GEN, etc; and (C) personnel employed through UN contracts and sub-contractors. Groups A & B cannot vote in Cyprus since they are either citizens of their home country and/or very few UN international civil servants. Those in Group C can only vote in their country of citizenship/nationality.

2. Who supplies their electricity and water?

Contracts are put out to tender by whichever UN agency/organisation and best offers contracted; could be TC, could be GC, or even from outside Cyprus.

3. Where do these people work, Greek or Turkish side?

Depends who/which UN agency/agents. Whichever if group A and B, can cross the Line in fulfilment of their duties. Republic of Cyprus (and Turkey as occupying state) has expressly requested & permitted UN operations in Cyprus. This fulfils the UN's mandate.

4. Since they are not actually in the occupied areas, who do they belong to?

UNFCYP are mainly operating in buffer zone, but again the terms of tgheir presence means that they can travel through both north and south in fulfilment of their roles.

5. Do they have Cypriot ID cards?

Group A & B have UN passports/IDs and/or respective national passports. They are not Cyrpus citizens (or 99% are not) therefore they can't have Cyprus ID cards.

6. Are the allowed to leave the occupied areas, if so which side are they allowed to go to?

See 4 above. When UNFCYP or other UN personnel are on leave or not on duty they may travel wherever they like as any other person. (I'm not sure, but there may be restrictions on UNFCYP personnel placed on them by UNFCYP itself)

7. Do the people there know Greek or English? I remember going to the occupied areas and the family that was in our house knew v.little English.

It is my understanding - but I stand to be corrected - that the northern edge of the buffer zone is essentially, with some modifications, the final ceasefire line. This means that those non-UN personnel living within the buffer zone, which I do not believe to be many (I'd be interested to know what the exact figure is - my guess would be in the high hundreds, low thousands) are in the RoC/GC administered zone.

8. Who supplies them with food?

Group A, provided by UNFCYP; Group B local shops, like anyone else. Cypriot residents, local shops, like anyone else.

9. Where do they shop?

See 8

10. Is it safe for a GC person to be there, or will he be arrested ?

See 7. And also no one - GC, TC, anyone - should be in the buffer zone unless expressly permitted. It is a 'no-man's-land' for a good reason.

11. What TV do they watch ?

Till death us do part

12. Are the TC there in tuned with GC culture or do they maintain there own ?

?????

Some UN-bases have no checkpoint so therefore it would be easy for a GC to accidentally cross over if he was from another country.

UNFCYP is not a police force or border guard, it is a peacekeeping force. UNFYCP has no special powers of arrest, detention or for that matter ID checking. That is the job of the ROC and TRNC border police, immigration control, etc. Of course you could accidentally wander into a UN base (not the buffer zone) and perhaps no one would check your ID. Wandering into the buffer zone is another question altogether.

[Nikitas]

I have not looked into the official status of personnel but I do have relatives who farm in the buffer zone. They enter the zone with UN escorts and farm under supervision.

To note the generosity of the Annan plan- the buffer zone, which is not within the occupied territory, was "returned" by Turkey and was considered part of the territorial settlement. The buffer zone amounts to 7 per cent of Cyprus if I recall rightly.

[umit07]

The "green line area" in nicosia is off limits for sure. But when passing through the checkpoint at zodia-astromeritis I can see GC's in the fields using the land. Another example is that my family has land in the green line in the pergamos area and I have walked through it without anything happening.

[Sega]

The reason I asked all these questions is because a few months ago I accidentally went to Pyla and as I was going, my scenery changed after noticing a Turkish-Cypriot flag I got really scared and sort of drove back, but I realised all the signs where still in Greek even in the Turkish community, all cars were registered in the Republic of Cyprus too, where do I stand here. There was no patrol there I had no idea where I was, I basically got lost. I thought I was in Northern Cyprus and in that done for. Was I in the wrong, would the people there get aggressive because I am GC.

How does this community respond?

[umit07]

Sega

I know the area you are talking about quite well, I don't think you had crossed the border. The Pyla area is a complicted when it comes to authority you got TC , GC , UN and SBA authorities all within a few km. I reckon the flag you saw was just put up by some TC on his land. If you had accidentally passed the border you would probably be arrested. If you want to cross to the North just pass through one of the checkpoints and you will have no problems at all. We aren't monsters over here .

[phoenix]

A UN truck ran over my cat .....

I hate the UN