Cyprus-Forum.com

[zan]

I wonder what Zan would make of this if Turkey introduced it in the occupied areas !!!

""""Turkey's state-run religious foundation has sparked public anger after publishing a booklet which approves of wife-beating.
The booklet, published by the Pious Foundation, which is part of the government's Religious Affairs Directorate, says men can beat their wives as long as they do not strike the face and only beat them moderately.

The "Muslim's Handbook", authored by a retired cleric Kemal Guran, also suggests that men are naturally superior to women.

It says that if man's wife is ill and he cannot afford a servant, he can take a second wife. """

Why wonder...Why not just ask??? It is crap...Plain and simple.....Just like your thinking......What did you expect me to say.......There is also a massive problem in those two so called civilised countries called Greece and the so called "RoC" of domestic violence where there are laws against it...we are all trying to get rid of it.

[miltiades]

What astounds me more is the fact that such a high percentage of medical personel support viloence or rather justify vuiolence against women !! Imagine a similar survey in the UK or indeed in Cyprus. Turkey has a long way to go in order to become a European nation.

"""Domestic violence is an inherent problem in Turkey, and healthcare workers are doing little to combat the prevalence of wife beating, according to research published in the online open access journal, BMC Public Health. A survey of medical personnel reveals that a lack of training and a cultural acceptance of domestic violence may prevent victims from obtaining the support they desperately require.

173 medical staff from the emergency department of a Turkish university hospital responded to a questionnaire about domestic violence. 69.0% of the female and 84.7% of the male respondents declared that they agreed or partially agreed to at least one reason to justify physical violence.

Accepted grounds for intimate domestic violence included lying to or criticising the male and failure to care for children. Moreover, about three-quarters of the nurses and male physicians and over half of female physicians agreed that deceiving the husband justified physical punishment Deceiving the husband is a taboo in Turkey and it is among the most important reasons for honour murders.

The vast majority of healthcare workers declared that they were aware of the clinical signs of domestic violence, yet more detailed questions highlighted significant gaps in their knowledge. Few staff knew the correct legal procedures for reporting cases of wife-beating. """

[miltiades]

I wonder what Zan would make of this if Turkey introduced it in the occupied areas !!!

""""Turkey's state-run religious foundation has sparked public anger after publishing a booklet which approves of wife-beating.
The booklet, published by the Pious Foundation, which is part of the government's Religious Affairs Directorate, says men can beat their wives as long as they do not strike the face and only beat them moderately.

The "Muslim's Handbook", authored by a retired cleric Kemal Guran, also suggests that men are naturally superior to women.

It says that if man's wife is ill and he cannot afford a servant, he can take a second wife. """

Why wonder...Why not just ask??? It is crap...Plain and simple.....Just like your thinking......What did you expect me to say.......There is also a massive problem in those two so called civilised countries called Greece and the so called "RoC" of domestic violence where there are laws against it...we are all trying to get rid of it.

I stand for peace and reconciliation of our people.I say to Greece and Turkey get out of Cyprus we are not your slaves , we are far more advanced than the two of you put together.You are still aiming for that "modern new world " , the one steeped in the 16th century no doubt.
You talk of sharing drinks with G/C friends , pull the other one its got bells !!!
You are full of hatred and you are a committed partitionist. I stand for a united Cyprus with the two cancers eradicated from our shores.

[zan]

A bad year for women?
By Jacqueline Theodoulou
Is domestic violence on the rise, or have Cypriot men always been violently jealous?

THIS year has been a bad one for women in Cyprus, with an alarming number of rapes, beatings and murders grabbing the headlines.

And with incidents of domestic violence noting a worrying rise, activists say it is high time something is done about the issue.

The European Union is moving in the right direction, currently organising a two-year campaign to battle violence against women, a programme Cyprus is actively participating in.

Domestic violence is one of the island’s social stigmas, with the majority of victims being women, though a small percentage have also been men and children.

According to police statistics, there was a significant increase in domestic violence in the year 2005 compared to the four years beforehand.

In 2005, 940 incidents of domestic violence were reported to police, compared to the previous year’s 505 and 2003’s 623.

Out of 2005’s cases, 731 concerned physical violence, 189 psychological violence and 20 involved sexual abuse.

Overall, from 2001 until 2005, 80.15 per cent of cases involved physical violence. Also in that five-year period, 73.13 per cent of victims of domestic violence were women, while 15.68 per cent were men and 11.19 per cent were children.

There are currently no statistics available for the year 2006, although the Association for the Prevention and Handling of Violence in the Family said a total of 92 victims had sought refuge with them this year so far.

Back in August, the Domestic Violence Centre confirmed more victims of domestic violence had started speaking out and asking for help, although current records in no way mirrored the reality of the situation.

Psychiatrist Dr Yiangos Mikellides says domestic violence is not a recent phenomenon, with the figures reflecting a rise in the reporting of incidents. He told the Sunday Mail that the rate of wife killings in Cyprus had been steady for the past 50 years and that it was all due to the “paranoid jealousy” of Cypriots.

“Cypriots are jealous people; men are insanely jealous of their wives. They have their wives followed. They want to know where they were, who they were with, what they were doing…
“This is not normal behaviour, these people are sick and they need treatment”.

Fifty per cent of men who beat and kill their wives are alcoholics, the psychiatrist added.

“Nothing can be done about it; apart from locking all these men in a tank full of water or feeding them with mental illness pills.”

Mikellides listed one of the reasons for this phenomenon in Cyprus is that men avoid seeking psychological help for their problems.

“There are so many men in Cyprus suffering from this insane jealousy but they refuse to seek help from doctors.

“These men need to realise that this is not a matter of being macho, it’s a matter of madness. Only mad people feel these intense feelings.”

He continued, “Every year there are one or two murders that are a result of domestic violence and it has remained at this steady rate for the past 50 years.

“If you personally know someone who is violent towards their wife or other half, it means there is a problem.”

Roulla Mavronicola, a deputy for coalition party EDEK and member of the House Gender Equality Committee, recently attended a European Commission conference in Strasburg, which hailed the beginning of a two-year Pan-European campaign concerning domestic violence and violence against women in general.

The EC’s Gender Equality Committee had invited representations from all member states to discuss the organisational side of the campaign, which will officially begin on November 24.

All countries agreed to discuss the campaign with their parliamentary committees and committed to inform the EC on the strategy they would use.

Various non-governmental and women’s rights’ organisations also attended the conference, while the involvement of municipal authorities in the campaign is considered of vital importance.

“Violence against women is developing into a tragic social phenomenon, which unfortunately is taking place behind closed doors,” said Mavronicola.

“The fear and silence that is imposed upon women will not allow the problem to be seen in its true dimensions; a problem that also touches children as the innocent victims of violence against women and the family,” she added.

During the conference, Mavronicola stressed the need for women in Cyprus to become acquainted with their rights and suggested the creation of steady values within society through lectures aimed at schools, police and the army.

She informed the EC on existing legislation in Cyprus regarding the handling of violence against women and expressed the island’s readiness to amend the law if necessary.

“We also took on the commitment to send our action plan as soon as possible,” Mavronicola said.

Crimes against women in 2006
l The murder of 20-year-old Janka Kovacova in August, who was found buried in a shallow grave after being abducted, raped and murdered. The man who allegedly confessed to the crime is in remand awaiting trial.
l The murder of 30-year-old Anna Vasileva from Kyrgyzstan, whose bones were discovered charred inside a barrel. The discovery sparked suspicions of a brutal double murder by Vasileva’s husband, 29-year-old Christoforos Charalambous, who had previously admitted to stabbing his wife’s lover Yiannos Demosthenous in Nicosia. Charalambous is also in police custody awaiting trial.
l Most recently, the murder of 41-year-old Roulla Panteli, whose body was found on October 15 by a hunter in a remote area of Limassol. The woman, who had been missing for two weeks, had been shot twice in the back of the head. Her 45-year-old ex-boyfriend, Christakis Gavriel, is in remand on suspicion of the murder.
l A man stabbed and severely injured his English Cypriot girlfriend Georgina Georgiou in a blazing row in Deftera on August 29. Georgina had only moved in with her boyfriend two weeks earlier.
l A Polish man was jailed for four months for beating up his wife and tying her up naked in their home in Evrychou. The reason? He had come home and found she had not cooked dinner because she was too drunk.
l Last month, a police constable appeared in court for allegedly punching and kicking his wife in a vicious attack while still holding his nine-month-year-old daughter in his free arm.

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2008

[zan]

Cyprus

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2006
Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
March 6, 2007

Since 1974, the southern part of Cyprus has been under the control of the government of the Republic of Cyprus (ROC), while the northern part, administered by Turkish Cypriots, proclaimed itself the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC)" in 1983. The United States does not recognize the "TRNC," nor does any country other than Turkey. A substantial number of Turkish troops remain on the island. A buffer zone, or "green line," patrolled by the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) separates the two parts.

REPUBLIC OF CYPRUS

The Republic of Cyprus is a constitutional republic and multiparty presidential democracy. The area under control of the government has approximately 780,000 inhabitants. On May 21, 56 representatives were elected to the 80-seat Vouli Antiprosopon (House of Representatives) in free and fair elections. This election marked the first time in decades that Turkish Cypriots residing in the government-controlled area were permitted to vote in elections and run for office. President Tassos Papadopoulos was elected in 2003 in free and fair elections. Civilian authorities maintained effective control of the security forces.

The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. There were some reports of police abuse and degrading treatment of persons in police custody and of asylum seekers. Violence against women, including spousal abuse, was common. Trafficking of women to the island, especially for sexual exploitation, continued to be a problem.


http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78807.htm

[miltiades]

It is an absolute disgrace that such barbaric acts occur in Cyprus . When such acts however are supported by college students professional medical personnel , Religious entities then such acts are indeed barbaric. I doubt very much whether any sensible , educated college student in Cyprus would support violence against women. The do in Turkey , they also agree with honour killings by a very large majority. The also still have in place an archaic penal code such as 301 . That is the difference. The state sanctions and takes no action because it is a cultural event. It is not so in Cyprus either amongst the G/Cs or the T/Cs.

[zan]

It is an absolute disgrace that such barbaric acts occur in Cyprus . When such acts however are supported by college students professional medical personnel , Religious entities then such acts are indeed barbaric. I doubt very much whether any sensible , educated college student in Cyprus would support violence against women. The do in Turkey , they also agree with honour killings by a very large majority. The also still have in place an archaic penal code such as 301 . That is the difference. The state sanctions and takes no action because it is a cultural event. It is not so in Cyprus either amongst the G/Cs or the T/Cs.

Read the articles properly Miltiades...Those professionals are mentioned









Don’t ignore male victims of domestic violence

Sir,

The article ‘Stop turning a blind eye to domestic violence’ (March 9) left Cypriot male victims of domestic violence and their children invisible by referring to the problem only as "violence against women". That was very unfair to male victims and their children. I work with men who have been stabbed, cut with glass, had their teeth knocked out with ashtrays, etc. by wives or girlfriends. One of them is a Greek Cypriot who now lives in Los Angeles. They deserve the same dignity as female victims, but instead they're stigmatised, ignored and downplayed.

Although men are less likely to report it, which makes crime data unreliable, sociological research consistently shows women initiate domestic violence at least as often as men and that men suffer one-third of injuries, as Cal State University Professor Martin Fiebert shows in his online bibliography at http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm. For example, Harvard Medical School just announced a study showing half of heterosexual domestic violence is reciprocal and women initiate most reciprocal and non-reciprocal violence.
http://www.patienteducationcenter.org/a ... cid=M0907d
In fact a recent 32-nation study by the University of New Hampshire, which included Greece, found women are as violent and controlling as men in relationships worldwide. http://www.unh.edu/news/cj_nr/2006/may/ ... cfm?type=n
http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mas2/ID41E2.pdf

No matter what their percentages are in Cyprus, male victims should not be ignored. When they don't get help, their children suffer long-term damage by the exposure and are more likely to commit the same violence as adults. We can't end this cycle by ignoring half of it. That's why a global coalition of concerned experts has formed to combat this politically-driven problem. Their website is at www.nfvlrc.org/.

Marc E. Angelucci
President
Los Angeles chapter
National Coalition of Free Men

[miltiades]

Cyprus

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2006
Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
March 6, 2007

Since 1974, the southern part of Cyprus has been under the control of the government of the Republic of Cyprus (ROC), while the northern part, administered by Turkish Cypriots, proclaimed itself the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC)" in 1983. The United States does not recognize the "TRNC," nor does any country other than Turkey. A substantial number of Turkish troops remain on the island. A buffer zone, or "green line," patrolled by the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) separates the two parts.

REPUBLIC OF CYPRUS

The Republic of Cyprus is a constitutional republic and multiparty presidential democracy. The area under control of the government has approximately 780,000 inhabitants. On May 21, 56 representatives were elected to the 80-seat Vouli Antiprosopon (House of Representatives) in free and fair elections. This election marked the first time in decades that Turkish Cypriots residing in the government-controlled area were permitted to vote in elections and run for office. President Tassos Papadopoulos was elected in 2003 in free and fair elections. Civilian authorities maintained effective control of the security forces.

The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. There were some reports of police abuse and degrading treatment of persons in police custody and of asylum seekers. Violence against women, including spousal abuse, was common. Trafficking of women to the island, especially for sexual exploitation, continued to be a problem.


http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78807.htm

A very impartial and precise statement.Do take notice that the only inverted commas used are when referring to the "TRNC" , and the fact that no one recognises it.
The mistreatment of citizens is deplorable in any civilized society. The acceptance however that such mistreatment is part of that nations culture forms the criteria for measuring that nations advancement in civility.

[zan]

Cyprus

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2006
Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
March 6, 2007

Since 1974, the southern part of Cyprus has been under the control of the government of the Republic of Cyprus (ROC), while the northern part, administered by Turkish Cypriots, proclaimed itself the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC)" in 1983. The United States does not recognize the "TRNC," nor does any country other than Turkey. A substantial number of Turkish troops remain on the island. A buffer zone, or "green line," patrolled by the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) separates the two parts.

REPUBLIC OF CYPRUS

The Republic of Cyprus is a constitutional republic and multiparty presidential democracy. The area under control of the government has approximately 780,000 inhabitants. On May 21, 56 representatives were elected to the 80-seat Vouli Antiprosopon (House of Representatives) in free and fair elections. This election marked the first time in decades that Turkish Cypriots residing in the government-controlled area were permitted to vote in elections and run for office. President Tassos Papadopoulos was elected in 2003 in free and fair elections. Civilian authorities maintained effective control of the security forces.

The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. There were some reports of police abuse and degrading treatment of persons in police custody and of asylum seekers. Violence against women, including spousal abuse, was common. Trafficking of women to the island, especially for sexual exploitation, continued to be a problem.


http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78807.htm

A very impartial and precise statement.Do take notice that the only inverted commas used are when referring to the "TRNC" , and the fact that no one recognises it.
The mistreatment of citizens is deplorable in any civilized society. The acceptance however that such mistreatment is part of that nations culture forms the criteria for measuring that nations advancement in civility.

It is not a part of Turkish culture any more than it is, as mentioned in the reports I posted, of Greek or GC culture. You are just being silly and immature in your assumptions. I have never met a Turk or TC that has said that wife beating is their right...You find the writings of fools or religious zealots and talk as much shit as they do.

[Kikapu]

The Associated PressPublished: April 15, 2008

British envoy pledges UK's support for renewed Cyprus reunification process


NICOSIA, Cyprus: Britain wants to do all it can to support a renewed drive to reunify Cyprus, Britain's envoy to the divided island said Tuesday.

Joan Ryan said London was committed to working with all sides to reunify the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north and internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south. But she said a reunification deal was a Cypriot prerogative, with Britain ready to assist the peace process.

"This is a solution that must be found and negotiated by Cypriots for Cypriots," Ryan said after talks with new Cyprus President Dimitris Christofias. "We are very willing to do all we can, accepting our responsibility as a guarantor power to help and encourage the process."

Former colonial ruler Britain, along with Greece and Turkey, were constitutionally enshrined as guarantors of Cyprus' sovereignty when the island gained independence in 1960.

Christofias said after his 90-minute meeting with Ryan that Britain can assist the peace effort by remaining "consistent with the principles of a Cyprus settlement."

"My meetings with Ms. Ryan are always good and warm hearted," Christofias said. "From there on, we expect that Britain will play the positive role that we want it to play."

In the past, Christofias has been highly critical of Britain's policy on Cyprus because of a perceived pro-Turkish bias. As head of Cyprus' House of Representatives in 2005, Christofias accused London of being Cyprus' "bad demon" and its nemesis for half a century.

Cyprus was split along ethnic lines in 1974, when Turkey invaded in response to a short-lived coup by supporters of uniting the island with Greece.

Many attempts since then to reunify the island have failed, including the last and most comprehensive bid in 2004, when Greek Cypriots rejected a U.N. reunification plan in a referendum. Turkish Cypriots accepted the plan in a separate vote.

A four-year stalemate was broken last month when Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat agreed to restart talks. They also agreed to open a highly symbolic crossing point in Nicosia's mediaeval center to provide momentum for the renewed peace drive.

Ledra Street — a busy shopping boulevard — was the sixth crossing point between the north and south to reopen, but it was hailed as a significant milestone in reunification efforts because the street had come to embody the island's division.

Ryan is on a three-day visit to the island for talks with Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders and a firsthand assessment of reunification prospects in order to determine how best Britain can nudge the process forward.

She noted a more "positive climate" on the island than during her last trip in October and congratulated Christofias for his "positive approach" and work with Talat to seek reunification.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/ ... -Envoy.php