Cyprus-Forum.com

[Big Al]

like i said..... better to be a minority to my kinsmen rather than my enemy.

[xxNilxx]

[Nurgary]

The GC's believe that the 18% population equals the land holding also. This is total rubbish.

How right you are...

Land Ownership in Cyprus by Ethnic Group:

60.9% - Greek/Armenian/Maronite Cypriots
12.3% - Turkish Cypriots
0.5% - Others
26.3% - State/Church Land

Source: Department of Lands and Surveys
(Refer to Annex 14 in Volume II of the "Memorandum by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus" submitted to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons, 27 February 1987)

I see - GC run Dept of Lands and Survey dated 27 Feb 1987 said 12.3%

So how is it been reduced from 16.7% the post-1974 figure based on 1964 figures by the Greek Cypriot Department of Lands and Surveys and the Planning Bureau.

But then again TC figures indicate that it is 26.7%.

So only fair way is to get outsiders to look into the issue and come up with a true figure.

The ONLY authority when it comes to land issues in Cyprus is the Department of Lands and Surveys of the Republic of Cyprus make no mistake. You can read about its history here...

http://www.moi.gov.cy/moi/dls/dls.nsf/d ... enDocument

Unlike in the recently manufactured “TRNC”, the Department of Lands and Surveys has ORIGINAL records of land ownership dating back to the mid 19th century which anyone can VIEW upon request and can be easily contacted here…

http://www.moi.gov.cy/moi/dls/dls.nsf/d ... n?OpenForm

Regards, GR.

The 16.7% figure was issued by the Greek Cypriot Department of Lands and Surveys and the Planning Bureau. Based on holding in 1964.

[Nurgary]

But figures will be disputed by both sides so lets experts from outside come and do a full survey. If nothing to hide why not?

[zan]

Any smartarse got the figures for how many TCs there would have been if we had been left alone to live in our own country?????? I would have had six TC children just like my parents for a start...We breed like rabbits you know........

[Oracle]

4. COLONIZATION.
Since February 1975 a great number of Turks were illegally brought from Turkey, mainly from the Eastern part of the country, in an attempt to change the demographic character of Cyprus.

In July 1975, Mr. Wechman, United Nations Representative in Cyprus, sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General, Dr. Waldheim, informing him that “several hundred mainland Turks are being transferred each week from Turkey and are settling in Karpass villages and villages south of the new Famagusta-Nicosia road”.

According to several statements made by Turkish Cypriots and according to reliable information, the Turkish settlers are coming from Anatolia, Alexandretta, the Black Sea area and from areas that have been destroyed by earth-quakes. An office was set up by the Turkish Government in Mersin to facilitate their transfer.

The homes and properties in the occupied areas belonging to the Greek Cypriot refugees, have been distributed among the Turks from Turkey, as well as among the Turkish Cypriots who hae been forcibly transferred by their leaders to the Turkish occupied areas from their homes and properties in the Government controlled area, in 1975. The mainland Turks were given the status of “Turkish Cypriot citizen” under the so-called “citizenship” of the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”.

Halkin Sesi, a Turkish Cypriot daily, reports in its edition of 13th April, 1977:

“The inhabitants of the village of Guvencinlik (The Greek name of the village is Acheritou) are mainland Turks despite the fact that all of them are in possession of documents showing that they are Turkish Cypriots. They stick to their mainland traditions and beliefs which are not Cypriot”.
In May 1976 the Swedish contigent of the UNFICYP gave the following report, concerning the condition in the area of the Karpass peninsula:
“One year ago the Greek Cypriot population lived in 30 locations and 21 of these were more or less solely Greek populated. Today they are living in 23 locations but in all these places Turkish Cypriots and Turkish Nationals have settled. It is very hard to estimate how many they are, especially the Turkish Cypriots. However, we estimate that not more than 1,500 Turkish Nationals are living in villages where Greek Cypriots remain”.
The Turkish settler, Usuf Veli Akyuz, who comes from the village of Kalyan Cayrle in the district of Macka in the Turkish province of Trebizond, was serving as a solider in the occupied area of Cyprus. He deserted to the Government controlled area and gave himself up to the authorities of the Republic of Cyprus, in June 1978. In a voluntary statement, Veli Akyuz described the procedure under which the Government of Turkey induces Turkish people to come to Cyprus. He also described briefly the situation in the occupied part of Cyprus:
“After the invasion of Cyprus, Ecevit sent a notice to the Muktar of our village, Mahmoud Yiadirin, inviting those who wished to go to Cyprus as immigrants to make the necessary application … Seventy families applied, including mine. (Note: 150 families were living in the said village).
“They (the immigrants) were to be given televisions, fridges, furniture, a house and at least 50 donums of land… I heard later that other families that came with us settled in Ayia Triadha, Trikomo and Dhavlos… There are settlers all over Cyprus, from Famagusta to Morphou. Settlers are still coming from Turkey, that is, they come as tourists, and stay in Cyprus as immigrants….. The settlers are poor people and they are nearly all illiterate. There are some skilled workers but the vast majority are farmers and thieves…. The TESC Minister of the Interior wanted to send us to Turkey for training. The Turkish Commanding Officer, Hassan Saglam, did not agree with the Minister of the Interior’s proposal and ordered that we should be trained at Gulseran camp, in Famagusta.
“Before I enlisted in the army, there was a fight at a wedding in which my name became entangled. I was kept under arrest for one month. While under arrest, I was beaten and violently maltreated. I lost two teeth during the beating. The cause of the quarrel was a woman. This is one of the reasons why I decided to desert to the Greek side. Also because of the oppression and barbarism in the army which was unbearable. Another reason was the high cost of living”.
There is enough undisputed evidence about Turkey’s policy for the colonization of the occupied part of the Republic of Cyprus, in an attempt to change the demographic character of the island, and to establish the long desired – “homogeneous regions”. This, of course, will help the implementation of the final part of the plan for the partition of Cyprus. Turkey’s intentions concerning the change of the demographic character of Cyprus is shown clearly in an extract from the “PULSE”, an authoritative daily review of the Turkish press, published on August the 19th, 1975:
“The Turkish Cypriot population will reach 200,000 by the end of the year and time will see to the population equalization process. What is more, another twelve years will not be required. Months will suffice, and the size will determine the percentage in the Federal Republic of Cyprus, not vice versa”.
The continuing systematic operation for the colonization of the Turkish occupied part of Cyprus by Turkey, shows disregard to the provisions of the United Nations resolution 3395 (1975) by which all parties were urged to refrain from unilateral actions, including changes in the demographic structure of Cyprus, and which was reaffirmed by the subsequent resolution 31/12 (1976) of 16.11.1976.
T
he said operation for the colonization of northern Cyprus is against the last paragraph of article 49 of the Geneva Convention IV of the 12th August 1949, which reads as follows:
“The occupying power shall not depend or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies”. Such prohibition is also included in the convention establishing the Permanent International Criminal Court and any violation of the relevant provision is considered as being a crime against humanity.
The illegal Turkish settlers in the occupied part of Cyprus constitute a major issue in the efforts towards achieving a just solution to the Cyprus problem.
It is alleged by the various "mediators" that their presence is turned to be a humanitarian one, because of the fact that they live in Cyprus for so long and that their children were borne in Cyprus.
It has to be stressed that no right can be created from an illegal situation. The Turkish settlers were illegally brought to the occupied areas of Cyprus and they are still and will be illegal, irrespective of the time of their presence or their personal or family situation.
But even if we were to face the issue on a purely humanitarian basis, we have the rights of the legitimate inhabitants vs. the artificially created "rights" of the settlers. Who says that those rights of the settlers are stronger than the rights of the Cypriot people?

http://agrino.org/humrights/agrsion/agrsion.htm

[Oracle]

5. OPPRESSION OF TURKISH CYPRIOTS.
As a result of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and the continuing occupation of the northern part of the island, the rights and freedoms of the Turkish Cypriots were, and still are, violated.

According to several statements made by Turkish Cypriots who, either escaped from the Turkish occupied areas to the Government controlled areas or talked to foreign journalists, the Turkish armed forces have complete and exclusive control on the areas in question. Inspite of the efforts made by Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot leadership to persuade the foreign Governments and, generally, the world public opinion that there is a “democratically elected administration” in northern Cyprus, the fact is that all the powers, military, political, executive, even judicial, are in the hands of the occupying forces, acting in the exercise of authority given to them by Turkey. Denktash’s “administration” acts within the framework of the authority and power which the “security needs” permit.

The Turkish Cypriot population is bitterly disappointed by the Turkish Cypriot leadership and this disappointment is shown in several articles and statements, which have been appeared in the Turkish Cypriot press.

Since the appearance of the Turkish settlers in the occupied areas of Cyprus, criminality has been increased. The victims of this criminality are the Turkish Cypriots who realize with astonishment that the occupying forces and the Denktash’s regime tolerate the criminal actions of the mainland settlers.

In May 1978, two armed Turkish settlers stopped a group of Turkish Cypriot men and women returning home from work on their tractor and they dragged one of the young girls from the tractor, into the forest and raped her. Dr. Fazil Kuchuk, the former Turkish Cypriot Vice-President of the Republic of Cyprus, wrote an article about that incident in “Halkin Sesi” on 24.5.1978 and some extracts from that article are quoted:
“…. The incident was the product of “heroism” on the part of two persons who knew how to avail themselves of the facilities provided by the wrong and lame settlement policy being followed for the past 4 years. We have been writing for years and we have been asking the authorities to do something on this issue. Nobody heard us and as a result this paradise island has been turned into hell… We warned the officials once again. We told them that these newcomers would be a nuisance to our decent citizens: We told them to halt them before it becomes too late…. Moreover, new officials emerged who would protect these persons. They said: “You can not touch citizens of the Turkish Republic”. It meant that they would not work and we would feed and clothe them and do anything they wanted us to do. It was those who found this protection who started believing that they were perfectly legal and who strangled drivers, robed houses and exhibited unprecedented skill in theft….. The incident at Ayios Andronikos cannot be considered to be a simple police case. The Turkish Cypriots have not experienced such an incident since 1571 …. The surrender of government power to thugs can mean bringing us face to face with far more serious incidents in the future”.
On the following day, 25.5.1978, Dr. Fazil Kuchuk wrote another article in “Halkin Sesi”, commenting generally on the presence of the mainland settlers in the Turkish occupied areas of Cyprus:
“… People who are as impolite and uncivilized as to split in the face of the police should be sent back to their villages. The sooner they are sent back the sooner they will find the freedom they want and the sooner the Turkish Cypriot community … will find tranquility.”
The living conditions in the occupied areas of Cyprus were also described by a statement made by the “Turkish Cypriot Patriotic Women’s Association” at the end of May 1978. The statement said that under the present disorderly state, the women in the “Turkish Federated State of Cyprus” are suffering, are being exploited and derided upon more and more. The statement added that under the existing exploitation and systematic looting there could not be a prospect of happiness in the “Turkish Federated State of Cyprus” for families and children.
The above-mentioned examples show that the Turkish Cypriot community lives under oppression and, on several occasions, the human rights of the Turkish Cypriots have been violated. Reference is especially made to the rights of those Turkish Cypriots who were forcibly transferred by their leaders from their homes in the free areas, to the Turkish occupied part of Cyprus.

It was stated many times by Turkish Cypriots that if the Turkish troops were to be withdrawn, all the Turkish Cypriots having their homes in the Government controlled areas, would immediately return, since they have nothing to fear from their Greek Cypriot compatriots.

The great desire of the Turkish Cypriot population to live together again with the Greek Cypriots and to work for the common progress of the Republic of Cyprus, is shown, inter alia, in a message sent by the Turkish Cypriot Students to the 5th Congress of the Pancyprian Federation of Students and Young Scientists, held in Nicosia in August 1978. Some extracts from the message are quoted herebelow:

“But days will come when all the Cypriot students will unite and under the same roof, under the same leadership and in the same organization will fight for their democratic rights, rights which have not been respected so far.
“A common struggle by the students and people, Greeks and Turks, against the enemies of Cyprus is the only way to fight the beasts who are ready to massacre our small island. Only in this way will we achieve freedom, democracy and social progress in Cyprus.
“Only united we’ll be able to use our knowledge and experience for the prosperity and happiness of our island”.
This is enough evidence that Turkey, through its armed forces in Cyprus, violates the right of free movement within the territory of the State, the right of freedom of settlement, the right of owning property and many other rights of the Turkish Cypriots, insisting in her policy of artificial separation of the people of Cyprus, in order to achieve her dark aims.

http://agrino.org/humrights/agrsion/agrsion.htm

[Kikapu]

like i said..... better to be a minority to my kinsmen rather than my enemy.

Must be the TC curse. No matter where we are, we are a "minority", even in our own "new country". Was is not the reason why we left the "old country" so that we will never be a "minority" again. I guess it is the TC curse, so better get use to, right Big Al.!!!

[Kikapu]

Yes like Kikapu says, sometimes size does not matter

That's true Shah. Ask Miltiades and he will tell you.!!

[Viewpoint]

like i said..... better to be a minority to my kinsmen rather than my enemy.

Must be the TC curse. No matter where we are, we are a "minority", even in our own "new country". Was is not the reason why we left the "old country" so that we will never be a "minority" again. I guess it is the TC curse, so better get use to, right Big Al.!!!

Minority amongst Turks vs minority amongst GCs, Turks win ever time. The only way to overcome this is to provide lots of safeguards for both sides until trust and cooperation are achieved.