74LB wrote:
I for one would accept democracy as you described it, and one-man one-vote is common place throughout the world. BUT, and this is where we tend to go round in circles.....
The TC's believe that in a one-man one-vote scenario, we (the TC's) will get shafted each and every time (in decisions that primarily affect the TC community).
Many people have come to this forum and said something like 'but hold, on, with 18-20% of the population you can be a very strong force, you will always be able to influence decisions' etc etc. But the crux of the matter is, the TC's don't believe this will happen. The belief is that voting will primarily be along ethnic lines, and the minorities will lose out each and every time. If you can allay these fears, then a truly acceptable solution will always be within reach.
Each persons priority is different.
Some want their land back so they can move back home. Some would rather have compensations for their land and stay where they are.
Some want all foreign troops to leave, and some would like them to stay.
Some talk of guarantor powers, some say never again.
I for one, am sure that all the above can be resolved to the satisfaction of the majority. But the biggest stumbling block (imo) is the view that one-man one-vote will be used against the TC's each and every time.
I disagree with you 74LB. The only reason people will vote along ethnic lines, if they are divided along ethnic lines. If on the other hand, we have a truly united island, then people will vote on political ideological lines. This is why I would support doing away with all the political parties in Cyprus and form 3 main new ones,
the Right, the Centrist and the Left, and let all Cypriots, regardless of their ethnicity belong to who they best align themselves with politically. This is how it works in the rest of the Democratic world. Party members are elected by their local constituents, which means you are going to have TC's and GC's in each and every of the main 3 parties. Therefore you are not going to have 80% V's 20%, but rather you are going to have the Right V's the Centrist V's the Left and all the other small ones which will play important part in forming a coalition.
Can you imagine a GC running for President also has a TC as a vice President, or vise versa. This will also give a good chance for a TC to become a President, elected directly or in the event of GC president leaving office before his time was due for many reasons. If Barak Obama can become the next President of the United States as a black man whose ethnic group make up only 10% of the United states, whose heritage goes back to slavery, then there is absolutely no reason why the TC's can't trust True Democracy. By having 2 states, north and south, and the TC's being the majority in the north in a True Federation, each states will also have certain rights that the Federal Government cannot interfere, as long as they are not in violation of any one's Human and Democratic Rights. The protection of all citizens will be protected by the Federal Government. I'm sorry, but I do not buy this voting by a block to vote anything that will be against the "minorities" in the country by the majority, and lets not forget, that we are also in the EU and not in some third world country for God sake.
