Cyprus-Forum.com

[Anglo]

Feel free to enlighten me then, friend.

[Alexis]

Anglo,

I don't want to sound harsh, but why should GC refugees (or TC ones for that matter) accept a compromise on this issue?
This is probably the most sensitive issue on the table for the GC side and is crucial to any settlement on the island. Yes there are arguments for allowing many of the present occupiers to stay in exchange for properties in the south, but what about all the net GC refugees that were displaced
and effectively had nowhere top go? Is it fair to simply tell these people
(Cypriot people) that there is no room for them in the new Cyprus?
On this particular issue, if the GC demands are unrealistic it is due entirely to the excess amount of land the Turkish army occupied in 1974 and the subsequent policies of the TRNC towards this land.
Please be objective on this issue, whatever the GC community's
faults with regard the situation in Cyprus at the present day I do not believe that refugees should be punished in the way they have been for the last 30 years.

[Anglo]

Alexis, I apologise if my tone indicated a lack of compassion or understanding of the sensitivities of this subject. I assure you that I have been told on countless times, by GCs particularly, how they feel a huge emotional attachment to their old haunts.

Maybe because I come from a society that is highly mobile and where peole's roots shift from year to year I find it less easy to empathise with someone who has been away from their old home for 32/42 years.

Just because someone can't uproot from a stable life in, say, Limasol to go to Vasilia, where they grew up as a child, doesn't mean there is no place for them in the 'new' Cyprus.

I am not belittling anybody's traumatic experiences from 74 but am I right in assuming that most GCs from the north now live in relative wealth and comfort?

[Alexis]

Hi Anglo,

No offence taken from any of your posts, I feel it is good to debate
these issues openly.
I agree, many of the refugees have got on with their lives and
and although debated, many of these refugees would accept
compensation in return for their properties. However, what most refugees want is the choice to return to their properties if they want, or, if this is not possible to have the choice to return to their neighbourhoods and build
new homes with any compensation given.
The Annan plan went part way to addressing these concerns, but did not do enough. I accept that some kind of compromise is required but my main point was the lack of good will in continuing to sell refugee property to third parties prior to a settlement in full knowledge that all this will do is complicate the issue and make it impossible for even more refugees to return to their homes when clearly this would have been possible before.

[Anglo]

Alexis, what you are saying sounds reasonable enough but from what I can gather the vast majority of development on GC land took place well before this latest property 'boom'. I was comparing photos my Granny took in 63 in the Kyrenia area with some from the 1980's and the difference is huge.

According to the TRNC government only 0.3% of land has been sold to foreigners. So in this context your concerns may be seen as largely emotional rather than practical.

[RAFAELLA]

How can Talat object to someone exercising her or his individual legal rights?

I'm not surprised, Talat is exercising his typical turkish (not Tc) mentality.
Turks do not have any idea of individual legal rights they only know how to violate human and legal rights.

[Kifeas]

How can Talat object to someone exercising her or his individual legal rights?

I'm not surprised, Talat is exercising his typical turkish (not Tc) mentality.
Turks do not have any idea of individual legal rights they only know how to violate human and legal rights.

Rafaella, You are making statements -comments in a very generalising manner and this is not right. You cannot claim that all Turks have no idea of individual human and legal rights but only know how to violate them. I am afraid this is a racist comment. I as a Greek Cypriot, and know my views, do not feel comfortable reading your comment, said aside a well-intended TC in this forum. It is one thing to attack or oppose to an individuals ideas or a group's for that sake, and another thing to describe people in a certain way simply because they are Turks.