Cyprus-Forum.com

[zan]

On Thursday and Friday I was interpreting at interviews conducted in Famagusta with some local Cyprus-born young men whose parents were from Turkey. This experience was an eye opener. I had the opportunity to engage some general conversation with


them and gauge their outlook on their existence. I can tell you that it was very negative. These men -aged in their mid-twenties - were all unemployed and said that they had given up all hope of ever finding work. They felt that they were victims of discrimination, especially in the eyes of the police. To them, Famagusta police station was a notorious place where people were routinely coerced into signing false confessions. They live with their parents, sleep until the afternoon and the highlight of their day is when they go out in the evening, buy some bottles of whisky and hang out on a piece of wasteground, getting drunk. I got no real sense that these people identified either with the TRNC or with Turkey. I can see an explosive situation building up here, especially as the TRNC economy is heading for a severe downturn and is not going to be able to create work for these people. There is a large concentration of young, disaffected second-generation Turkish migrants in Famagusta. Perhaps I am exaggerating, but I wonder if one day we might see on the streets of Famagusta the kind of events we witnessed a couple of years ago in the suburbs of Paris involving the disaffected children of immgrants.

If the alcohol problem gets out of hand you might get some spontanous civil unrest...But i doubt there will ever be any large scale riots...The trnc is a military run place,they would come down very hard on them...The problem will probably show itself as increased armed robberies,muggings,and house burgleries...plus the usual social problems of drugs,gambling and prostitution etc...

You are probably right, and you need a very large population to support serious riots. Even so, I gained a whole new perspective on life in the TRNC last week.

That reminds me. When MR-from-NG made a brief appearance, this was the last thing he posted:

21st Nov. 08

I will make more time and post some of my experiences of late with some of the scum in the north. They have made my life hell and will name and shame them in posts to come. Watch this space

Is he another victim of the silencing campaign?

I would not describe these young men I encountered as "scum". They were fairly ordinary, decent people with aspirations to a better life that they saw no hope of ever fulfilling. Apart from congregating in a public space every evening and getting drunk, they did not appear to engage in any illegal or deviant behaviour. There is a human tragedy here that has been brushed under the carpet.

Agreed Tim and it should be addressed all over the world.....You forget that I work every day in council estates in London.......I have seen things like old demented people who have no idea what planet they are on living in conditions I would not let a dog live in...That is why this sort of talk gets my goat....people don't see what is under there own noses...On thing that I am happy about working in Turkish homes though...They are spotless no matter what their situation....

I agree. You encounter the same kind of thing on council estates in the UK. However, these guys suffer discrimination on all kinds of levels. Turkish Cypriots living in Famagusta can now make the half-hour commute to better jobs in Larnaca, or just go there for shopping and entertainment. These people are stuck in what Arif Hasan Tahsin calls the "milking shed" (i.e. the TRNC).

If the great wealthy country of the UK cannot prevent these things, or maybe doesn't want to I accept...Then how can you judge a country that has been under embargoes since 1963...I accept that it was not declared a country then.....The Greek people should be embarrassed by it as well...Or give us the freedom to further ourselves more dynamically...

[BirKibrisli]

Tim,I was just wondering...How come you were interpreting for these people in the trnc???? From Turkish into...What???

[Get Real!]

BirKibrisli made the following alarming comment :

My educated guess of the real TC numbers is about 80,000....And there are at least 300,000 settlers,not all with citizenship rights...

My further guess would be, there are potentially 100,000 Turkish soldiers hidden in those (settler) numbers.

I take it the TCs do Military Service, much as we have in the RoC, but under the patronage of their "TRNC" Administration.

So how are these settlers trained?

Does the "TRNC" Administration undertake the Military Service requirements of the settlers, alongside the TCs; or do they join the 40,000 Turkish occupying-troops, to train to kill us?

..... Or, are the Turkish Settlers exempt from Military Service?

Strange thread...

The settlers aren't even trained to make good cannon fodder let alone combatants! Anyway, the TC contingent (around 4.5k) is separate to the Turkish army (around 37k) but receives its crappy arms and training from the Turks who have the good hardware. Basically, the TC "force" is more symbolic than battleworthy.

So you are saying the (age/health recruit-able) Settlers, or their grown-up children, are exempted from Military Service?

Of course they are “exempt”! They've got nothing to do with Cyprus! Turkey has around 520,000 trained regulars so why would she need those incompetent fools? They’d just make a mess of things…

[zan]

BirKibrisli made the following alarming comment :

My educated guess of the real TC numbers is about 80,000....And there are at least 300,000 settlers,not all with citizenship rights...

My further guess would be, there are potentially 100,000 Turkish soldiers hidden in those (settler) numbers.

I take it the TCs do Military Service, much as we have in the RoC, but under the patronage of their "TRNC" Administration.

So how are these settlers trained?

Does the "TRNC" Administration undertake the Military Service requirements of the settlers, alongside the TCs; or do they join the 40,000 Turkish occupying-troops, to train to kill us?

..... Or, are the Turkish Settlers exempt from Military Service?

Strange thread...

The settlers aren't even trained to make good cannon fodder let alone combatants! Anyway, the TC contingent (around 4.5k) is separate to the Turkish army (around 37k) but receives its crappy arms and training from the Turks who have the good hardware. Basically, the TC "force" is more symbolic than battleworthy.

So you are saying the (age/health recruit-able) Settlers, or their grown-up children, are exempted from Military Service?

Of course they are “exempt”! They've got nothing to do with Cyprus! Turkey has around 520,000 trained regulars so why would she need those incompetent fools? They’d just make a mess of things…

What she doesn't realise in her stupid statement that she is on fact helping the TRNC out...This is how demented she has become.....Taking out the 100,000 soldiers out of the NUMBERS that she says are hidden (In such a way, by the way, that she is trying to make out that there is a secret army in the TRNC but she uses her words wisely so that when this point is pointed out she can sort of cover herself)....It lowers the number of settlers......I didn't think she would ever help us.....What a bloody turncoat.....

[Oracle]

BirKibrisli made the following alarming comment :

My educated guess of the real TC numbers is about 80,000....And there are at least 300,000 settlers,not all with citizenship rights...

My further guess would be, there are potentially 100,000 Turkish soldiers hidden in those (settler) numbers.

I take it the TCs do Military Service, much as we have in the RoC, but under the patronage of their "TRNC" Administration.

So how are these settlers trained?

Does the "TRNC" Administration undertake the Military Service requirements of the settlers, alongside the TCs; or do they join the 40,000 Turkish occupying-troops, to train to kill us?

..... Or, are the Turkish Settlers exempt from Military Service?

Strange thread...

The settlers aren't even trained to make good cannon fodder let alone combatants! Anyway, the TC contingent (around 4.5k) is separate to the Turkish army (around 37k) but receives its crappy arms and training from the Turks who have the good hardware. Basically, the TC "force" is more symbolic than battleworthy.

So you are saying the (age/health recruit-able) Settlers, or their grown-up children, are exempted from Military Service?

Of course they are “exempt”! They've got nothing to do with Cyprus! Turkey has around 520,000 trained regulars so why would she need those incompetent fools? They’d just make a mess of things…

So it seems the settlers have nothing to do with Cyprus except enjoyment of its fruits.

Wouldn't the TCs be even more resentful of this intrusion by these hedonistic, duty-exempted Turks? Maybe the MS-trained TCs would be forced to fight to save them ....

[Get Real!]

BirKibrisli made the following alarming comment :

My educated guess of the real TC numbers is about 80,000....And there are at least 300,000 settlers,not all with citizenship rights...

My further guess would be, there are potentially 100,000 Turkish soldiers hidden in those (settler) numbers.

I take it the TCs do Military Service, much as we have in the RoC, but under the patronage of their "TRNC" Administration.

So how are these settlers trained?

Does the "TRNC" Administration undertake the Military Service requirements of the settlers, alongside the TCs; or do they join the 40,000 Turkish occupying-troops, to train to kill us?

..... Or, are the Turkish Settlers exempt from Military Service?

Strange thread...

The settlers aren't even trained to make good cannon fodder let alone combatants! Anyway, the TC contingent (around 4.5k) is separate to the Turkish army (around 37k) but receives its crappy arms and training from the Turks who have the good hardware. Basically, the TC "force" is more symbolic than battleworthy.

So you are saying the (age/health recruit-able) Settlers, or their grown-up children, are exempted from Military Service?

Of course they are “exempt”! They've got nothing to do with Cyprus! Turkey has around 520,000 trained regulars so why would she need those incompetent fools? They’d just make a mess of things…

So it seems the settlers have nothing to do with Cyprus except enjoyment of its fruits.

Wouldn't the TCs be even more resentful of this intrusion by these hedonistic, duty-exempted Turks? Maybe the MS-trained TCs would be forced to fight to save them ....

Look at it this way, if you were offered a "new life" on an island like Cyprus would you go if you were also obliged to serve an army? Nobody would come!

[zan]

BirKibrisli made the following alarming comment :

My educated guess of the real TC numbers is about 80,000....And there are at least 300,000 settlers,not all with citizenship rights...

My further guess would be, there are potentially 100,000 Turkish soldiers hidden in those (settler) numbers.

I take it the TCs do Military Service, much as we have in the RoC, but under the patronage of their "TRNC" Administration.

So how are these settlers trained?

Does the "TRNC" Administration undertake the Military Service requirements of the settlers, alongside the TCs; or do they join the 40,000 Turkish occupying-troops, to train to kill us?

..... Or, are the Turkish Settlers exempt from Military Service?

Strange thread...

The settlers aren't even trained to make good cannon fodder let alone combatants! Anyway, the TC contingent (around 4.5k) is separate to the Turkish army (around 37k) but receives its crappy arms and training from the Turks who have the good hardware. Basically, the TC "force" is more symbolic than battleworthy.

So you are saying the (age/health recruit-able) Settlers, or their grown-up children, are exempted from Military Service?

Of course they are “exempt”! They've got nothing to do with Cyprus! Turkey has around 520,000 trained regulars so why would she need those incompetent fools? They’d just make a mess of things…

So it seems the settlers have nothing to do with Cyprus except enjoyment of its fruits.

Wouldn't the TCs be even more resentful of this intrusion by these hedonistic, duty-exempted Turks? Maybe the MS-trained TCs would be forced to fight to save them ....

If you were not so afraid of letting go even for a second, then you too could have the same status of person cleaning your house, pool and garden wiht the tax exempt settlers in the "RoC"....Or perhaps show more interest in getting rid of them from under your nose before worrying about someone else's country....

[Oracle]

BirKibrisli made the following alarming comment :

My educated guess of the real TC numbers is about 80,000....And there are at least 300,000 settlers,not all with citizenship rights...

My further guess would be, there are potentially 100,000 Turkish soldiers hidden in those (settler) numbers.

I take it the TCs do Military Service, much as we have in the RoC, but under the patronage of their "TRNC" Administration.

So how are these settlers trained?

Does the "TRNC" Administration undertake the Military Service requirements of the settlers, alongside the TCs; or do they join the 40,000 Turkish occupying-troops, to train to kill us?

..... Or, are the Turkish Settlers exempt from Military Service?

Strange thread...

The settlers aren't even trained to make good cannon fodder let alone combatants! Anyway, the TC contingent (around 4.5k) is separate to the Turkish army (around 37k) but receives its crappy arms and training from the Turks who have the good hardware. Basically, the TC "force" is more symbolic than battleworthy.

So you are saying the (age/health recruit-able) Settlers, or their grown-up children, are exempted from Military Service?

Of course they are “exempt”! They've got nothing to do with Cyprus! Turkey has around 520,000 trained regulars so why would she need those incompetent fools? They’d just make a mess of things…

So it seems the settlers have nothing to do with Cyprus except enjoyment of its fruits.

Wouldn't the TCs be even more resentful of this intrusion by these hedonistic, duty-exempted Turks? Maybe the MS-trained TCs would be forced to fight to save them ....

Look at it this way, if you were offered a "new life" on an island like Cyprus would you go if you were also obliged to serve an army? Nobody would come!

That's interesting; free (stolen) property and no duties. But what about the Settlers' offspring? Are the TCs now training them, alongside themselves, during MS or are they too, exempt for life?

It wouldn't be the first time Turkey reneged on her word or promises. Either way these settlers pose a tap-able Military resource for Turkey in her Expansionist agenda ...

“Times are hard, Turkish expansion is not reassuring – we see what is going on in the Aegean – Greece’s national sovereign rights are being threatened and here in Cyprus we can’t see any decline in Turkish bigotry,” said Omirou. “Therefore, it is the House Defence Committee’s patriotic obligation to be alert and carry out its duties in a non-negotiable manner.”

[Tim Drayton]

Tim,I was just wondering...How come you were interpreting for these people in the trnc???? From Turkish into...What???

Sorry, my lips are sealed. Professional integrity and all that - I am sure you have been there. If I could tell you, you jaw would drop in astonishment.

[Get Real!]

Tim,I was just wondering...How come you were interpreting for these people in the trnc???? From Turkish into...What???

Kurdish?