Cyprus-Forum.com

[Get Real!]

Republic of Turkey citizens who are here and have n't done their military service are not exempt from military service and they have to do it in Turkey not Cyprus.

Are you saying that Turkey has an OBLIGATORY military service for all able-bodied males?

This is news to you? As soon as you finish your education you get called up for national service, the same was as it in Greece, Russia, etc etc.

In that case, how come Turkey's RESERVES are only around 700,000 out of her 80M people???

Just to get a comparative idea, the RoC reserves are around 90,000!!!

[skipper]

skipper thanks for the above details.

It seems the Settlers are not of special status regarding MS. So amongst the 300,000 would be a considerable number already trained in Turkey, or if given "trnc" citizenship training with the TCs.

We are looking at a whole group of extra trained Turkish soldiers, which need to be factored when assessing the realistic, immediate extent of the threat posed to us by Turkey.

So does anyone out there, "empathise" with our predicament?

Most of the 40,000 are not hardened troops, they are young men sent from Turkey to do their military service, they do not choose to come to Cyprus. Infact in Turkey what normally happens is that they send you to other end of the country far away from distractions like your family.

Being in the Turkish army as a conscript is not fun by any means, it's not like the GC army where you have conscripts calling in fast food from outside.

[Get Real!]

Btw, here's a link for the active duty personnel but I can't find that figure for the reserves right now...

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ ... -force.htm

[Nikitas]

TIm has painted a picture which for Cyprus contsitutes an ANOMALY, and the response is that this kind of destitution is prevalent all over the world. This response is nonsense and we all know it. In Cyprus society as a whole there is the family and peer pressure to behave within certain limits and we all know that these limits are. Being drunk in public is a no no. It marks you as a low life. This is true for GCs and TCs alike.

What Tim has portrayed is a situation which needs a little shove to get out of hand. The question which all of us should be asking is why it was necessary to bring these people over to Cyprus, why keep them there and who is going to bear the expense of taking care of them once a solution is found, because sure as hell it does not look like TCs will want to share their politically equal and federated state with them.

Mainland Greeks regard the Turks as superior diplomats. The more I hang around this forum the more convinced I become that the Turks are just as clownish as the Greeks when it comes to picking and pursuing micky mouse policies.

[skipper]

Republic of Turkey citizens who are here and have n't done their military service are not exempt from military service and they have to do it in Turkey not Cyprus.

Are you saying that Turkey has an OBLIGATORY military service for all able-bodied males?

This is news to you? As soon as you finish your education you get called up for national service, the same was as it in Greece, Russia, etc etc.

In that case, how come Turkey's RESERVES are only around 700,000 out of her 80M people???

Just to get a comparative idea, the RoC reserves are around 90,000!!!

That is because they are NOT reserves, those are actually unifromed men in the standing army as we speak. If you mean by "reserves", if war broke out tommorow how many able bodied men (under age of 49) who have military training could be called apon, the number is around 17,000,000.

[Get Real!]

Republic of Turkey citizens who are here and have n't done their military service are not exempt from military service and they have to do it in Turkey not Cyprus.

Are you saying that Turkey has an OBLIGATORY military service for all able-bodied males?

This is news to you? As soon as you finish your education you get called up for national service, the same was as it in Greece, Russia, etc etc.

In that case, how come Turkey's RESERVES are only around 700,000 out of her 80M people???

Just to get a comparative idea, the RoC reserves are around 90,000!!!

That is because they are NOT reserves, those are actually unifromed men in the standing army as we speak. If you mean by "reserves", if war broke out tommorow how many able bodied men (under age of 49) who have military training could be called apon, the number is around 17,000,000.

That's where we're getting confused... I've read that they have ACTIVE DUTY MEN of around 520,000, followed by RESERVES (part time pros) of around 700,000, for a total of 1.2M if a war broke out tomorrow say and would get called up...

[Nikitas]

A call up which turns up more men than you can supply, feed and above all transport is a major military disadvantage. Maybe that is why they do not count on them.

[skipper]

TIm has painted a picture which for Cyprus contsitutes an ANOMALY, and the response is that this kind of destitution is prevalent all over the world. This response is nonsense and we all know it. In Cyprus society as a whole there is the family and peer pressure to behave within certain limits and we all know that these limits are. Being drunk in public is a no no. It marks you as a low life. This is true for GCs and TCs alike.

What Tim has portrayed is a situation which needs a little shove to get out of hand. The question which all of us should be asking is why it was necessary to bring these people over to Cyprus, why keep them there and who is going to bear the expense of taking care of them once a solution is found, because sure as hell it does not look like TCs will want to share their politically equal and federated state with them.

Mainland Greeks regard the Turks as superior diplomats. The more I hang around this forum the more convinced I become that the Turks are just as clownish as the Greeks when it comes to picking and pursuing micky mouse policies.

These people we n't brought into cyprus, they were born here. As second generation they can neither 100% identify with Turkey or Cyprus. The ones who grew up in Cyprus in areas where there are no TC's have no frame of reference. When they go and visit relatives in Turkey in some remote village where people where men wear baggy trousers and women headscarfs the have no identification with that either.

Recognised or not we already share the TRNC with them, they all have voting rights its not like they have been disenfranchised. I know a lot of these people who are lawyers, teachers, etc so its not universal.

If you need a comparison I suppose you could compare them to the "pontians" in the south.

[Oracle]

Republic of Turkey citizens who are here and have n't done their military service are not exempt from military service and they have to do it in Turkey not Cyprus.

Are you saying that Turkey has an OBLIGATORY military service for all able-bodied males?

This is news to you? As soon as you finish your education you get called up for national service, the same was as it in Greece, Russia, etc etc.

In that case, how come Turkey's RESERVES are only around 700,000 out of her 80M people???

Just to get a comparative idea, the RoC reserves are around 90,000!!!

That is because they are NOT reserves, those are actually unifromed men in the standing army as we speak. If you mean by "reserves", if war broke out tommorow how many able bodied men (under age of 49) who have military training could be called apon, the number is around 17,000,000.

That's where we're getting confused... I've read that they have ACTIVE DUTY MEN of around 520,000, followed by RESERVES (part time pros) of around 700,000, for a total of 1.2M if a war broke out tomorrow say and would get called up...

Turkish Armed Forces are greater than those of France and Britain combined, with 514,000 men under arms and 380,000 in reserve, plus a robust air force with American fighters. Actually, it's the 2nd largest standing force in NATO after the United States, and 8th biggest number of active troops in the world.

Turkey has the largest Standing Army, second only to USA in NATO ... I seem to recall reading somewhere (can't find the source of that above quote for now)!

[Nikitas]

Skipper said:

"If you need a comparison I suppose you could compare them to the "pontians" in the south."

Well, no, it is not a comparison because the Pontians are foreign residents who hold on to their original nationality and definitely DO NOT vote in national or local elections and do not serve in the military. They cannot seek government employment. Their children do not qualify for nationality. Therefore the 15000 Pontians in the south do not stand in the way of a settlement in any way. The settlers in the north are a MAJOR obstacle and hence justify my contention that their preseince is the result of a micky mouse policy. One of those half baked ideas that had their origins in 18th century thinking.

And now you have them what are you going to do with them? THis is the inevitable question and one which will be faced in the talks.