CopperLine wrote:Why does Oracle have to start and continue each thread with such manifest bollocks ? Why do her 'educated' guesses at population figures serve as a basis for discussion ? They're not educated figures, they're the product of ignorant fantasising.
Whilst there are disagreements over the precise figures and definitions of the population of the different parts of Cyprus - the kinds of census and definition differences that you'd expect in most population data - the margin of difference between informed estimates is not so great. The idea of 300,00 settlers is simply not plausible.
Tim Drayton introduces an important point which is germane to all societies : the effects of under and unemployment on social cohesion and stability. There is substantial discrimination is northern Cyprus with the expected effects that arise from systematic inequality; this is found in different degrees in the south.
Any settlement of the Cyprus question has not only to address the political questions of forms of government, jurisdiction etc, but also the economics of integration and social convergence. Inattention to the latter may scupper the former.
More generally on the 'settler' question : under any agreement settlers - whether Turkish, Kurdish, Iraqi, Russian, British, German, etc - should be allowed to remain consistent with fair treatment and human rights as contained in EConvHR. Those who wish to expel settlers (such as Oracle) would then be in breach of the beloved EConvHR of which the Republic of Cyprus is, of course a signatory and which, rightly, condemns Turkey for breaches of that Convention.
Do I understand your final paragraph to mean that the expulsion of settlers from north Cyprus would itself be illegal even though their "importation" to the island itself was contrary to the law? It does not make sense, are you saying Turkey can illegally settle people on the island and there is no remedy open to the ROC?
... but I am touched at your concern that expelling me, would cause a breach of something
