Cyprus-Forum.com

[Nickp]

I apologise for my current previous posts, i know they were daft but i just wanted to provoke a reaction, so i apologise for any offense caused in the fooling around.

After studying the Cyprus problem from many various forms of text.

My Proposal for a fair and acceptable Solution to the Cyprus Problem is as follows:

1 CITIZENSHIP, OBLIGATIONS AND RIGHTS
There Will be Only One Citizenship.

The Terms Greek and Turkish Cypriot will no longer be used to refer to Cyprus Citizens.

Existing Citizenship

Those already Citizens of the Republic of Cyprus will keep their Cyprus citizenship.

Those who were Citizens before the invasion will have the right to Cyprus citizenship.

New Citizenship

For a period of 20 years hence only those whose Mother and Father, or both sets of Grandparents were born in Cyprus before the invasion, or who's forebears were all Cyprus Citizens or were eligible for Cyprus citizenship before the invasion and can be deemed as qualifying, or that have a Legitimate reason for asylum, will be considered for Cyprus citizenship.

Illegally Implanted Turkish Colonists and their descendants that do not meet the above requirements will not have the right to Cyprus Citizenship and will be immediately repatriated to Turkey.

Obligations

All people wishing to be considered for Citizenship of Cyprus, must Swear and/or Sign a Statement of Loyalty and Allegiance to the Cyprus Republic which specifies their obligations as Citizens.

Those who do not swear or sign the Statement will be denied Cypriot Citizenship.

Existing citizens will be adjudged to have already agreed to these obligations.

Rights

These rights will apply only to Cyprus Citizens and cannot be derogated

All Cyprus Citizens will be have the right to vote in all Parliamentary Elections and Referenda irrespective of their place of residence wheather in Cyprus or elsewhere.

All Cyprus Citizens and EU Citizens, if Cyprus becomes an EU member, residing in Cyprus will be allowed the right to vote in Municipal elections

All Cyprus Citizens and EU Citizens, if Cyprus becomes an EU member, residing in Cyprus will be allowed the right to welfare benefits.

All Cyprus Citizens will be guaranteed the right to Freedom of Movement and Settlement, and the right to Own, Buy or Sell Land or Property anywhere on the island without prejudice irrespective of their place of residence wheather in Cyprus or elsewhere.


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2 DEMILITARIZATION AND DEFENSE

All foreign forces on the Island of Cyprus must be removed from the Island. Foreign forces will include all British, Turkish and Greek forces.

Peace Making Force

The foreign forces will be replaced by an International Peace Making Force which must not consist in any part of British, Turkish or Greek forces, these countries having failed to meet their original guarantees. The Peace Making Forces will be under United Nations appointed command but will function independently of the UN under the Authority of the Cyprus Government. Britain, Turkey and Greece will not be permitted to affect the control or command of these Forces. Neither will America because of its role in supporting the Fascist Junta in Greece and bringing about the coup against President Makarios of Cyprus.

Security Guarantees

The government of Cyprus will be allowed to maintian an army which will consist of all Cypriots to supplement the Peace Making Force.

The Peace Making Force and the Cyprus Army will jointly Guarantee the Sovereignty, Independence, Unity and Territorial Integrity of The Entire Island of Cyprus.

Accountability

The Peace Making Force and the Cyprus Army will be accountable to the recognized Government of Cyprus and the United Nations and will have a Renewable Mandate.


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3 CONSTITUTION

The United Nations Charter, The Charter of the European Union, and European Convention on Humans Rights of the CoE, will become part of the New Constitution of Cyprus as is a Prerequisite for membership of these organizations.

The 1960 Constitution including the treaty of Guarantee will be negated and declared legally invalid as both violate the right to Self Determination and Chapter I Article 2 Paragraph 4 of the UN Charter, "All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations".

Territory and Sovereignty

Cyprus will exist as a single indivisible social, political and territorial entity with one sovereignty deriving directly from its Citizens on the basis of universal equality.

Administration

Cyprus will be administered by a single Unitary Government.

Once all reparations have been paid and the refugees have returned to their original homes to the full satisfaction of all parties, any future Government which is ellected will be alowed the power, if it so wishes, to devolve agreed elements of its authority to other elected bodies, such as municipalities and districts, for the duration of a single term of office after which the authority will revert back to the new parliament unless the mandate is renewed by the new parliament within a fixed period.


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4 DISPLACED PERSONS

Refugees

All the Refugees and their Heirs and Descendants, who have been displaced from or denied access to their legitimate homes, land or properties in Cyprus, must be allowed and facilitated to return to and reclaim the afore mentioned homes, land and properties, in freedom, in peace and security.

The return of occupied homes, land, properties and business premises will be phased in village by village over a fixed period.

All illegal settlers and illegal immigrants and their descendants will be repatriated.

Ownership of Occupied Property

The Property rights of all displaced Persons will be respected

In the case where the homes, land and properties of a displaced person, or that persons descendants or heirs, is being inhabited by another who was not the legal owner before the 20th July 1974, the inhabitant must vacate and return the homes, land and properties to the legal owner and will be temporarily housed in a transition centre.

All alterations and new structures built since the Occupation will be the property of the original pre-invasion landowner or their heirs and descendants.

Compensation

The present occupants of the homes, land or properties of a Displaced Person will be compensated for the value of any alterations or structures which they built, and the cost in relocating by the Government of Turkey in the case of a property located the north and by the Government of the Republic of Cyprus in the case of a property located in the south.

If any structures built or alterations are detrimental to the properties value or are deemed unsafe or cause the property to be uninhabitable, or the property has been destroyed, the original pre-invasion landowner will be compensated for the restoration and/or re-building costs plus any other losses incurred if anything of value has suffered.

The original legal owners of the property will be compensated for the cost of any restoration required by the Government of Turkey in the case of a property located the north and by the Government of the Republic of Cyprus in the case of a property located in the south.

Both Governments working together with an independent Commission will decide what level of compensation is appropriate. In case of disagreement the Commissions view will be decisive.

The will be no time limit for which claims can be lodged.

Reparations

Turkey will pay full non-prejudicial reparations for all damage it has caused to the Republic of Cyprus and to Individuals as a result of its occupation and will pay the full cost involved in its withdrawal, repatriation of illegal settlers and the return of refugees.

All parties will afterwards have the right to appeal to the Europeans Courts for further reparations.


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5 ELECTIONS

Voting

Provisional Elections will take place among all persons of Cypriot Citizenship as soon as everyone's citizenship has been decided.

The electors will elect a provisional Parliament which will Govern the Entire Territory of the Island. The political composition of the Provisional Parliament will be in proportion with the ratio of votes per political party standing. The electoral System to be used will be outlined below and will be a variant of the List System.

Each Political Party will put forward the same number of candidates, equal to the total number of seats in the parliament. The Members of each party will choose the candidates themselves. The Candidates for each party will stand as a block, that is one legal mark on the ballot paper for the party will be a vote for all of the candidates and their party. When the votes are counted, each party will be given a number of seats in proportion to their share of the vote. The parties may then choose which of their list of candidates takes up each allocated seat.

Parliamentery Government

A Speaker will be elected by the members of parliament, using Simple Majority Voting.

The Provisional Government will be formed in one of the following ways:

(A) The party or coalition of parties which can muster a simple majority or a simple working majority will form the Provisional Government. The Provisional Government will be able to choose any of the MP's sitting in the parliament to act as ministers. All further Government, Cabinet and Parliamentary decisions will be taken by Simple Majority Voting.

or

(B) A Provisional Unified Government will be formed consisting of all the parties elected which obtain a qualifying percentage of the vote equivalent to 1 MP. The party with the largest share of the vote will appoint the Prime-minister and that with the second largest vote will appoint the deputy Prime-minister who will replace the PM during absence or illness. Each qualifying party will be allocated a number of ministerial positions in accordance with its ratio of the vote, each qualifying party being entitled to a minimum of 1 Ministerial post. All further Government, Cabinet and Parliamentary decisions will be taken by Simple Majority Voting.

The Provisional Government will begin a process of consultation in view to creating a new constitution. Once decided by parliament, the New Constitution will be put to a democratic referendum. If passed by a qualified majority of 2/3 (two thirds) of the registered voters the Constitution will immediately come into effect. If not passed new consultations will take place and the process will be repeated.

Period of Office

New Elections on the basis referred to above will take place every Four Years unless An Agreed and Implemented Constitution says otherwise.

In the case of the Death, Retirement or Resignation of an MP, they will be replaced by another candidate of the same party allegiance form the parties original list, unless either there are no more names left on the list or the MP had transferred allegiance to another party different form the one who's list he was on or had been expelled from the original party but remained sitting, in which case he will not be replaced.

If the number of sitting MP's falls bellow 1/2 of the number of seats, there will be new elections.


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6 LOCAL GOVERNMENT - DISTRICTS AND MUNICIPALITIES

Bounderies

Until a new constitution is approved all land and district boundaries will be as they were before 20th July 1974.

Any new constitution will preserve the existing recognised bounderies and changes will not be allowed to be made to the pre 1974 districts and boundaries within Cyprus unless Turkey as the Aggressor has first made Reparations to the Republic of Cyprus and to all affected parties to the full satisfaction of all parties without prejudice, and payment of these reparations has been completed.

Administration

All Municipalities (Councils), will be elected by additional member proportional representation. Municipalities will be governed by Simple Majority Vote.

There will be two tires of Municipality. District being the upper tire to contol afairs of major importence and Town/Village the lower tire to contol simple local afairs.


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7 JUDICIARY

The Legal System will comply with European Court of Justice and Humans Rights legislation.

Until a final Constitution is agreed Trials will take place before Judges appointed to each case by the Government, or Magistrates appointed to each case by the Municipalities as appropriate.

Selection

Judges and Magistrates will be apointed to the bar by each individual District Municipality either directly by public referendum or by the vote of elected local authority. Each Municipality will elect two Judges and twelve Magistrates by simple majority.

All of the islands elected Judges will be placed on a list and Judges will be selected from the list for a particular case by the Government in accordance with their capabilities, based on the recomendation of a Judicial panel selected from among the elected Judges by secret ballot.

Appeals and Fairness

All parties being litigated against will have the right to have their case herd in any Municipality of their own choosing without prejudice.

Appeals where leave is given will be heard in-front of a panel of 5 judges selected by the Government in accordance with their capabilities, based on the recommendation of the Judicial Panel.

All parties will have the further Right of Appeal to the European Courts of Justice and Humans Rights.


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8 EDUCATION

All Schools

Until a final Constitution is agreed upon Education will be the responsibility of each District Municipality who will be obliged to oversee and maintian primary standards set by the Goverment for all schools as well as being able to set its own secondery standears for all public schools.

Public Schools

The Official Languages in public Schools will be the Official Languages of the European Union.

All School Children throughout Cyprus attending public schools will be taught in one single common language, that of the majority Cyprus population in all subjects except languages. Each Student may elect to be taught one other European Union Language by right.

Private Schools

Private schools will be alowed the power to set their own independent secondery standards.

Private schools may elect to teach most lessons in any language of their choice on condition that all students attend adequate classes in the language of the majority.

Universities

New Univerities will be granted the right to set Degrees by the Government but will maintain their own afairs.

Funding

Primary Funding for public Education will be given by the Government to be administerd by the Districts.

Additional top-up funding may also be given by the Districts.


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9 HEALTH CARE

Public

Until a final Constitution is agreed upon each District Municipality will apoint an independent Local Health Authority composed of 50% local Doctors and 50% of lay-people to oversee public Health Care which will be obliged to maintain primary health standards set by the Government.

Private

Private Health Care will be overseen by an independent body apointed by the Government.

Funding

Funding for the independent health bodies will come from the Goverment.

TAKE THIS TO TALAT AND LET US NEGOTIATE

[metecyp]

TAKE THIS TO TALAT AND LET US NEGOTIATE

You're kidding, right?

[Nickp]

come on metacy, wat dont you like about it..?

[gabaston]

It cracks up even at school level. All lessons to be given in the majority language to primary schools kids sets a “them and us” scenario, whereby the minority kids are already disadvantaged and are playing catch-up.

If you had said all lessons to be taught in English then we are all-equal and create a more solid foundation for future peaceful co-existence. All greek speaking schools and all turkish speaking schools will also create a them and us situation, where no doubt Turkish barbarism will be taught in greek schools, and greek atrocities 63-74 will be taught in turkish schools.

Without realizing you suggest a two-tier system of division for our children as a basis on which to build their futures, which will bring us back to where we are now.

If its division you want we already have it. You’re merely putting us together to divide our kids into privileged and under-privileged, which is what we as tc’s have spent the last forty years trying to escape.

The creation of a new Cypriot citizen could be the key to us living together again. This could entail abolishing history, language, religion, flags, nationalist prides and the rest of it……………..how many are prepared to do that?

[cannedmoose]

TAKE THIS TO TALAT AND LET US NEGOTIATE

You're kidding, right?

Sad thing is that I don't think he is...

Some points are ok, most are one-sided... I particularly liked the one about education in which all pupils would be required to be taught in the 'majority language of Cyprus'... in other words in Greek...

[cannedmoose]

It cracks up even at school level. All lessons to be given in the majority language to primary schools kids sets a “them and us” scenario, whereby the minority kids are already disadvantaged and are playing catch-up.

Just beat me to it gabaston... I'd agree with your proposal that all be taught in English... although no doubt I'd be accused of being a neo-imperialist for suggesting that.

[detailer]

TAKE THIS TO TALAT AND LET US NEGOTIATE

You're kidding, right?

Sad thing is that I don't think he is...

Some points are ok, most are one-sided... I particularly liked the one about education in which all pupils would be required to be taught in the 'majority language of Cyprus'... in other words in Greek...

Man, they hang the TC leader who accepts that one.

[cannedmoose]

I'm still trying to work out how a UN force can be placed under the command of the new Cyprus government. Surely if it's a peacekeeping force it cannot be under the authority of the entity that it is supposed to be keeping the peace within? Also, the chain of command between the UN and the Cyprus government is an issue? If these forces were commanded to quell a riot by TCs, who would have ultimate authority to make them do so. So many problems with the security aspects of this, I don't know where to begin.

[Nickp]

I stand down as Cheif Negotiator on the Cyprus-Forum and leave Cannedmoose in charge so he can put foward a balanced plan with British interests piroritised.

[gabaston]

moosey

you havent been on cyprus long enough to understand, but i'm sure in time you will get used to it.