Cyprus-Forum.com

[Kifeas]

Kifeas and Mickkie2,
I see your point. Good answer!

The Bulgarians have not done what us and the UK do.

We avoid this problem by establishing a North office of the US Embassy in the TRNC. We handle all issues with the north-side travel, birth abroads and voting in US elections by having anyone in TRNC travel to the north office. That way they do not have to go south and be called a settler when they have proof of travel within the last 90 days.

In theory your north "embassy" office is allowed by the RoC in order to facilitate the TC needs, due to the fact that for 30 years TC were not allowed by Turkey to cross to the south and get served by the US embassy. It is another issue if you expand the services you offer in the north into other areas.

What do you mean travel proof within the last 90 days? What difference would it make?

[JustAnAmerican]

Just a note: we did expand our services last week concerning one department. We have had access to the north for ten years now. We have watched your property go to crap, we have also seen some property improve.

To answer your questions - The Vienna Conventions allow that travelers abroad have access to their own Embassies and Consulates to facilitate, voting, birth abroad records, and citizen assistance (passport stolen, lost persons, family member arrests, etc). Some and I say some, of the Bulgarians had tourist visas no more than 90 days old. These people are providing demarche action information to the Bulgarian Embassy. Legally those people had tourist visas to Cyprus. Some had Tourist visas only to Turkey. MEXICANS DONT HAVE A VISA!

As a Cypriot if you are arrested in the US, your GoC Embassy and its personnel must be allowed access to you. Letters, correspondence needs, extra food items (if your government is willing to pay for them) all are provided to the citizen at the foreign nation’s request.

I have had the fortune (or misfortune) of visiting American arrested overseas for drug possession or even murder. They all said they were framed, or they did not do it. Jail time in some foreign countries is a shockingly miserable experience to them.

The Cypriot Embassy in Washington or the Cypriot Embassy in Mexico City will take excellent care of you if you get in to any real trouble.

[rotate]

Border controls are the sovereign right of any country, possibly these controls protect the nation state, its citizens and its visitors from the very real threat of international terrorism and criminality.

The Internationally recognised government of Cyprus has declared that entry into Cyprus through the TRNC controlled ports of disembarkation is illegal and counter to the security of the RoC and therefore counter to the security of the European Union.

If the Bulgarians or any other nationality for that matter entered Cyprus through an illegal port of dismbarkation then they are naive in the extreme to imagine that the RoC would allow them to cross from the TRNC through 'no-mans land' and into the RoC. Perhaps I am not alone in thinking that the whole episode was a set up in order for the cry of 'Foul' to be directed at the RoC.

The RoC may well turn a blind eye to those EU citizens, my fellow Briton's included and Cypriots of Turkish extraction who have used the declared illegal ports of entry and exit. In my view this is fair enough with regard to the Cypriots of Turkish extraction as for many years they had little or no choice about how they entered or exited the island. This never was or is now the case with EU citizens or other nationalities.

If the free movement of people throughout Cyprus is such an inalienable right then for what reason am I, my family and my neighbours forbidden to return to our homes in the 'dead zone' of Famagusta and other parts of Cyprus.

[JustAnAmerican]

Perhaps I am not alone in thinking that the whole episode was a set up in order for the cry of 'Foul' to be directed at the RoC.

I agree with you totally that it was a setup. A setup designed with no winning solution. If the GoC allowed the tourist-visas holders to pass, maybe the GoC would have had less of a headache. If you turned them around, the GoC is glared at. No one wins recognizing a border that really does not exist. But the GoC has no choice, in an effort to protect itself from terrorists and the like.
I posted the article and will continue to post articles in which the GoC uses the “border” to make a point. The stopping of tourist busses, the stopping of Visa-holding visitors. If anyone in the world wants to visit northern Cyprus, they are able. And if they want to go south they can get into a plane and fly somewhere else and then return to Cyprus via Larnaka.
All though the approval ratings of the GoC leadership is off the chart, I have yet to believe the GoC is doing a great job representing the Kifeases, the Brothers, the Sources and entire Cypriot community.

[metecyp]

Occasionally you do shoot them! There were such cases.

The shootings you mentioned were mainly related to drug-trafficing through Mexico-US border. You must be crazy to think that the US police can shoot Mexicans just because they tried to enter the US illegally. There are some shootings from time to time but as i said, it's mainly against people who try to run away while transporting drugs or who try to shoot US officers.

So you would allow a Mexican that illegally entered the USA to go and vote at a Mexican consulate in the states?

Actually, there was a new law that enabled the illegal aliens (as Americans call it) to have driver's licence in the US (in some states, I think). The argument was that these people are here and these people already drive illegally, so why don't we let them get driver's licence properly without asking them if they're legal or not. So the point is there can be practical solutions to problems if there's goodwill.

This is a joke! The Bulgarians that live in the north probably have passports that have expired long ago since most of these people have been there since the 80's.

As far as I know, most of these people maintained their Bulgarian citizenship including updating their passports.

[Yiannis]

The whole thing was another political fiasco, and once again both leadership showed how pathetic they are.
By the way even the 3 of them that were allowed to pass went straight back to north without voting.

[sadik]

In theory and by the RoC law, they are still subjects of RoC law violations. It is another issue if the RoC chooses to close its eyes on this issue, for purely political reasons.

I'm not an expert in law, but as far as I remember, RoC supreme court overturned a decision sentencing a GC to a term in prison for traveling from the north to Turkey, based on European Union rules. Can you explain how can a EU citizen could be prosecuted when there is such a supreme court decision standing?

[Kifeas]

In theory and by the RoC law, they are still subjects of RoC law violations. It is another issue if the RoC chooses to close its eyes on this issue, for purely political reasons.

I'm not an expert in law, but as far as I remember, RoC supreme court overturned a decision sentencing a GC to a term in prison for traveling from the north to Turkey, based on European Union rules. Can you explain how can a EU citizen could be prosecuted when there is such a supreme court decision standing?

Actually and if I am not mistaken, the turn down ruling against the RoC on the prosecution case of the person who flight to Turkey, came from a lower court. The RoC appealed to the Supreme Court in order to overturn the lower court’s ruling, but I didn't follow the case so that I know the SC’s ruling, nor being aware if the ruling has been issued or if it is still pending.

[Kifeas]

We have watched your property go to crap, we have also seen some property improve.

What do you want to say or mean here?

Some and I say some, of the Bulgarians had tourist visas no more than 90 days old.

Those that had arrived from the legal Larnaka airport and then crossed north, presumably to visit relatives there, and they did not violate their permit of stay period, were the few ones that were allowed to cross. No visa from Bulgaria is required in order to visit Cyprus. When someone enters Larnaka from Bulgaria, his is given a permit of stay for a certain period, usually up to 3 months if entering as a tourist.

These people are providing demarche action information to the Bulgarian Embassy. Legally those people had tourist visas to Cyprus. Some had Tourist visas only to Turkey. MEXICANS DONT HAVE A VISA!

I am not sure what you want to say here. You mean that the RoC should accept and consider legal even those who had visa for Turkey and came through the north?

As a Cypriot if you are arrested in the US, your GoC Embassy and its personnel must be allowed access to you. Letters, correspondence needs, extra food items (if your government is willing to pay for them) all are provided to the citizen at the foreign nation’s request.

I have had the fortune (or misfortune) of visiting American arrested overseas for drug possession or even murder. They all said they were framed, or they did not do it. Jail time in some foreign countries is a shockingly miserable experience to them.

The Cypriot Embassy in Washington or the Cypriot Embassy in Mexico City will take excellent care of you if you get in to any real trouble.

I just do not see what is the relationship of all the above with our subject. They all sound quite irrelevant.

All though the approval ratings of the GoC leadership is off the chart, I have yet to believe the GoC is doing a great job representing the Kifeases, the Brothers, the Sources and entire Cypriot community.

Again I do not understand you here!