Cyprus-Forum.com

[AWE]

Would you say that things like Human Rights (such as the right to move and live freely in your own country, or the right to be treated as an equal citizens without racist discrimination), democracy and the EU acquis are "absolutist positions"?

What is the "absolutist position" of the Greek Cypriot site? We don't ask for the ethnic cleansing of TCs from Cyprus, we don't ask for human rights violation against them, we don't even ask for them to be punished for the many crimes they committed and continue to commit against us.

Given that the BBF was agreed in the '70s and that EU membership came later - I would assume that EU membership does not void the BBF agreement, after all the Chris still talks about BBF, so it may be the the BBF is part of the EU law as regards Cyprus. But I suspect this will mean more money to the lawyers.

[AWE]

As to my signature this is more about the idea that Democracy requires checks and balances so as to stop abuses of majority power, examples are the US Senate, Supra-National laws on minority rights, independent judiciary etc – majority abuse of minorities happens even in sophisticated democracies i.e the “Jim Crow” laws in the US south in the ’60s, the Protestant dominated Stormont government in Northern Ireland in the ’60s & ‘70s, Slovakia and its recent banning of the use of Hungarian language or the Turkish minority in Greece and recent ECHR judgments against Greece.

You forgot to mention Turkey. Why?

What do you have to say about the way our Greek minority has been treated in Turkey? Do you think the Greek minority in Turkey deserves the same as Turkish minority in Cyprus does? Or you maybe support double standards in which case all you say above are merely lame excuses?

Because Turkey is neither an EU member nor a "sophisticated democracy". But as Turkey meets the standards for EU membership then Cyprus, the Kurds and other issues will have to be resolved and Turkey will have to be given membership when this is complete.

It is the EU's soft power, it has little hard power, that gives it importance internationally, and should it lose that power then it is possible that it will lose it's importance internationally and I cant see France, the UK, Germany or other major EU countries wanting that.

[Piratis]

This has nothing to do with the EU. We are talking about a Turkish minority in Cyprus and a Greek minority in Turkey. Do you accept that both minorities should have the same rights/powers, or do you support double standards? This is what I asked. I also asked you to tell me what would you consider an "absolutist position" from the GC side? Insisting on Human rights and democracy?

The BBF thing was never ratified by the Cypriot people, and the Cypriot people have absolutely no obligation to accept anything that violates their human or democratic rights. The only reason that our leaders are negotiating a solution that could be labeled as BBF is because we are blackmailed with half of our island kept as a hostage.

Still, the kind of BBF that we would be willing to accept has nothing to do with the outrageous Turkish demands or the Annan plan. First of all a BBF should be a Federation, not a disguised partition or a loose confederation. Secondly, any solution, including BBF, should result in a democratic system and the respect of the human rights of all Cypriots. Something that is undemocratic and violates the human rights of people could not possibly be called a "solution". Those who assume otherwise make a wrong assumption, because the Cypriot people, who have the ultimate authority to decide any change to the form of Republic of Cyprus, never indicated that they are willing to sacrifice democracy and their human rights for some so called "solution".