Cyprus-Forum.com

[brother]

Exodus of mainland Turks as north cracks down on illegal workers
By Simon Bahceli


A MASS exodus of mainland Turks from the north reached its fifth day yesterday, prompting estimates that as many as 10,000 may have left since the Turkish Cypriot authorities began their clampdown on illegal immigration on July 1.

At Kyrenia port yesterday, several thousand sought to board ships to the Turkish mainland or face fines for staying beyond the July 1 amnesty.

“It’s like after an earthquake; people are leaving in their masses,” one man told the Cyprus Mail at Kyrenia port yesterday, adding: “We’ll not be back; the TRNC is bankrupt anyway.”

While many said they would never return to Cyprus, others queued up to pay fines for the five days they had remained on the island since July 1.

“If we pay now, we will be able to return later on and get proper work permits,” said one worker, who told the Mail he would be returning to Turkey to get a passport with which to return and work on the island. Until recently, Turks wishing to live and work in the north had been able to enter the island using only their identity cards. Now, they will be forced to enter using passports and will only be allowed in if they have money and proof of employment.

Many at the port complained they were being forced to leave the island unfairly and that it was employers, and not employees, who should bear the brunt of the campaign against illegal workers.

“I have worked here for six months and I was repeatedly told by my employers I would get a work permit. Now, because they didn’t do it I have to pay 66 New Turkish Lira [approximately £22] for each day that I remain here. I can’t possibly pay this so I’ll go back to Turkey for good,” said Hasan Yesilyurt from Samsun.

Another who refused to give his name vowed never to return to the island.
“Even if they paid me to live here I wouldn’t. It is clear we are not wanted here and this is a ploy to get us off the island.”

A young woman, one of many being sent back to Turkey by their husbands who had managed to register themselves but not their wives and children, complained of the injustice of being forced by a Turkish Cypriot travel agent to buy a return ticket to Turkey.

“I have no intention of ever coming back here, so what do I need a return ticket for?” she said.

A man in his twenties, who said he had worked “on and off” in the north for 10 years said he was amazed that the authorities were taking action against the problem.
“They’ve made laws in the past, but this is the first time I’ve seen them act. I think it is something to do with pressure from the Greek Cypriots.”

Abdurrahman Yildiz, a Turkish lorry driver, was more philosophical about what was taking place at the port, saying, “This had to happen, and what [Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali] Talat is doing is right.

“If you are a foreign worker it is right that you register and get social insurance. What if I crashed my lorry here? I have seven children at home… where would they be then?”

“What is happening here is the government trying to put things in order. Every country needs rules.”

He added, however, that the lack of information given to those affected by the tightening of immigration laws meant that people were suffering.

In this, Yildiz was evidently right. Throughout the day men, women and children of all ages scrambled to get places aboard ships for the mainland under a mercilessly hot sun, many of them laden with what appeared to be all their possessions. Those who failed to get aboard would likely have to remain at the port overnight.

The effect of the immigration clampdown was already apparent yesterday in Kyrenia, with remarkably few construction workers visible on the streets. The normally crowded coffeeshops and hostels were also devoid of customers.

The north’s authorities vowed that from yesterday comprehensive checks would be carried out in workplaces across the north, and that any foreign workers found unregistered would be subject to fines and deportation.

Illegal immigration to the north has become a contentious issue in recent months and has been widely reported in local media as being the root cause of a sharp increase in crime. It is also blamed for widespread unemployment and is seen as a drain on scarce public funds.

“This problem has existed for many years and is something that we as the new government have inherited from the previous administration,” ‘interior ministry’ undersecretary Ali Alnar told the Cyprus Mail last month, adding that he and his ‘ministry’ were engaged in a battle to end a “culture of illegality”.

On Monday, the north’s ‘labour ministry’ said that by Saturday, just three days after the expiry of the registration amnesty, over 6,000 unregistered Turks had left the island. Although figures for the subsequent three days are not available it would not be unrealistic to estimate that the number of departures had reached 10,000 yesterday.
At the weekend it was announced that around 25,000 workers from Turkey had come forward to be registered.



A law that is being carried out is good news

[cannedmoose]

I saw that article too Bro', some pretty amazing numbers of people leaving apparently. Any of our forum members in Kyrenia, have you witnessed this 'exodus'?

Surely many of these illegal workers will be able to return though, I'm sure they do many of the jobs in the north that keep things ticking along up there... what would the state do without them?

[Nickp]

Ship em up! n ship em out!

[turkcyp]

deleted by the author...

[Alexandros Lordos]

Frankly I hope they turn back and work legally. Without them life would be very expensive in TRNC. They are a major cost reducing element for any business you can think about. They work in many sectors majorly in construction and tourism. TCs would never work for the wages these people are willing to work.

Ah, what would Rome be without its slaves ...

Don't feel too guilty though, we GCs take pleasure in our own "settlers/slave workers" from the Philippines, Sri Lanka etc., just as much as you do with the poor people from Turkey ..

Even in exploitation, GCs and TCs are alike like two drops of water. Do you see now that we really are one nation, not two?

[Viewpoint]

Alexandros Lordos

Do you see now that we really are one nation, not two?

Do you really believe this even after 31 years??? Can you please say why???

[RAFAELLA]

Turkish Cypriot columnist says that 50 thousand persons will become “registered workers” and stay in the occupied areas for many years

Under the title “Will the registered workers become new citizens”, Basaran Duzgun, editor-in-chief of daily KIBRIS newspaper (06.07.05) says that as it seems 50 thousand persons from Turkey will become “registered workers” within the framework of the new so-called migration law that got into effect on 1 July 2005 in the occupied areas of Cyprus.

Describing the situation after the “law” came into force, Mr Duzgun writes, inter alia, the following: “…In the past ships have been emptied and hundreds of unqualified workers entered the TRNC under the name of ‘tourists’. Now the ships are filled at the Kyrenia harbour and thousand of ‘tourists’ are trying to leave the TRNC. It seems that the most important reason for their return is the high penalties with which the illegal workers will be fined. …

However, it is true that the situation that will be created right after these positive steps is fraught with dangers. What are these dangers?

I think that there is no other community in the world like the Turkish Cypriots, with the population and the demographic structure of whom so many plots were played. Great and many problems occurred in the past because the citizenship was distributed haphazardly to all who came, before the integration of the population brought into the island since 1975 as work force in the agriculture to be completed. I think that there is no other country in the world that has so bad citizenship regime. The council of ministers can grant citizenship when it likes and give the citizenship to as many foreigners as it likes without taking into consideration any rules or regulations.

Even during before the last elections the National Unity Party tried to make thousand of persons, citizens and voters. We remember that in the past even the artists who visited the officials were given the citizenship. In parallel to this, those, who work in the country for five years after having acquired permission, get the right of citizenship. It is no secret that in this situation thousands of persons were continuously visiting the ministries in order to get their rights. Something else that is not a secret is that the council of ministers behaves very unproductively on the issue of making new citizens. Today there is no danger, but what will the situation of those who have been registered with the new laws and get the right of the TRNC citizenship within five years be? According to statements repeatedly made by the honourable minister, there is no such problem because no one will be given the citizenship. If it happens like the hounarable minister said, will there not be coming another problem onto the agenda? In the whole world the foreigners that lived legally five years in a country are given citizenship. In Europe they go further and even the issue of giving the legal inhabitants the right to vote in the local elections is coming onto the agenda. What could be done in such a situation?

During the last two months 25 thousand persons were registered, secured work permit and became legal. During the last four days about 10 thousand persons abandoned the TRNC and went to Turkey. Experts are saying that a significant part of these persons will return with their passports and apply for registration. It seems that 50 thousand persons will become registered workers and work for many years in the TRNC. What will be done when the time comes and these 50 thousand persons want to become citizens? Has the government an answer on this issue or has it considered this issue? Will this time other and more serious problems be caused while we say let us register the illegal workers? We could ask more and more questions. The solution is making more hard regulations for the laws regarding the citizenship. …”.
http://www.moi.gov.cy/moi/pio/pio.nsf/A ... enDocument
**************************************************************************

...so, sending them back and accepting them later, it doesn't change anything.

[cannedmoose]

Frankly I hope they turn back and work legally. Without them life would be very expensive in TRNC. They are a major cost reducing element for any business you can think about. They work in many sectors majorly in construction and tourism. TCs would never work for the wages these people are willing to work.

Ah, what would Rome be without its slaves ...

Don't feel too guilty though, we GCs take pleasure in our own "settlers/slave workers" from the Philippines, Sri Lanka etc., just as much as you do with the poor people from Turkey ..

Even in exploitation, GCs and TCs are alike like two drops of water. Do you see now that we really are one nation, not two?

Very true. I'm not sure on this point so correct me if I'm wrong, but what will GCs do in a few years when it will become incredibly difficult to get visas for 'guest workers'? I'll have to check the legislation but theoretically, GCs will have to prove that they couldn't employ anyone from either Cyprus or other EU states before heading off to Sri Lanka to get workers. Is this where we'll begin to see GCs employing either TCs or Turkish settlers? This could be economically beneficial to both on the one hand and create an even more massive social divide on the other.

[RAFAELLA]

Don't feel too guilty though, we GCs take pleasure in our own "settlers/slave workers" from the Philippines, Sri Lanka etc., just as much as you do with the poor people from Turkey ..

Alex, you are right. The behavior of many Gcs towards these workers is unacceptable.
But there's a difference, the goverment doesn't baptise them "Cypriot citizens" unlike the puppet state.

[Viewpoint]

How about 40.000 Pontian Greeks??? when was it 1995??