Cyprus-Forum.com

[halil]

An article in the Guardian yesterday refers to recent attacks against foreigners on the island and says that the major source of such disregard for people outside one's own ethnic group is the Cyprus problem, and no solution currently on the table would address this.

Defining each other only as 'Turkish' or 'Greek' has left Cyprus with a victim complex, struggling to cope with rising immigration, the paper says.

Whether one chooses to date the situation to the invasion by Turkey in 1974, the coup by junta-supported Greek Cypriots the same year, the bombings by Turkey in 1964, the attempt by Greek Cypriots to tear up the constitution in 1963, or simply to the British colonial strategy of divide and rule, the fact is that Cypriots have been split along ethnic lines far beyond living memory. The sandbags and barbed wire of the Green Line that runs through the middle of Nicosia are only the most potent reminder of this.

Since 1974, the international conversation about Cyprus has been of "bi-communal solutions". Both sides have formally committed to separate administrations for Greek and Turkish Cypriots plus a central assembly where representatives of the two sides will meet in equal numbers. Another possible solution, talked of with increasing frequency, is of a permanent partition into two states. External parties – the UN, EU, UK, Greece and Turkey – allow no other possibilities to be discussed.

Allowing only two ethnicities into the national conversation encourages zero-sum thinking, where "we" can only win if "they" lose. Both sides try hard to portray themselves as the only victims of the conflict, often in toe-curlingly exaggerated language.

Like all victim complexes, the Cypriot version leaves little room for nuanced understanding of a newly multicultural country. Faced in the 1950s with the need to formally assign minorities to one of the two permitted groups, Cypriot authorities decided the question along religious lines, with the mostly Muslim Roma becoming "Turkish" and the Catholic Maronites "Greek". How might they deal with today's growing Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish populations? Why should their descendants be forced to become "Greek" or "Turkish"?

Without external pressure to admit that the biggest injustices on the island these days are practiced against non-indigenous populations, Cypriots will continue to assume a pose of self-righteous victimhood, the paper concludes.

[Piratis]

Finally you posted something good

[Get Real!]

Cyprus problem is fuelling racism

Well there's another reason to abide by international law…

UN RESOLUTION 361 (1974)
http://www.un.int/cyprus/scr353.htm

UN RESOLUTION 541 (1983)
http://www.un.int/cyprus/scr541.htm

UN RESOLUTION 550 (1984)
http://www.un.int/cyprus/scr550.htm

[zan]

Cyprus problem is fuelling racism

Well there's another reason to abide by international law…

UN RESOLUTION 361 (1974)
http://www.un.int/cyprus/scr353.htm

UN RESOLUTION 541 (1983)
http://www.un.int/cyprus/scr541.htm

UN RESOLUTION 550 (1984)
http://www.un.int/cyprus/scr550.htm

Have you got a list of ANY of the UN resolutions that have been adhered to by any side GR?

[Malapapa]

Cyprus problem is fuelling racism

Well there's another reason to abide by international law…

UN RESOLUTION 361 (1974)
http://www.un.int/cyprus/scr353.htm

UN RESOLUTION 541 (1983)
http://www.un.int/cyprus/scr541.htm

UN RESOLUTION 550 (1984)
http://www.un.int/cyprus/scr550.htm

Have you got a list of ANY of the UN resolutions that have been adhered to by any side GR?

And your point is? Let's not bother passing laws, because criminal lowlifes will always ignore them?

[Get Real!]

Cyprus problem is fuelling racism

Well there's another reason to abide by international law…

UN RESOLUTION 361 (1974)
http://www.un.int/cyprus/scr353.htm

UN RESOLUTION 541 (1983)
http://www.un.int/cyprus/scr541.htm

UN RESOLUTION 550 (1984)
http://www.un.int/cyprus/scr550.htm

Have you got a list of ANY of the UN resolutions that have been adhered to by any side GR?

The irony is that many “Turkish Cypriots” are hopeful of an (1) independent TC state or a (2) “BBF” that favors them!

But for such a TC miracle to happen it would of course have to be in a format similar to a UN resolution and thus just as useless/vulnerable!

That’s why I know for a fact that the “Turkish Cypriots” will never get what they want, and even if it seemed like it on paper the GCs would HAPPILY violate it, just as our rights were violated!

Guess who is going to be screaming foul this time and guess who is going to be reminding you of countless UN resolutions ignored…

The problem with ignoring international law is that it can come right around and shoot up your arse!

[Me Ed]

I don't agree with this article as I don't think this has anything to do with the Cyprob.

This penomenon is happening all over Europe and its what you get when a highly developed country imports cheap foreign labour to do all the dirty and low paying jobs that the indigenous people turn their noses up at.

Some people don't like it when the foreigners then start demanding their rights.

[apc2010]

the problem is most "developed" countries import labour to do the menial jobs , then complain when they want rights ...

[Omer Seyhan]

Cyprus problem is fuelling racism

Well there's another reason to abide by international law…

UN RESOLUTION 361 (1974)
http://www.un.int/cyprus/scr353.htm

UN RESOLUTION 541 (1983)
http://www.un.int/cyprus/scr541.htm

UN RESOLUTION 550 (1984)
http://www.un.int/cyprus/scr550.htm

Have you got a list of ANY of the UN resolutions that have been adhered to by any side GR?

The irony is that many “Turkish Cypriots” are hopeful of an (1) independent TC state or a (2) “BBF” that favors them!

But for such a TC miracle to happen it would of course have to be in a format similar to a UN resolution and thus just as useless/vulnerable!

That’s why I know for a fact that the “Turkish Cypriots” will never get what they want, and even if it seemed like it on paper the GCs would HAPPILY violate it, just as our rights were violated!

Guess who is going to be screaming foul this time and guess who is going to be reminding you of countless UN resolutions ignored…

The problem with ignoring international law is that it can come right around and shoot up your arse!

I agree with the importance of International law, although we do live at present in an anarchical world where no body can implement international law or ensure it is respected - it is up to states to decide. Yes, there are consequences but not legal ones. The US the world's most powerful nation refuses to accept the judgments of the International Court of Justice. Other states do not accept its judgments either.

So.... International Law can only get you so far...

On a separate note however, I disagree with the way you address your answer to Turkish Cypriots as a whole. You fell into a trap there - this debate is not a G/C vs T/C one, or maybe that is how you view it, in which case you need to reconsider your argument.