Cyprus-Forum.com

[repulsewarrior]

Thursday, May 16, 2019
Çavuşoğlu: “We will continue our drilling works in the areas where the TRNC has granted a license”
https://cyprusscene.com/2019/05/16/trnc ... -may-2019/


One Country, one People, many Nations; does that describe Turkey?

...what of the Cypriots? Or is it as it is perceived, by Turkey, an island divided among its "Turks", and those not "Turkish", call them "Greeks".

...while Turkey drills in "disputed" waters, can't Cyprus do the same?

Indeed, Cyprus drills for Cypriots, can Turkey say the same?

...and what of the Treaty of Lausanne, as Erdogan has said, now tossed out the window? While Turkey bristles with her military might, through hostile acts she disrupts the balance of power in the Eastern Mediterranean; how does this end without military conflict and more death?

...is it oil, a fair share, or supremacy of the sea; she (he) wants?

While Turkey does not agree with UNCLOS, it is a template where all the other neighbours are willing to agree, that it is fair in its guidance. Turkey has taken a maximal approach, unlike a State recognising itself an equal among equals.

Turkey is divided, now, more than ever. "Turkishness" has torn Cyprus in two for decades; it tears today at Turkey's social fabric. Hope is needed. The tarnish that covers Turkey's affairs can be removed with a small change in intention, to much international esteem, hope for Turks (not "Turks") in Turkey, hope for the world with this Problem's end, if Cyprus is freed from its subjugation, its occupation, and that the work that Cyprus has done to bring these neighbours together is recognised.

There is a chair waiting for Turkey at the Forum, and chairs waiting to be filled if Turkey dares to join in Tripartite meetings with, Cyprus/Greece, and Cyprus/Syria, as well.

[repulsewarrior]

Saturday, August 01, 2020
Our View: Greece chooses dialogue, Cyprus will have to do the same
https://cyprus-mail.com/2020/07/31/our- ... 5013858390


...first the Treaty of Sevres, which ended the Ottoman Empire by tearing it up. Then the Treaty of Lausanne, (which was more generous) which founded the Modern Turkey of today.

...while Ataturk was Turkish, he fought with Kurds and Armenians beside him. It was the Kurds, with their loyalty to his dream, a Turkey where all its Citizens are equal as Individuals, that saved the Republic from doom. And yet, Kemalists, for "Turkishness" cannot recognise this diversity; as "Turks" somehow more Turkish, than those, not "Turkish". Here is the (Turkish) Problem, in a nutshell.

...indeed, Greece and Turkey may find that, their give and take will bear results that have the desired effect across the region, for Hope. Timing is everything.

(beyond the Aegean, if there is a comprehensive Agreement)
It is not hard for me to imagine, Erdogan, recognising that Cyprus is Cypriot just like Turkey is Turkish. ...and that Turkey is not "Turkish" for the same reason that Cyprus cannot be "Greek".

Cyprus will change Turkey, and not the other way around, if the negotiations internally, are between two people who have the demonstrated support of Cypriots generally, not just their respective Constituency. In effect, a solution found by Cypriots ending their Problem, is a solution Turkey may emulate as their own.

It is not hard for me to imagine a Cypriot win (again) in the occupied territories either. And if that Leader wins because Cypriots demonstrate their unity as Cypriots, it is a harbinger of what Mr. Erdogan can expect against "Turkishness" itself, in Turkey, if he goes too far with that ambition.

[repulsewarrior]

Thursday, January 17, 2013
Re: What is needed for recognition?
http://www.cyprus-forum.com/cyprus39702 ... ml#p742457


...boulio, wouldn't it be nice if the Cypriot Constituencies (Turkish and Greek) could dicker out their respective Territorial Jurisdictions if above their authority there is a Republic of Cyprus which represents all its Citizens as Sovereign, and as Individuals, like in any other State, as equals and without any distinction or discrimination? it is possible, and moreso better serves the needs and desires of this island's dwellers. Bicommunal is not a dirty word, and it does not mean tearing the island in two. you may want Cyprus divided (somehow), but do you want our Basic Rights, Your Individual Rights, reduced to a question of ethnicity, because as a Person you are "Greek" or "Turk"? i like to remember that above all we are members of a single "race" called Humanity, and i suspect that you do too.

Bicommunal requires three governing bodies, at least. and if there is a Republic, as well as a Turkish Constituency, there should exist a Greek Constituency. what you prove is that this willingness to discuss Jurisdictions exists. it is not so difficult, as we can see, without or outside the question of Statehood, if our Freedom is secured because we are united as Human Beings, to better that which we defend as Individuals, Universal Principals, and the Liberty we seek as Persons should not be confused as being one in the same.

vp wants the discussion to unfold as though only "Greeks" and "Turks" exist, as though Cyprus and Cypriots do not exist, if this is what you want, so be it, everyone is entitled to their opinion, if not you are seeking Liberty without Freedom.

[repulsewarrior]

Tuesday, June 29, 2021
US Diplomat Tilts Toward Turkish-Cypriots, Draws Cypriot Fire
https://www.thenationalherald.com/cypru ... e-2784232/



Madame Lutte has certainly started a ball rolling. My hope is that she remembers who needs her help the most. Not the "Greeks" not the "Turks", but the other half, who like the rest of us defend the Universal Principals that make us Human beings; this is, the Problem.

Cypriots, unlike "them" do not have a dogma from which "others" are excluded. In fact Cypriots, for the most part were "their" victims when it came to murder and the disappearances; something to remember. Cypriots have waited patiently, silenced as it is, while their Leadership have negotiated for decades a settlement where there is a Greek side and a Turkish side, in the debate. And now Cypriots face the existential question, of Cypriots no more.

Quote:
That federation would comprise a federal government with a single international personality, along with a Turkish Cypriot constituent state and a Greek Cypriot constituent state, which would be of equal status.

...this much we know so far.

Indeed, Cyprus has a government where, as Individuals, they represent themselves as Cypriots. As Persons it is clear that Turkish Cypriots want in their daily lives, to nurture their distinct identity. Seeking equality, this demand has not been realised, given that they represent a minority, population-wise. And yet, i too have asked, where is a Greek Constituency, (and others), an equal in that regard, as Persons, at another level of government among Cypriot Constituencies?

Let us remember that Mr. Erdogan is on a tight schedule; Turkey's Centennial is but two years away. The Problem, if it had a solution in Cyprus, would open an opportunity in Turkey herself toward resolving her own Problem with the need for Constitutional reform, (a BBF), something to emulate in esteem. This too is something to think about.

...and what has "the Problem" become, with the Treaty of Lausanne tossed out the window, expanding to Libya, the Aegean, Azerbaijan, Syria and Iraq? What is Erdogan doing in his disruptions with all his neighbours, but placing himself in a position of strength from which to seize power, if not from negotiation, force; for "Turkishness", or for Turkey.

Cooler heads must prevail, and let's not forget, "Cyprus" is the root of it; who it "belongs" to. "Turks"? "Greeks"?

And who must represent Cypriots, but Madame Lutte? Having kicked the ball, one hopes that she will make herself clearer, who she is playing for. She may focus her attention on Mr. Tatar who in her generosity has most to gain. Two (or more) states, is not impossible, under one State. Intentions count.

[repulsewarrior]

Monday, February 27, 2006
Cyprus bicommunal discussion and chat forum : Agreeing the History of Cyprus
http://www.talkcyprus.org/forum/viewtop ... 6078#46078


I have avoided discussing religion as a sense of our Cypriotness, but the same memories always come to mind.

When I was a young child, one day, with my aunt in a field of wheat, I saw strangers at a tree. I do not like walking through wheat fields as it grows, because it serves no good purpose to the wheat. "what are those strangers doing there?", I asked, and she told me the story of the tree, and how many of the trees, in that field, were planted by apostles. In my family's fields, and in my village, "how do they know they are there?", but she didn't know, "They say it is written somewhere." This is where I am from, my home, a place where the dust, is the lives of people to our Neolithic past. The point being, the name, 'Komi', is Arabic, this history is older than the village, and that, before the contemporary history, as TPap said recently, like sand cast over the island, no place, without some 'confluence' (as above in the thread), of people.

To be Cypriot, is to have an identity with God, and the greatness of this reverance, has been our ability to celebrate this oneness, together, by accepting that the future, its change, is not stopped, but embraced. This is why the culture we can identify as Cypriot has survived, till now. However in trying to define it then, I believe that Mankind has moved on from the cutting edge of 1960, yet for the same reason, we, as a people, must find a resolution which stands out, and preserves a facet of Humanity, for selfish reasons, it seems, other interlocutors ignore.

[Mustiejodu]

In short every person wants recognition or acknowledgment of their ethnic identity. This is human nature full stop.

[repulsewarrior]

...absolutely Mustiejodu, and, as Individuals, without the further need for discrimination or distinction, we should also be expecting Justice seen, and the Rule of Law; equality as such.

[repulsewarrior]

Sunday, December 18, 2016
Embracing the second Cypriot republic
http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/12/18/embra ... -republic/


...for Cyprus, "interested parties" can stand with Cyprus, for Cyprus.

While Turkey will seek to isolate Cypriot interests, by identifying them as, "Greek", Erdogan will be seeking more as his tribute, than Cyprus, one way or the other, from the EU; this is what is likely.

Indeed, while there are two significant Constituencies in Cyprus, (and it has been divided as such,) Cyprus is an ethnos, it is something more, it is not "Turkish", and not "not Turkish", it is neither "Greek", and not "Greek". In effect, politically speaking, Cyprus is a template for Turkey's own Constitutional reform, because the Cyprus Problem is Turkey's problem, it is Turkey's National issue; a Cyprus united is a Turkey united, for the same reasons that a Cyprus divided is a Turkey divided.

A BBF in Turkey is not anathema to Erdogan's designs for a "new Turkey", if beyond the State, and the Individuals it counts as Citizens, as Turks, Individuals may decide to nurture one of a set of distinct identities, a set of Turkish Constituencies, by residing in such a Jurisdictional territory, as Persons, (an equal, a voter; a part of, a "majority" and a "minority") within such an electorate.

...but I am expecting something quite different from Erdogan, something more than what the world has witnessed of him as a Statesman already, especially if there is a big audience that will spur him on in Geneva, not just Greece and Britain, if along with the EU, friends, of Cyprus, like Egypt, Israel, Kuwait, Jordan, America, Russia, China, Italy, Germany and France, are there, he will have a choice, that instead of being the "but one", by joining with them for Cyprus, he may have everything he wishes, with this change of intentions. By shaking President Anastasiades' hand, as the President of the Republic of Cyprus, he secures an ally (Turkey's equal as an adversary over fifty years). He secures the esteem of all the "interested parties" there. By recognising Cyprus, he can say, "one Cyprus, one Turkey". He will gain as much esteem domestically, as he will internationally, if this hope can be carried to the ethnos Turkey can no longer deny it is, without itself being torn in two (or three, or more).

Geneva is bigger than Cyprus, as is the Problem. It will be for Akinci to take the crucial step, to be a Cypriot, to stand for the electorate who voted for him, or in tearing it in two, serve the interests of those who voted against him. And it may be that for Peace as such, in Cyprus and in his own country Erdogan may make History accepting such a Modern notion, a BBF, which has made great countries, Canada and the USA for example, with good intentions, and in so doing creating his own Legacy, as a Citizen of the World, that the same notion for his country may also spread through out the Eastern Mediterranean, where countries like Syria, and Iraq, struggle with the same issue of identities, in effect their People being Bicommunal themselves, a life as Individuals, living as Persons as well.

[repulsewarrior]

Wednesday, July 07, 2021
Our View: Greek Cypriot side is on its own over Varosha
https://cyprus-mail.com/2021/07/07/our- ... 5446720015



Cypriots have been on their own for decades, since divided as "Greeks" and "Turks". Clearly, their representation as such has not proven to be successful, for Cypriots.

Indeed, that such an insult as another "picnic" will be met with more words, the actions remain in the hands of the People. And it is the People who will in the end defend themselves with their own picnics on the beach that's theirs.

...it is like Erdogan is begging for it; a sign, that Cypriots do exist, beyond a Leadership that stands for "others".

[repulsewarrior]

Friday, July 09, 2021
GOP Leadership Moving Party to Better See American Interests in U.S.-Turkish Policy
https://www.thenationalherald.com/archi ... y-2846402/


...happy to read such opinion, in a well laid out and thoughtful piece.

Indeed, what was the Problem, in Cyprus, has grown more complex, and as a problem it has grown in its context to include the Eastern Mediterranean as a whole, and the Aegean.

One thing is constant, it is Turkey's National issue, and in affect it is a reflection for some, in Turkey, of their resentment toward the Treaty of Lausanne (and the Treaty of Sevres). This much is clear with Erdogan's push for "Turkishness" not just in Cyprus; so much so that Turkey herself for it, has never been more divided.

...let's not forget, that America is a BBF, where its Citizens are defined as Individuals, and as Persons having the Liberty to nurture their own distinct identities. (...whether as Individuals or Persons:) Intentions count.

Turkey, in my opinion, needs a united Cyprus more than ever, an example to emulate in its own (Problem, and) Constitutional reform. I see his "picnics" as a direct challenge, almost as though he is begging for Cypriots, as the People, essentially in defiance to demand change as a People, to come out peacefully on the beach and make souvla under their flag, the one that has been treated as a rag by those, "Greek", and, "Turkish", the Flag of Cyprus, the one rightfully theirs.

Such as it is, if the Leadership (read: both) continues to represent people on its own terms, ignoring what are election results, (that never less than half, in any election over decades one side of the "Green Line" or the other, always vote for such an Identity, as Cypriots), they betray a greater purpose toward Universal Principals and their own commitment to these values as Human beings. Pushed to these limits, Cypriots, indeed, may speak for themselves.

Frankly, i am still hopeful, what with the deadline a man like Mr. Erdogan would like to keep, what with Turkey's Centennial in two years. What with Turkey's tarnished image internationally, what with the Legacy he may leave as a Statesman, if, not just in Cyprus the Problem's root, but at home and with his neighbours, he made Peace.