mrfromng , since all of Cyprus is a member of the EU and the official name of the nation that joined is Cyprus , therefore I suppose the saddle is on all of us.
Cyprus did not lie nor did it cheat in order to meet the stringent pre entry conditions that all nations have to meet as a prerequisite to commencing the lengthy negotiations. The EU was , as we all were , hopeful that a solution would be agreed up on and a unified Cyprus would join. That was not to be, and as you know fresh discussions are in the process of commencing.
WHY HAS THE GC NOT ARRESTED EOKA MURDERERS
by MR-from-NG » Fri Aug 04, 2006 4:01 pm
Immigration sends Ethiopian back to warzone because she didn’t have ticket
AN ETHIOPIAN woman was deported back to Lebanon upon her arrival at Larnaca port after immigration authorities found she lacked an onwards airline ticket out of Cyprus.
The incident was reported to the Cyprus Mail by immigrant support group, KISA, yesterday.
“This was a clear violation of her human rights,” KISA president Doros Polycarpou said.
“By law the woman should have been told she had the right to ask for political asylum when she arrived in Cyprus on the grounds of what she had fled from in Lebanon.”
Polycarpou said the organisation had been tipped off about the incident by an insider.
“Three Ethiopian women arrived in Cyprus from Lebanon. Two of them were allowed in because they had tickets to travel home. The third woman was not allowed entry into the country because she had no ticket. Instead she was sent back to Lebanon.”
The human rights activist said the woman may not have known to ask for political asylum and that it was apparent the government was doing everything to avoid offering third country nationals protection.
“The government is willing to help in the evacuation process and to offer countries the use of the Cyprus Republic’s services as long as Cyprus remains a transit hub. It doesn’t want to offer temporary protection to anyone and is doing everything it can to avoid it.”
Polycarpou said two other Lebanese families had also been denied entry into Cyprus.
“One escaped to Cairo and the other to Damascus. But when the asked to come to Cyprus both were refused entry visas.”
He said in those cases although the government was “legally” allowed to say no it should on humanitarian grounds have made an allowance.
“However, regarding the Ethiopian woman, it was clear violation of her human rights not to inform her she could ask permission to stay. It was inhuman to deport her because she didn’t have a ticket home. They could have contacted the International Organisation for Migration to help. They didn’t want to give her protection and – afraid she would ask for help – they sent her back.”
He added: “In this case we had access to the information [about the deportation]. I don’t know how often it must happen and we don’t hear anything about it.”
Polycarpou said another problem was the lack of infrastructure where Lebanese refugees could turn to ask for help.
He said he knew of a case of a Lebanese man who’d left his home town in southern Lebanon two weeks before the bombing started.
“He could feel the tension and wanted to get out before anything happened. Now he can’t go home because his home has been destroyed and there’s nothing left for him to go back to,” Polycarpou said.
“He didn’t know where to turn to when he got here and when his money ran out ended up sleeping in the park for several days until another Arab man took him in and suggested he appeal to the social welfare services.
“We’ve been waiting for two days now for them to respond to his welfare application. We’re hoping he’ll get anything. Even just a little money so that he can afford to buy something to eat.”
No one at the Department Immigration was available for comment yesterday.
??
This one was easy to find. More to follow soon.
AN ETHIOPIAN woman was deported back to Lebanon upon her arrival at Larnaca port after immigration authorities found she lacked an onwards airline ticket out of Cyprus.
The incident was reported to the Cyprus Mail by immigrant support group, KISA, yesterday.
“This was a clear violation of her human rights,” KISA president Doros Polycarpou said.
“By law the woman should have been told she had the right to ask for political asylum when she arrived in Cyprus on the grounds of what she had fled from in Lebanon.”
Polycarpou said the organisation had been tipped off about the incident by an insider.
“Three Ethiopian women arrived in Cyprus from Lebanon. Two of them were allowed in because they had tickets to travel home. The third woman was not allowed entry into the country because she had no ticket. Instead she was sent back to Lebanon.”
The human rights activist said the woman may not have known to ask for political asylum and that it was apparent the government was doing everything to avoid offering third country nationals protection.
“The government is willing to help in the evacuation process and to offer countries the use of the Cyprus Republic’s services as long as Cyprus remains a transit hub. It doesn’t want to offer temporary protection to anyone and is doing everything it can to avoid it.”
Polycarpou said two other Lebanese families had also been denied entry into Cyprus.
“One escaped to Cairo and the other to Damascus. But when the asked to come to Cyprus both were refused entry visas.”
He said in those cases although the government was “legally” allowed to say no it should on humanitarian grounds have made an allowance.
“However, regarding the Ethiopian woman, it was clear violation of her human rights not to inform her she could ask permission to stay. It was inhuman to deport her because she didn’t have a ticket home. They could have contacted the International Organisation for Migration to help. They didn’t want to give her protection and – afraid she would ask for help – they sent her back.”
He added: “In this case we had access to the information [about the deportation]. I don’t know how often it must happen and we don’t hear anything about it.”
Polycarpou said another problem was the lack of infrastructure where Lebanese refugees could turn to ask for help.
He said he knew of a case of a Lebanese man who’d left his home town in southern Lebanon two weeks before the bombing started.
“He could feel the tension and wanted to get out before anything happened. Now he can’t go home because his home has been destroyed and there’s nothing left for him to go back to,” Polycarpou said.
“He didn’t know where to turn to when he got here and when his money ran out ended up sleeping in the park for several days until another Arab man took him in and suggested he appeal to the social welfare services.
“We’ve been waiting for two days now for them to respond to his welfare application. We’re hoping he’ll get anything. Even just a little money so that he can afford to buy something to eat.”
No one at the Department Immigration was available for comment yesterday.
??
This one was easy to find. More to follow soon.
- MR-from-NG
- Main Contributor
- Posts: 3440
- Joined: Tue Mar 07, 2006 4:58 pm
by Alexis » Fri Aug 04, 2006 4:24 pm
The case of this Ethiopian woman been sent back to Lebanon is indeed a disgrace on the authorities responsible.
I agree this totally unacceptable, if this is the rule rather than an exception then there is clearly a problem. From the majority of articles I have read regarding Lebanese evacuees in the UK this is the first story of its type. Perhaps there are many more cases like this which we have not heard (as the article supposes) but given the number of refugees involved it would have to be a great deal more for it to be the rule. Also if you compare this to the strict immigration rules of many european countries this kind of expulsion is not uncommon. The number of asylum seekers deported by the UK to clearly unsafe countries is quite staggering. What I'd like to see are the worldwide criticisms of Cyprus' human rights record over and above criticisms that could be levelled against many European Countries.
- Alexis
- Contributor
- Posts: 405
- Joined: Fri Feb 25, 2005 3:36 pm
- Location: UK
by MR-from-NG » Fri Aug 04, 2006 4:49 pm
Greek Cypriot voters set to derail UN plan for island's reunification
President and church accused of whipping up bitterness ahead of today's referendum
Helena Smith in Nicosia
Saturday April 24, 2004
The Guardian
Greek Cypriots are today expected to resoundingly reject a UN peace plan that presents a historic opportunity to reunite their divided island. After 30 years of conflict the bitterness whipped up by the president and the Greek Orthodox church shows no signs of ebbing - nor do the accusations of intimidation sponsored by the government in Nicosia.
The Greek choice looked set last night to mar Cyprus's May 1 entry to the EU, entrenching the partition of the island, and barring entry to the bloc of its ethnic Turkish minority. Mounting anger in Brussels at the prospect of the union's borders ending at the heavily militarised "green line", rather than the waters of the Mediterranean, was reflected in a rare outburst by the EU's enlargement commissioner, Günter Verheugen.
Article continues
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr Verheugen blasted the Nicosia government for "cheating" its way into the union by reneging on promises to do its utmost to bring about a solution.
Despite the public dressing down - and the obvious disappointment of the minority Turkish Cypriots who have enthusiastically endorsed the UN plan - President Tassos Papadopoulos stuck firmly to his guns. He described the UN's 9,000-page plan for a power-sharing arrangement, envisaging a federated bizonal, bicommunal country, as "neither workable nor viable".
Hogging the airwaves as the campaign ended on Thursday night, the hardline leader rejected suggestions that today's referendum was the last chance to solve the Cyprus conundrum. The US secretary of state, Colin Powell, had joined the UN in describing the vote as a "golden opportunity" that will not be repeated.
But in a two-hour interview broadcast by all four of the island's television channels, Mr Papadopoulos told the nation: "From my experience, such proposals or plans do not disappear, they are revived and reproduced."
As the Greek Cypriot president spoke, tens of thousands of Turkish Cypriots took to the streets in their part of the island. Most shared the view of Mustapha Cirakli, who sees reunification as the key that will unlock decades of international isolation and crippling economic deprivation. "Say yes and you connect Cyprus to the world," he said.
"We're really upset with the Greek Cypriots, we were expecting different things from them. After all, a dove of peace can't fly with one wing."
Although around 1,000 Turkish nationalists arrived in the impoverished north from the Turkish mainland to try to scupper a yes vote, the referendum has been met with relief by most Turkish Cypriots.
The scenes of optimism in the self-declared mini-state contrasted deeply with the climate of fear that has taken hold of the much wealthier Greek south.
The vehemence of Mr Papadopoulos's opposition to the plan has been matched only by the heavy handedness of the tactics to which the authorities have allegedly resorted in the run-up to the poll.
Media manipulation and outright bullying by government-appointed campaigners determined to see civil servants vote oxi (no) have reportedly been rife. On the orders of the education minister, schoolchildren were told to abandon the classroom on Thursday to distribute as many oxi leaflets and stickers as they could. In the process those bold enough to say nai (yes) were branded "traitors" or "Turk lovers". Many yes supporters have been heckled or reprimanded by police for defacing no signs.
EU diplomats said the way the campaign had been conducted would sour the island's EU entry and raise questions about the nature of its democratic values.
"Its embarrassing and absolutely shameful," said the former president George Vassiliou. "What we have seen is an industry of misinformation at work - a special kind of police state where people have been told what to vote and indirectly threatened." Until last April, when the veteran Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash opened the "green line" under domestic popular pressure, most Greek Cypriots had no memory of "the other side".
Since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded in the wake of an Athens-backed coup to unite the island with Greece, cross-ethnic contact has been kept to a minimum. On either side of the UN-patrolled "dead zone" the two communities have led different lives: Greeks performing an economic miracle to make up for the loss of territory and 180,000 refugees, and the Turks proclaiming independence in an enclave that is recognised by Turkey but no one else.
History
For decades Greek history books have been fixated with Turkey's crimes: the genocide of the Armenians, the Asia Minor catastrophe, the sacking of Constantinople, the "cleansing" of the Greeks, the Cyprus invasion and the killing of the Kurds.
Confronted with a solution for the first time - and the reality of its attendant compromises - insidious nationalist fever, nurtured in classrooms, has erupted with a vengeance.
This week, for the first time since the 70s, the motto "A good Turk is a dead Turk" appeared daubed across the walls of Nicosia's English school, founded when Cyprus was a British crown colony.
Mr Vassiliou, who negotiated the island's EU accession, apologised profusely to a top aide of Mr Verheugen.
"I am very upset for my country," he told her. "No one expected such a virulent no campaign from Papadopoulos. He has deliberately played on peoples' fears by talking about the plan's negative rather than positive aspects. Even if it's late we still hope to salvage the situation."
Unlike the no camp, which has been able to rent giant billboards and print leaflets thanks to donations from banks and business, the yes supporters have been largely self-funded. Some have resorted to using bed sheets as banners.
But while the latest polls have shown at least 70% of Greeks oppose the UN plan, many in the silent yes camp hope they could yet reduce their lead at the polls.
The undecided vote is said to have increased lately, not least since Bishop Pavlos of Kyrenia warned Greek Cypriots that they would face damnation if they approved the accord. If those favouring a settlement exceed 35%, senior local EU diplomats and political figures told the Guardian that they hoped a second referendum could be held soon, possibly in the autumn.
Miltiades, with all due respect I am not alone in my accusation that the ROC lied and cheated its way into the EU.
President and church accused of whipping up bitterness ahead of today's referendum
Helena Smith in Nicosia
Saturday April 24, 2004
The Guardian
Greek Cypriots are today expected to resoundingly reject a UN peace plan that presents a historic opportunity to reunite their divided island. After 30 years of conflict the bitterness whipped up by the president and the Greek Orthodox church shows no signs of ebbing - nor do the accusations of intimidation sponsored by the government in Nicosia.
The Greek choice looked set last night to mar Cyprus's May 1 entry to the EU, entrenching the partition of the island, and barring entry to the bloc of its ethnic Turkish minority. Mounting anger in Brussels at the prospect of the union's borders ending at the heavily militarised "green line", rather than the waters of the Mediterranean, was reflected in a rare outburst by the EU's enlargement commissioner, Günter Verheugen.
Article continues
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr Verheugen blasted the Nicosia government for "cheating" its way into the union by reneging on promises to do its utmost to bring about a solution.
Despite the public dressing down - and the obvious disappointment of the minority Turkish Cypriots who have enthusiastically endorsed the UN plan - President Tassos Papadopoulos stuck firmly to his guns. He described the UN's 9,000-page plan for a power-sharing arrangement, envisaging a federated bizonal, bicommunal country, as "neither workable nor viable".
Hogging the airwaves as the campaign ended on Thursday night, the hardline leader rejected suggestions that today's referendum was the last chance to solve the Cyprus conundrum. The US secretary of state, Colin Powell, had joined the UN in describing the vote as a "golden opportunity" that will not be repeated.
But in a two-hour interview broadcast by all four of the island's television channels, Mr Papadopoulos told the nation: "From my experience, such proposals or plans do not disappear, they are revived and reproduced."
As the Greek Cypriot president spoke, tens of thousands of Turkish Cypriots took to the streets in their part of the island. Most shared the view of Mustapha Cirakli, who sees reunification as the key that will unlock decades of international isolation and crippling economic deprivation. "Say yes and you connect Cyprus to the world," he said.
"We're really upset with the Greek Cypriots, we were expecting different things from them. After all, a dove of peace can't fly with one wing."
Although around 1,000 Turkish nationalists arrived in the impoverished north from the Turkish mainland to try to scupper a yes vote, the referendum has been met with relief by most Turkish Cypriots.
The scenes of optimism in the self-declared mini-state contrasted deeply with the climate of fear that has taken hold of the much wealthier Greek south.
The vehemence of Mr Papadopoulos's opposition to the plan has been matched only by the heavy handedness of the tactics to which the authorities have allegedly resorted in the run-up to the poll.
Media manipulation and outright bullying by government-appointed campaigners determined to see civil servants vote oxi (no) have reportedly been rife. On the orders of the education minister, schoolchildren were told to abandon the classroom on Thursday to distribute as many oxi leaflets and stickers as they could. In the process those bold enough to say nai (yes) were branded "traitors" or "Turk lovers". Many yes supporters have been heckled or reprimanded by police for defacing no signs.
EU diplomats said the way the campaign had been conducted would sour the island's EU entry and raise questions about the nature of its democratic values.
"Its embarrassing and absolutely shameful," said the former president George Vassiliou. "What we have seen is an industry of misinformation at work - a special kind of police state where people have been told what to vote and indirectly threatened." Until last April, when the veteran Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash opened the "green line" under domestic popular pressure, most Greek Cypriots had no memory of "the other side".
Since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded in the wake of an Athens-backed coup to unite the island with Greece, cross-ethnic contact has been kept to a minimum. On either side of the UN-patrolled "dead zone" the two communities have led different lives: Greeks performing an economic miracle to make up for the loss of territory and 180,000 refugees, and the Turks proclaiming independence in an enclave that is recognised by Turkey but no one else.
History
For decades Greek history books have been fixated with Turkey's crimes: the genocide of the Armenians, the Asia Minor catastrophe, the sacking of Constantinople, the "cleansing" of the Greeks, the Cyprus invasion and the killing of the Kurds.
Confronted with a solution for the first time - and the reality of its attendant compromises - insidious nationalist fever, nurtured in classrooms, has erupted with a vengeance.
This week, for the first time since the 70s, the motto "A good Turk is a dead Turk" appeared daubed across the walls of Nicosia's English school, founded when Cyprus was a British crown colony.
Mr Vassiliou, who negotiated the island's EU accession, apologised profusely to a top aide of Mr Verheugen.
"I am very upset for my country," he told her. "No one expected such a virulent no campaign from Papadopoulos. He has deliberately played on peoples' fears by talking about the plan's negative rather than positive aspects. Even if it's late we still hope to salvage the situation."
Unlike the no camp, which has been able to rent giant billboards and print leaflets thanks to donations from banks and business, the yes supporters have been largely self-funded. Some have resorted to using bed sheets as banners.
But while the latest polls have shown at least 70% of Greeks oppose the UN plan, many in the silent yes camp hope they could yet reduce their lead at the polls.
The undecided vote is said to have increased lately, not least since Bishop Pavlos of Kyrenia warned Greek Cypriots that they would face damnation if they approved the accord. If those favouring a settlement exceed 35%, senior local EU diplomats and political figures told the Guardian that they hoped a second referendum could be held soon, possibly in the autumn.
Miltiades, with all due respect I am not alone in my accusation that the ROC lied and cheated its way into the EU.
- MR-from-NG
- Main Contributor
- Posts: 3440
- Joined: Tue Mar 07, 2006 4:58 pm
by Alexis » Fri Aug 04, 2006 5:10 pm
Miltiades, with all due respect I am not alone in my accusation that the ROC lied and cheated its way into the EU.
So why are the RoC in the EU then? What lie is it they told, or promise they made without which they would not have gained accession to the EU?
The accession was all but sealed years before Annan I was even conceived. The Annan Plan was a consequence of Cyprus' concession and not the other way round. The EU did not say, you need to vote for Annan to gain entry, nor did it insist on referendums. In fact it was Cyprus' accession which provided the opportunity for the Plan and overcame Ankara's inertia to a solution. That that oportunity was missed was dissappointing but that is all. If the RoC really cheated its way into the EU why don't the EU do something about it. Similarly if Cyprus' human rights record is really so shameful, why don't the EU, who claim to place the utmost importance on human rights move to expel Cyprus for its violations. The point is not that Cyprus never violates human rights, there are plenty of cases that show she has done. The point is how she compares with other EU countries. In this field there is nothing I have read to show that she is regarded in any worse a light than the other 9 countries which acceded at the same time as her, or for that matter many of the existing EU members.
- Alexis
- Contributor
- Posts: 405
- Joined: Fri Feb 25, 2005 3:36 pm
- Location: UK
by MR-from-NG » Fri Aug 04, 2006 6:10 pm
Alexis,
Perhaps the blame falls on the EU and not the ROC. If there is one undeniable fact it is the fact that Cyprus was supposed to have joined the EU as a unified and one country. This is clearly not the case.
You cant tell me this has not embarrassed the EU.
Perhaps the blame falls on the EU and not the ROC. If there is one undeniable fact it is the fact that Cyprus was supposed to have joined the EU as a unified and one country. This is clearly not the case.
You cant tell me this has not embarrassed the EU.
- MR-from-NG
- Main Contributor
- Posts: 3440
- Joined: Tue Mar 07, 2006 4:58 pm
by miltiades » Fri Aug 04, 2006 6:13 pm
The results of the referendum can not be seriously considered as " Cheating " neither can the governments' election campaign be considered improper. In every democratic country the voters are canvased by politicians with opposing views trying to convince them that their position is the correct choice.
I did not vote , had I been in Cyprus I would have voted against the Plan , it does not make me a cheat , on the contrary I would have exercised my democratic right and voted according to my conscious and my own free will.
We covered this area many times before and we should respect opposing views.
I did not vote , had I been in Cyprus I would have voted against the Plan , it does not make me a cheat , on the contrary I would have exercised my democratic right and voted according to my conscious and my own free will.
We covered this area many times before and we should respect opposing views.
-
miltiades - Leading Contributor
- Posts: 19837
- Joined: Thu Apr 13, 2006 10:01 pm
by Alexis » Fri Aug 04, 2006 6:32 pm
Alexis,
Perhaps the blame falls on the EU and not the ROC. If there is one undeniable fact it is the fact that Cyprus was supposed to have joined the EU as a unified and one country. This is clearly not the case.
You cant tell me this has not embarrassed the EU.
This is where I am not sure. I cannot find the quote, but did not Verheugen state back in 1995 that Cyprus' accession to the EU whether a political settlement had been reached or not would benefit the EU as well as both Cypriot Communities and as such Cyprus accession should not be on condition of a settlement. Again, I cannot find the exact quotes but I doubt very much Verheugen said that Cyprus had 'cheated' its way into the EU. I think what he actually said is that he personally felt 'cheated' by the attitude of some of the GC diplomats during the run up to the referendums because he felt that the GC government should have backed the Annan Plan. Probably more importantly, he felt that the Cypriot government had not done enough to reach a settlement before accession which was probably the best opportunity for reaching a comprehensive settlement that had presented itself since 1974. Sure the EU and UN are disappointed that that opportunity was missed but I do not think there is any question that Cyprus 'cheated' its way by promising one thing and delivering another. For one thing, Cyprus could never guarantee herself that a comprehensive settlement would be reached simply because any settlement would have to be approved at referendum by both communities something outside the governments direct control. If you show me evidence 'that Cyprus was supposed to have joined the EU as a unified and one country' as a condition for accession then I would change my stance on this, but I honestly doubt that this was the case. I think the biggest embarrasment was not Cyprus' accession but the failure of the Annan Plan.
- Alexis
- Contributor
- Posts: 405
- Joined: Fri Feb 25, 2005 3:36 pm
- Location: UK
by MR-from-NG » Fri Aug 04, 2006 6:37 pm
Miltiades,
I do not disagree with you that the Annan plan was not ideal and unacceptable for you guys. I and many others had doubts about the GC's accepting the plan. You had a referendum and refused it. That is your democratic right and I and the majority of TC's respect that.
What is undeniable is that your administration were not sincere in making their feelings known about the plan. They gave the impression that the plan was workable and the end result would be a unified Cyprus and it will be a bed of roses for both communities.
What I don't understand is this. The ultimate settlement (if ever there is one) on the Island is not going to be a lot more different to the Annan plan that you have already overwhelmingly refused. We wouldn't vote yes to anything that would be a lot more different to the plan.
This leaves the question, can the Annan plan, with a bit of fine tuning be workable?
Please no lessons in human rights!!! stolen propery and all that ****
I do not disagree with you that the Annan plan was not ideal and unacceptable for you guys. I and many others had doubts about the GC's accepting the plan. You had a referendum and refused it. That is your democratic right and I and the majority of TC's respect that.
What is undeniable is that your administration were not sincere in making their feelings known about the plan. They gave the impression that the plan was workable and the end result would be a unified Cyprus and it will be a bed of roses for both communities.
What I don't understand is this. The ultimate settlement (if ever there is one) on the Island is not going to be a lot more different to the Annan plan that you have already overwhelmingly refused. We wouldn't vote yes to anything that would be a lot more different to the plan.
This leaves the question, can the Annan plan, with a bit of fine tuning be workable?
Please no lessons in human rights!!! stolen propery and all that ****
- MR-from-NG
- Main Contributor
- Posts: 3440
- Joined: Tue Mar 07, 2006 4:58 pm
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest
© 2002 - 2015 Cyprus-Forum.com
