Issy1956 wrote:Natty,
Just to remind you that our troubles didnt begin with the Invasion/Peace Operation(take your pick) and to make your list complete you should not forget that many TC's (my family and I for example) went to England and were given refuge after being driven out of their homes by the Greek Cypriots in 63. And I for one will always be grateful to the Brits for that. I have no hesitation in being critical ,with good intention, of my adopted homeland where I feel it necessary and I feel that it might do some good.
The local Cypriots should not be so sensitive. You should all take the biggest chill pill you can find. Relax.
Peace.
Issy, don't you think there is a marked difference between what happened in 1963/64 and 1974, visa vie people's rights to their homes and properties?
In 1963/64, many TCs were presumably compelled to temporarily live behind (abandone) their homes and villages and seek refuge in safer areas due to the intercommunal fights that begun in various places around Cyprus, and the fear of being attacked by Greek Cypriots. However, neither the RoC nor or anyone from the GC community have ever assumed the right of ownership ("formall" usurping) of those TC properties left behind, and technically, those TCs that had abandoned them, were always free to return to them and utilise them any time after the presumed danger had passed or that they would have felt it was safe for them to have done so. As a mater of fact, in early 1968, when the GC side decided to lift up the control check posts outside the by then created TC enclaves, many TCs (not the majority though) decided to return and assume the utilisation of their properties, and even some of them to returned to their homes and villages, and this contrary to all the strict thretening instructions of the TMT. Since then (1968,) and up until 1974, there is absolutely no single reported case involving the death or attack again any TC, and in practice everyone was free to return to their villages and properties out of which they have left in 1963/64, and in cases in which their houses have been destroyed they were encouraged to apply for a re-contraction government aid plus minimum interest loans. Of course, the reality is that very few had chosen to do so, and this not because of the GCs but because of the TMT that wouldn't allow them to abandon the enclaves, always having in mind the plans them and Turkey for an invasion and partition.
On the other hand, in 1974 the GCs were force out of the north, and since they were not allowed to return, but even worst, the illegally established regime assumed the usurping of all their homes and properties, claimed their ownership in an institutionalised way (by "law") and even proceeded to their "sale" or distribution to third persons other than their owners, and up to this day it refuses to accept that those homes and properties were illegally usurped.
Is there a difference between the two cases, yes or no?
....I think amongst the Greek Cypriots there's a disappointment in the British policy on Cyprus, especially in the past, but generally we don't hold it against, and 'hate' the 'British' (well then I guess I'd hate my self..kind of...hehe 
), after all, many Cypriots (back in the day) went to England to get a better life, or were given refuge after the invasion....
