Cyprus-Forum.com

[askimwos]

One does not need to force people at gunpoint to move to the occuppied areas. This was a policy well developed by Denktash and Turkey in order to suppress the will of the TC population by controlinfg the outcome of the "elections" in the north.
How can any party in the north win the "elections" without having the backing of the settlers? We have seen what a big turn Talat has done in order to get elected. Don't forget that the CTP and AKEL had more or less agreed the main principles of a solution many years ago only for Talat to break that sort of agreement and to refuse to negotiate the elimination of some of the far too many powers over Cyprus that the anna plan was handing Turkey.

When? where? any independent details? Talat has been the one with the extended arm not Papadop.

You only have to go back and find the CTP Conderences decisions and compare them with those of AKELs Conferences desicions about the principles of the sought solution to the problem in order to see that they are almost identical. As for independent sources you only have to ask some old members of CTP.

[Viewpoint]

VP I agree with you to a large extent. I do not think the RoC or Greek Cypriots could make a flat out decision on the settler issue. These are human beings that we are talking about and whilst I think that turkey is soleley responsible for the fate of settlers, I believe that a committee comprising of Turkish Cypriots/ Greek Cypriots and independat nations needs to be set up to look at settlers on an individual basis to assess whether they go or stay. I would suggest that number who stay be less that the Turkish Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots can choose what that number would be whether they want 100% 70% 50% 10% you get my drift, I m sure.

I agree, we have to apply criteria used in the south and EU so that we can strike a balance these people should not be penalized because they are Turks. But to address GCs concerns Tcs do realize that a certain number will remain with permission not citizenship and some with be sent back. Will this also apply to say the 40.000 Pontiac's?

[joanna]

No offence, you may not know this but Turkey is not in the EU. As for the settlers, the vast majority 30 years ago,if not to say all of them, were from Turkey, and those are the ones ppl are opposed.

[humanist]

VP i did not make the suggestion of a % to remain and some to go back in order to meet the needs of Greek Cypriots I made the point in respect for those Turkish Cypriots who may feel that they are a minority among the Turkish Speaking Community of Cyprus. And yes the number will apply to the pontiacs, or if 40,000 pontiacs stay then 40,000 turks stay .. Like I said you decide on the number of settlers

[joanna]

all settlers should be made to leave, obviously i am sure many have inter married and it is a v dificult task as to who should stay and who should go, but i am sure that it is easy for the vast majority to be proved as not being "Cypriot" either GC or TC. All the real Turks should be made to leave and be given a time scale to do so, then i think discussions on the "Cyprus problem" will be dealt with a lot quicker.

[humanist]

I am really sorry to hear you say these things, I found you to be racist and inconsiderate of other people and their hardship. I think you mentioned somewhere that you are from the north, if so I am surprised that you have learnt nothing in the last 32 years. I apologise to all Turkish Cypriots and settlers for such coments made by Joanna as a Greek Speaking Cypriot I do not agree with what Joanna is saying and I believe that most Greek Cypriots would disagree also.

[Viewpoint]

VP i did not make the suggestion of a % to remain and some to go back in order to meet the needs of Greek Cypriots I made the point in respect for those Turkish Cypriots who may feel that they are a minority among the Turkish Speaking Community of Cyprus. And yes the number will apply to the pontiacs, or if 40,000 pontiacs stay then 40,000 turks stay .. Like I said you decide on the number of settlers

Sounds reasonable to me but will your GC brothers agree?

[Alexis]

am often reading statements like: "Turkey just keeps sending more and more settlers over".

Can anyone point to any evidence that Turkey, as a government, is "sending settlers" any more than the Turkish government is sending settlers to Germany or the Sri Lankan government sending settlers to RoC.

As far as I can see, Turkish citizens TRNC come of their own free will for work, through marriage, because they like the island and want to retire - just like everyone else on either side of the border. And just like everyone else, they need work or residence permits to stay here.

From many of the posts on this forum you would believe that Turkish citizens are forced onto boats coming to Cyprus at gun point and are kept here against their will. Many other EU countries have more overseas Turkish citizens living there than TRNC without this hysterical language. And some of them become citizens of other countries after a period of residence.

hi observer,

Here's my take on this issue. I don't subscribe to the thesis that Turkey 'forces' people to leave Turkey and go to the TRNC. I don't think anyone has actually said this explicitly (please correct me if I am wrong) although I understand how you might jump to that conclusion given some people's language. Even so it is just that - jumping to a conclusion. The fact remains there are many ways in which to change the demographics of a place. One of them is to give incentives for people to go to Cyprus. We know that Turkey has done this in the past, some of the incentives have included the gift of land stolen from GC refugees some of which has gone to settlers and some to Turkish soldiers who fought in 1974. These are just examples and be sure that Turkey has been condemned for her actions (to change the demography of the island) in many UN SCRs.
You say that other countries have more Turkish immigrants, and this is true, but in terms of changing the demography of a place Cyprus has almost certainly had more Turkish immigrants per head of population than any other EU country (including Germany). If we restrict this to just the TRNC then the figure inflates even further. No issue with this other than the GC community has of course not been consulted on this ridiculous immigration rate. If we then see the circumstances under which this has been done, in a country which has been in need of a political settlement that is sensitive to the demography of the population, it is abundantly obvious what Turkey's policies are intended for.

[askimwos]

You bet the GCs agree on the 40,000 number.
Actually they will be jumping out of joy as the annan plan did not set a number and the criteria it set could have easily be bend and stretched as Turkey would have liked.

[BirKibrisli]

While it is true that no one was forced at gunpoint to settle in the TRNC,there were a lot of inducement offered at the beginning (like free land and housing) to encouraged people to come. Also people from Turkey can come to the North simply by jumping on a ferryboat and showing their Identity Cards at the other end. Which other "state" in the world allows anyone to come and settle in their counrty without any kind of visa or character screening policy??? Forgetting about the international legitimacy of moving people to militarily occupied areas,had they required at least a passport for entry,they would make sure at least that more culturally and socially suitable people would come in,hence avoiding many of the social and cultural problems present today in the TRNC...

Having said that I want to remind people that it is not the settlers fault that they find themselves the meat in the sandwich in Cyprus.Turkey must be made to carry the cost (human and material) of resettling these people in an orderly and humane manner when the time comes.