Lobby for Cyprus

[stavrizatz]

I found this website today, and at first I was excited. It has lots of great articles and information about the Cyprus problem. Spending some time in the site I realised there was nothing for Turkish Cypriots and that the whole website was very biased. I was frustrated and I wrote the following letter to the administrator of the site.

Your thoughts please.

[repulsewarrior]

thank-you stav.

[Get Real!]

[stavrizatz]

That was the exact answer they gave me without calling me a fool.

But that was exactly my point that we do not need to go so low, to copy the tactics of Turkey to support our cause.

Then their response was possitive, they said they will consider making some changes

[Get Real!]

[stavrizatz]

As odd as yours as we used to agree on most things

[aweverard]

This goes to the basic question of Cypriot Identity. Is Cyprus Cypriot and if so how is this defined?

Given that Greek Cypriot text books define Cyprus as “Hellenic and Orthodox” and going so far as to have a joint Cyprus and Greek Foreign Ministries project promoting Hellenism ( http://www.hellenicnews.com/readnews.html?newsid=9183&lang=US ) this leaves little room for the Turkish Cypriots - who as Muslim and Turkic are not Hellenic - yet make up almost a 5th of the population.

So an NGO for and by Cypriots excluded a 5th of the very people it claims to act for!

And the Greek Cypriots wonder why the Turkish Cypriots feel they cannot trust them fully!

[repulsewarrior]

i hope that this is changing, now that reforms have been started on the school curriculum. i agree it has been really stupid to live with the denial for such a long time, afterall the Cypriot principal of bicommunality has always been ignored by the governments of the past. we can hope that with this round of negociations it will be possible for the vast majority of the population (which is Greek) to identify with their roots as Hellens, but as Individuals, accept that their self determination depends on a commitment to the island and its Patrimony, which includes the influence of many other Peoples throughout its long history, quite unlike Greece.

i take the view that if flags are to fly, it should include that of the EU, Turkey, Greece, and even the Union Jack together, along with the flag of the Cypriot State, as well as those created for the two Communities. of course, ideally, the Cypriot flag should fly alone on any public building in the south, even if in the north there is an intolerance toward this direction at present.

[stavrizatz]

[aweverard]

stavrizatz,

I don't dispute the Republic of Cyprus right to work with any other government.

I do dispute that modern, say from the start of Brit Admin to the present, Cyprus is "Hellenic and Orthodox" given the number of non-Hellens and non-Orthodox in Cyprus some 20%+ of the population over that period.

Can you imagine if the UK govt say the only British identity is White and English they would be accused of racism towards non-whites, ethnic centerism by excluding Scots, Welsh and Irish, although 23% of the UK population is non-White and non-English it would be unacceptable.

So how is it OK for the Republic of Cyprus to exclude such a large part of its population by lack of official recognition? A part of the population that the government claims it represents and who's trust it hopes to have.

[stavrizatz]

Hi aweverard,

Cyprus as a government not Cypriots (because Cypriots are still somewhat racist) and I don't say that because I am from Cyprus but I compare the policies of Cyprus towards other ethnic groups with other countries. Cyprus is a multicultural heaven!!! Cyprus has the biggest migration rate in the world and receives many assylum seekers, with migration policies much more humane than countries like Australia, UK, Scandinavia, Holland and France.

As for Turkish Cypriots the government has given them certain assistance such as priority for treatment in hospitals, free electricity that runs in the North from Dekhelia, all have Republic of Cyprus passports and ID cards and all have exactly the same rights as Greek Cypriots even so they pay their taxes to Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus instead of the gov. Also the Turkish and the English languages are used in all official documents. At the same time I am not saying that Republic of Cyprus are angels, there are a lot of improvement that still needs to be made, but if I compare what Turkish Cypriots have given to Greek Cypriots to what Greek Cypriots have given to Turkish Cypriots then I will say that Greek Cypriots are extremely generous.

So I will say the minorities are treated much better in Cyprus in comparasson to England, and the policy that was signed does not affect Turkish Cypriots, their culture or their identityin any way. They will still have all the rights to express themselves as Turks of Cyprus and there is no attempt to erase that element from the Cyprus cultural heritage.

As I told you in the minds of the people, also shown in the research, the island is hellenic and orthodox, similarly in England people see it as Anglosaxon. The difference between England and Cyprus is that Turkish Cypriots have been in Cyprus for 300-400 years where in England migrants came this century, the other difference in England the migrants did not set up and self-proclaimed their own state within England, ethnically cleansing white people. If that happens in the future in 200-300 years time then I predict the reaction of England will not be much different to that of Greek Cypriots in Cyprus

[aweverard]

I may not have explained myself fully.

It is about the Greek Cypriots and Greek Cypriot Govt saying to the Turkish Cypriots "Trust us".

Trust us to look after your rights, cultural identity, economic well being etc.

But in the Greek Cypriot official history there are no Turkish Cypriot's, just Cypriots and Turks, it was the "Turkish Revolt" in '63 not the Turkish Cypriot Revolt (not mention of the provocation) and we will use our EU membership to continue to embargo your trade in a similar way to when you were enclaved pre-'74.

I understand that the Greek Cypriots have done much for the Turkish Cypriots but much of that is as part of being in the EU and a requirement to treat all EU nationals equally.

Equally I know that there is propaganda in the North about not being able to trust Greek Cypriots. The open crossing points help breakdown this view but given all the opportunities to cross over, live work and claim back pre-’74 property why have so few done so?

Anything to do with the 40% of Greek Cypriots that disagree with the idea of a “Truth & Reconciliation Commission” perhaps?

Most Turkish Cypriots would not deny that the Greek Cypriots suffered in ’74 but the glossing over of the suffering that happened to the Turkish Cypriots in the 10 years prior and then saying “Trust us” is not the way to win confidence or trust.

And the trust of the Turkish Cypriots is fundamental to any solution.

[stavrizatz]

[city]

[stavrizatz]

No, geneeral knowledge

Why are you asking?