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brother
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Joined: 15 Aug 2005
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erolz
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Joined: 11 Aug 2005
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Thanks for posting this article Brother.
Interesting indeed. I have to say it reinforces my view that whilst settlers do have some very real political influence in the Republic of Northern Cyprus and do to a degree disrupt the voting patterns that would be seen without their presence this effect is often very much over assesed by Greek Cypriot and this effect.
I understand Greek Cypriot concerns re the sharing of poltical power in Cyprus being an effective sharing of power with settlers and not Turkish Cypriots and I think this is issues is real and valid and has to be addressed. However to do so means real assesments of the true degree of the problem have to be made and understood. At the moment my perception is that many Greek Cypriot really genuinely beleieve that settlers 'dominate' polticaly in the north and they total reverse the patterns of poltical support that would be seen if they were not in the North and to me this perception is just plain incorrect and actualy makes addressing the real problem (extent of the problem) all the harder. Thus I welcome the kind of study refered to in this article. |
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cannedmoose
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Great stuff Bro', thanks for the reference, should be good stuff for my study of politics and society in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus :D
If anyone wants to read the full report, you can download it at:
http://www.prio.no/files/file46909_beyond_numbers_report.pdf
Warning though, it's 7mb, so probably not good for you stone-age folk on dial-up. |
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Dhavlos
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Erol, i think you are right, most Greek Cypriot, at least in the diaspora, feel that the settlers have a lot more power than you are saying they do. Many feel that they have a negative effect on Turkish Cypriots by making them more 'turkish' than 'cypriot', culturally/politically etc... i know it sounds OTT, and probably hypocritical, but i think that is what is beleived.
I think numbers is also a big issue, many people think that the number of settlers is much larger than Turkish Cypriots. Eg, some think there is around 150,000 settlers, and about 80-90,000 Turkish Cypriots. And that soon, Turkish Cypriot wil be very rare in northern cyprus, because they would have all emigrated. |
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Ixtanbul
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Joined: 23 Aug 2005
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Location: Turkey
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I didn't even know that mainland Turks were effective in Turkish Cypriot political life.
Btw does anyone that was born in Cyprus automatically become a Republic of Cyprus citizen? Like the mainland Turks kids that were born in Cyprus are they Republic of Cyprus citizens? |
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-mikkie2-
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erolz
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There was a long article in this weeks Cyprus Today paper about Mete Hatay's PRIO report on settlers. As this is such an important issue and there is so much lack of 'hard research' about the issue I have scanned and OCRed the whole article and will reproduce it below.
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In a report for the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO), Turkish Cypriot researcher Mete Hatay (right) has shone a light on to the little-examined and politically sensitive issue of Turkish "settlers" in North Cyprus - a debate, says the PRIO, that is "often marked by stereotypes and myths". In his report, Beyond Numbers - An Inquiry into the Political Intergration of the Turkish "settlers" in Northern Cyprus, Mr Hatay highlights the diversity that exists among the immigrants, and presents new and unexpected findings about their voting patterns. Here, he summarises the approach and findings of the report.
The presence and role of Turkish immigrants - generally referred to as "settlers" - in Northern Cyprus constitutes one of the most debated issues on the island.
Yet, the issue - which, owing to its relation to Turkey's Cyprus policy, inevitably has international ramifications - has to date attracted little attention among re- searchers. Consequently; we have only scant knowledge of this section of the population of Northern Cyprus. In an attempt to remedy that situation, my report presents an inquiry into the political integration of the "settlers" within Turkish Cypriot politics: it looks at their political organisation and orientation, and gauges the weight o1 their political influence. In addition, it compares the politics of the "settlers" to the politics of Turkish Cypriots in general.
As a backdrop to the analysis, the report discusses, conceptual problems attached to the 'settler" label, concluding that the variations present - within- this grouping warrant more finegrained distinction. Several subcategories are identified, with the most important, distinction for the purposes of the present report being that between citizens and non-citizens, as only the former enjoy the right to vote. It is proposed that the "settler" label be restricted to the sub-category of "agricultural labour", whose migration to the island formed part of a deliberate settlement policy pursued by both Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot authorities following the partition of the island in 1974. Other Turkish nationals have since migrated to the island on their own initiative, acquiring citizenship through either, naturalisation or assisted naturaliation (eg through marriage to Turkish Cypriots).
In addition to the categories of "settlers" and immigrants - which both by virtue of citizenship, enjoy the right to vote - northern Cyprus is also host to a large (non-voting) population of temporary residents Of Turkish origin. These can be divided into five main groupings: registered workers (ie workers with work permits); non-registered workers (ie those without work permits); tourists; university students and lecturers; and Turkish army personnel (including conscripts and family members).
The report also addresses the ubiquitous question of the number of Turkish immigrants in northern Cyprus. It argues that widely used estimations based . on the net balance of arrivals and departures combined with projections of Turkish Cypriot birth . rates . are flawed. Such estimations fail to, take account of the fact that the arrival-departure balance also includes temporary residents (eg students, migrant workers, tourists, etc); along with Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus citizens - irrespective of ethnic origin - who travel using Turkish travel documents, while excluding persons who may have arrived as Turkish nationals and, having received Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus citizenship, departed with Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus traveldocuments. Estimations ranging from 127,000 to 130,000 are therefore grossly exaggerated.
Using census data from 1996, with updates and electoral lists as alternative and more authoritative measures, the report estimates that the total number ©f Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus citizens of Turkish mainland origin currently residing in northern Cyprus is between 32,000 and 35,000 plus offspring - that is, between 16.8 and 18.4 per cent of the total number of citizens of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (190,000).
The total number of Turkish-originated temporary residents (non-citizens) is estimated (for 2005) at about 102,000, distributed as follows: registered workers (16,277); non-registered workers (30,000); tourists (1,695 on average at any particular time); university students (18,398) and lecturers (500); and Turkish army personnel, including conscripts and family members (35,000).
The report outlines the political and electoral systems of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and summarises the evolution of its
political institutions. The main political parties are also introduced. As an introduction to the analysis of the politics of voters originating from the Turkish mainland, the report discusses a number of associated methodological problems. Here, it is noted that the prevalent mixed settlement pattern does not allow for the separation of this section of the electorate from the electorate at large.
Moreover, historical data are lacking. Nevertheless, examination of recent electoral lists allows for an estimation of the size of the Turkish-originated electorate. Of the total electorate in 2003 (143,754), at least 23,315 registered voters were identified as having been born in Turkey. This figure does not include 4,530 persons who were born in Cyprus to parents of Turkish mainland origin. It also excludes 8,913 persons whose birthplace could not be determined owing to the fact that some geographical place names are used both in Cyprus and in Turkey.
The report presents the results of an in-depth case-study of 26 villages almost exclusively inhabited by "settlers" (according to the proposed definition) and their descendants. The electoral outcomes in these villages in all elections between 1981 and 2005 are examined and compared with the electoral outcomes in 53 villages almost exclusively inhabited by "native" (Turkish Cypriot) Citizens.
The analysis shows that, until 1993, the majority of the electorate in the "settler villages" voted for opposition parties - that is, against the party that had been in government since 1976, the National Unity Party (UBP). This majority divided its votes between ethnic "settler parties", such as the Turkish Unity Party (TBP) and the New Birth Party, (YDP), and mainstream opposition parties, such as the, Democratic Populist Patty (DHP), the Democratic Struggle Party (DMP), the Communal Liberation Party (TKP) and the Republican Turkish Party (CTP).
For their part, the "native" Turkish Cypriot villages overwhelmingly supported the UBP. In the, period after 1993, opposition "settler" votes were increasingly directed at the Democratic Party (DP), which was founded in 1992 with the aim of ousting the UBP from government, while ethnic "settler" parties vanished from the political arena. This support remained constant until 2002, after which. time the DP ,started losing ground in the "settler villages". Since the 2003 elections, the CTP vote in these villages has been on the rise (14 per cent in 2003, add 22 per cent in 2005).
The analysis also shows that, in the period 1990 to 2005, the UBP had a stable and substantial following in the "settler villages" of about 40 per cent. However, it did not achieve the kind of massive electoral victory in these villages that it achieved elsewhere, notably in the "native villages". A majority in the "settler villages" consistently voted for parties other than the UBP. This was not the case in the "native villages", which provided a higher share of their votes for the UBP than the "settler villages" in all of the following elections: 1981, 1985, 1990 and 1998.
The highest levels of support for the UBP from the "native villages" came in the 1990 elections (55.8 per cent). It is only in 1993 and after 2003, when the UBP lost ground in the "native villages", that the party received more support in the 26 "settler villages" than in the 53 "native° ones. The analysis thus suggests that, contrary to prevalent assumptions, the UBP's grip on power for much of this period was maintained not by Turkish "settlers" but by Turkish Cypriots themselves.
In-addition, the analysis suggests that, in the elections held between 1981 and, 1998, the "settler" vote was determined largely by factors such as the social and economic problems peculiar to this group, mundane daily problems and local politics, rather than by ideology or national issues, such as the "Cyprus problem". Furthermore, the findings question the often made assumption pertaining to the influence of the government of Turkey on the votes of this section of the community. On several occasions, the outcome of the elections contrasted sharply with Ankara's preferences.
In the 1990 elections, the majority of the "settlers" voted against both the ruling UBP and the incumbent president Rauf Denktas, both backed by Turkey. More recently, in the referendum on the Annan Plan that was held on 24 April 2004, a majority (56 per cent) in the "settler villages" voted "No", while the Turkish government openly advocated a "Yes" vote.
A COPY of Beyond Numbers: An Inquiry into the Political Integration of the Turkish "Settlers" in Northern Cyprus can be purchased from Isik Bookshop or downloaded from the website: http://www:prio.no/files/file46909_beyond_numbers_report.pdf
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