zan wrote:
Don't worry about what you lost. It was meant as a bit of light hearted banter but never mind.
I can remember the exact moment that I fell out with you Kikapu and that was with one word and that was "what?" but we won't dwell on that either.
I object to your use of the word democratic in the way you used it above. Democracy has not got a perfect blue print example in Cyprus but is an open interpretation depending on what side you are on so don't try to claim it for yourself.
Now! I have suggested the idea to you as good heartedly as I could in the hope that you will see that looking at the end product without looking at the road taken is not the way to go. I can ask you to accept many things before the discussions begin just like what is happening in Cyprus today and I know we will end up in the same impass as the two sides are in anyway. Start the talks and see where it leads. We all have working models of what Cyprus should be like and many of us have one for the world but the road has not even been built yet. If I could drop a happy bomb on Cyprus tomorrow and make everything alright then I would without hesitation but No such thing exists so lets be practical. You have put forward a finished building but now you have to get the engineers and the builders and the planning all working together to make your dream come true. Can you do that?
Gee Wees Zan, that could have been anything.
OK, here we go.
So you like the finished product you said, the "building" and you want to know how we got there, the road to it in another words.
The road to the "Finished Building" will take 10 years, so lets us assume we are at the end of 10 years today, so the year in Cyprus now is 2017 and we have a "New Country". So lets see how we got there.
Year 2007, both TC's and GC's agree on a Federation System with two separate states within the country of Cyprus. Lets call it the "United States of Cyprus" which will be North and South Cyprus. Both sides agree to take the full implementation of the Federal System into 2017, so that it becomes as such at the end of the road. in 2017, there are no longer the RoC or "TRNC". Just "United States of Cyprus"
All these events then need to be activated right away, in order to show that both sides are on their way to a Federal System.
1. Remove all checkpoints. No longer needed to show any ID to go back and forth between the North and the South.
2. All non Cypriots who are in the country will need to Register with the RoC. 2007 will be the cut off date for all those immigrants that are already in the country. All new arrivals will need to apply to the RoC first, before arrival.
3. RoC will have full control of it's borders to be able to control immigration, but these duties will be performed by the TC's in the North and GC's in the South until 2017.
4. The North will have Direct Trade and Flights to bring their economy up to par "leveling the playing field".
5. Turkish Troops and Greek Troops and their equipment start withdrawing from the island 10% each year for the next 10 years. For the TT, it will be 4,000 a year based on 40,000 and 1,000 GT based on 10,000. By year 2017, all foreign troops are gone.
6. All mine fields are cleared up by both sides.
7. Replace the Lira with the Cyprus Pound followed by the Euro.
8. Continue with the present political arrangement as it is now with both sides having their elected leaders until 2017. In 2017 there are no longer RoC or "TRNC".
9. All construction on GC land will stop and preserved to be returned back to its owners in the next 10 years. Those who bought GC land, will lose their rights to keep them. They can be reimbursed by a funds set up by the UN, on what they actually paid for the land, plus interest. Those who built homes or businesses on GC land, will have the option to buy the land from the GC owners at the market rate at that time, or else they can sell their house or businesses built on GC land, to the GC's. The TC's must be given the option to buy the land first from the original GC owners and cannot be forced out if they have a house or a business already built on it. Same will apply in the South. Then in the next 10 years, those GC's and TC's who wish to move back to their villages of before 1974, should be made possible and re united with their property.
Then we keep this going for the next 5 years for all sides to get to "know" each other a little better and build confidence. The North will start to develop economically.
By the end of 5th year, talks will start to form the new Federal Constitution by both sides. Using the last 5 years as a confidence building measure, it will be easier for both sides to agree on how to write the new constitution, to be put into use as of 2017. There is no hurry to get this done overnight. Lets take the time to put in all the ingredients that will make the Federal System workable. I would suggest we take 2 years to finish the New Constitution, so by year 2014, it will be ready to put into a referendum, to be voted by all Cypriots as "one man one vote" in a single referendum, but there must be at least 50+ % from each community must vote in favour, in order for the referendum to pass. This will be a safeguard as not to have just a majority vote, which will be dominated by the GC's.
After 8 years of making the adjustments of people shifting around the island, we will have better idea as to how many Cypriots will reside on which part of the island, plus the settlers whom half will gain automatic citizenship either through marriage or being born on the island, and the other half will have to follow the rules of the new immigration policies of the New Constitution. Based on the number of Cypriots now living in the North, plus by those who intend on living in the North once the Federal System is in full force by 2017, will determine what the actual boundaries of the North and the South will be. It will only be a imaginary line, but never the less, those will be the borders between the two States. No doubt the North will be mostly TC's and the South will be mostly GC's.
On the 9th year, each State will then write their own state Constitution, knowing full well, that the Federal Constitution has all the protections to all Cypriots and that State Constitution cannot override it. Once again, the State constitution will be put into a State referendum which will needs to have the support of at least 50+% of the GC's and the TC's to pass.
By the end of year 10, we are ready to start our new federal Government.
We are all worried about the majority out voting the minority, due to the numbers. What I would like to suggest is, we get rid of all the Political Parties as they stand right now, from both sides. Lets get away from the coalition movement of a government ( Parliamentary system) to a direct majority win kind of voting. Just like in the states, we have the Democrats, the Republicans and Independents. Let people vote based on ideology and not on ethnic lines.
For instance, and this is just for fun by the way. If we had a "Extremist Party", who do you think will belong to that Party, as Cypriots.? My guess is, it will be all the Fascists, AOKA (A & B), TMT, the Grey Wolves, the Hawks and the Mean spirited!!. They all have something in common, don't they. Why does it matter, that they belong to different ethnicity when they all believe in similar ideology. Well, the same will apply to all those who want to belong to the Democratic, Republican and a Independent Party. Leaders will emerge to represent the Citizens of Cyprus who fall into these three main groups. The leaders can be a TC, GC, Armenian, and anyone else who is a Cypriot Citizen by birth. Citizens from all sides will vote for the party and it's leader because of what they stand for and not because they are GC ot a TC. This will take few years to adjust to this system, but in the end, it will be the way to go.
I wil try to find Kifeas's voting Formula in the Government, even though it was based on a Parliamentary system of voting I believe, but it can be used as a model, as to how the citizens from each states are represented in the government.
You can all add your inputs if you like. This is just my idea as to how we can get from here to there in 10 years, with a Federal System as it is in the States for the most part. Of course it is just a "skeleton version", but will look better as pieces are added to the idea, as time goes on, within the 10 years period.
Will add more later..........
and I think you should ythink up a way to execute it.
