Cyprus-Forum.com

[magikthrill]

First I want to apologize if a similar question has been posted but I could not find it.

I was wondering how is it different for TCs to demand equal represenation in government of Cyprus than for Kurds (who constitute a greater percentage in Turkey than TCs do in Cyprus) to demand equal representation in the Turkish government?

[tcypriot]

Although this is a question more involving Turkey than the Turkish Cypriot Nation;

Kurds dont constitute a greater percentage in Turkey than the TCs do in Cyprus.

Kurds have assimilated into the Turkish Nation and there have been Kurdish presidents, prime ministers, foreign ministers, generals, etc. in Turkey.Tell me how many Turkish Cypriot presidents, foreign ministers has the Greek Occupied Illegal Cyprus Republic had.

Most famous singer of Turkey is a kurd, etc.

But i want to ask you a question about the rights of the Turkish Legally Majority of western thrace who are not even allowed to call themselves Turks.

Tell me about some of your opression strategies against the Turks of Western Thrace who once were much more in number than the Greeks until because of opressions losing their number day by day and becoming less in number.

Can they call themselves Turks? Or is the Greek Policy to say that there are no ethnic minorities in Greece but only muslims.Tell me, i wonder how your fake love with international law is in reality.

Or tell me about the hundreds of thousands of Turks of Western Thrace losing their Greece citizenship because of leaving Greece? Tell me about that international law loving action of yours.

[magikthrill]

First of all ingoramus according to the CIA world factbook Turkey consists of 20% of Kurds, while the estimated TC population in Cyprus is 18%.

So if you're saying that the minority Kurds assimilated with the majoiryt Turks then that the minoirty TCs should assimilate with the majority GCs????

And your Western Thrace comments are completely irrelevant. The Turkish population of W. Thrace is equivalent to that of the Greek population in E. Thrace.

[Piratis]

Some more points:

1) Kurds have a specific region in Turkey (and parts of other countries) called Kurdistan.

2) Kurds have been in their region before Turks came down to our region. They didn't steal their land from the Turks.

Turkish Cypriots should be compared with other areas of the former Ottoman empire. After the liberation of those nations from the Ottomans, some Ottomans stayed to these nations, and also a part of the population had changed their religion to the muslim one.

Such areas include Greece, Bulgaria, Romania etc.

This doesn't go only for Turkey of course. Other empires also had spread their population around the world. E.g. you will find several white people in parts of Africa where some European countries had colonies.

A TC that is blinded by nationalism (like tcypriot) might not be willing to accept this, but it is the truth.

So when you make comparison, you should compare similar things, and not dissimilar.

[erolz]

First I want to apologize if a similar question has been posted but I could not find it.

I was wondering how is it different for TCs to demand equal represenation in government of Cyprus than for Kurds (who constitute a greater percentage in Turkey than TCs do in Cyprus) to demand equal representation in the Turkish government?

Well (once again for I have stated this many times in the past) for the record I believe that the Kurds should have a degree of self determination and essentially the same status and rights (in Turkey and other countries) that the TC should have in Cyprus.

[mehmet]

Yes, what is good for the Kurds in Turkey cannot be bad for the Turkish Cypriots in Cyprus.

[turkcyp]

First I want to apologize if a similar question has been posted but I could not find it.

I was wondering how is it different for TCs to demand equal represenation in government of Cyprus than for Kurds (who constitute a greater percentage in Turkey than TCs do in Cyprus) to demand equal representation in the Turkish government?

The answer lies at the Politics and Power....

First Kurds have the right for equal representation in Turkey. This equal representation is just exactly what Piratis is offering to give to TCs.

On top of that, I believe Kurds should have right for self determination, just as the TCs do have that right. But as I have explained in my first sentence answer to that lies at Polictics and Power.

Because TCs had a string Turkey behind them, they have earned that "self determination" right in 1960. But the same Turkey that helped TCs get their slef determination rightsm are againts Kurds having the same rights. And the answer for that is called Politics and Power.

I am not saying it is FAIR. I am saying it is the reality. One day when Turkey becomes weak, that day Kurds may be in cooperation with their GC friends to get their self determination rights, and at the same time they will probably also cooperate with GCs to abolish TCs slef determination rights.

There is always to sides of a blade. Double standards are not only applied by Turkey, but GC as well.

Turkey applies double standard by asking for "self determination" right for TCs but politically against the same right for "Kurds" in fear if dividing its country into pieces.

On the other hand GCs want to abolish "self determination" rights to TCs that they have obtained in 1960, in fear that one day they will want partition of their "Greek" Cyprus, but at the same time support "self determination" rights of Kurds.

So GC and Turkey are not that different after all. If they are powerful, they will get their way.

Fair? May be not. But this is life after all, nobody said it would be fair.

[magikthrill]

FINALLY!

an intelligent response! thank you!

however i dont see turkey losing any power w/in the next century. and im hoping by then cyprus wont be a problem anymore and I really dont think GCs care to exterminate the TCs anymore anyway, n'est-ce pas?

[Piratis]

This equal representation is just exactly what Piratis is offering to give to TCs

So Kurds have their own federal state, an autonomy within their region, they can determine their education, their language is an official language of Turkey, they have their own police, they have a veto power on critical matters, they have a guaranteed representation with a percentage larger than their population percentage in the government??

Please, Kurds in Turkey not only they don't get all these, they don't even get the basic minority rights.

So GC and Turkey are not that different after all.

Cyprus has never asked for anything more than human and minority rights for the Kurds. If these were given to them, neither Cyprus nor the EU would say anything about the Kurds.

The answer lies at the Politics and Power....

Sure, I call it "Balance of Power". But other countries have found better ways than the absolute oppression to maintain their integrity. E.g. in the USA the Hispanics are not oppressed like the Kurds are (go to Miami airport - the first language you hear from the airport loudspeakers is Spanish, not English), and in Europe no minority is oppressed to anything close to the degree that the Kurds are. So like it or not, Turkey is lacking significantly in terms of human rights, and this is a fact I don't think you can deny.

[-mikkie2-]

Officially, in Turkey, there are no minorities, just Turks. The Kurds are considered Turks for example.

As to other rights, well, the Kurds only have the right to 1/2 hour of broadcasts in Kurdish per week (or per day? I'm not sure). So far from having 'equal' rights, they are forced to be assimilated into the Turkish nation and not shpw their individuality.

Using the Turks of W Thrace as an example is a joke. The Turks of W Thrace have thrived since 1925. In comparison, the Greeks of Turkey have dwindled to just a few thousand over the same period, largely through persecution.