Cyprus-Forum.com

[insan]

Hi insan,

apologies in my delay in replying to your post. Essentially, i have some concrete views on a couple of those points but alot of them concern legal technicalties that i really dont know too much about. I dont want to talk about something i know nothing about otherwise i'll be talking rubbish.

Thanks,
Nick

NP Nick Just feel free to share your views with us, whatever they are...

Regards

[Nickp]

Hi there Insan,

Well, in terms of political equality for the two communities. I think this is a must. When i was speaking to my cousin who's alot older than me and alot of other Greek Cypriots who were alot older. They said that Turkish Cypriots back in the day where not even viewed as 2nd, 3rd or 4th class citizens! more like 5th class!

But i think the problem arises when there is a referendum as the GC's would always make up the majority. Again, i'm not clued up but i'm sure that anyone who knows much about politics can come up with a system that is effective. I think the fact that cypriots all think alike anyway is going to make it easier.

In terms of percentage of land administered under a united Cyprus. I'm not really bothered as long as there is freedom for movement and to settle. I could live with maybe 5 years of restrictions just to see how everyone mixes and also allows the Turkish cypritos to catch up in terms of wealth. But there has to be freedom of movement and settlement otherwise there's no point to the whole thing in my eyes.

In terms of refugees returning and settlers. Well, in terms of settlers, i think a percentage should return. But most should be able to stay, ideally in alternative housing constructed by Turkey. This way at least alot more refugees can return or at least have their choice to return.

But the refuggee question in my eye's is the most difficult aspect of the Cyprus question. Granted, i believe everyone has a right to return. However, you have to take into account practicalities. For example, my granparents are refugees but they passed away years ago. There are people living in their house, nice people i might add. And i wouldn't dream of kicking them out. There's no point, the house is not that great and my dad and his brothers have made a lives elsewhere on the island.

However, my dad does have land in that village that hasn't been built on. It would be nice if it could be returned so that if one day, my self or my siblings decided to build a house there, it would be nice to build it somewhere were my dad and his parents grew up.

Then there's other technicalites, for example, Greeks and Turks who have built on each others land and made their lively hoods from it. What do you do in those situations?

Essentially, i think the Cyprus property board is the best way to go with that should entail mixture of decisisions, not just purely compensations, and Turkey should assist with the bill as well.

Well, those are just a couple of my thoughts. Again, i dont know enough about political procedures and legal points and history to comment on the rest.

Cheers!
Nick

[brother]

Good points and simply to the point.

I just wish there was more like you who could take an objective view and acknowledge the othersides fears and worries while acknowledging their own shortcomings.

[Bananiot]

I also think that Nickp has a very mature attitude towards the Cyprus issue and the problems associated with it. I detected this attitute in the first message he wrote and if it means anything, I agree with him, especially on the point of political equality of the two communities. This is a must if we are to bury the past and start anew. The past is there to haunt us and there is no escape from it. Accepting political equality for the two communities is a huge stride towards burying the hatchet and start building a new Cyprus. Of course, this idea has many enemies and many GC's have a kind of fixation against it. I think it is not that bad. Its a small price to pay and it can work wonders for the peaceful future.

I also believe that TC's were second and third rate citizens in the early days of the republic. Even their representatives were there to be loughed at. Faiz. Kutsiuk (forgive the spelling) was often mocked in the Parliament and addressed in belittling terms.

In short, I beleive that if we behaved properly towards our TC compatriots and even shown signs of magnanimity at times, we would have been spared of our shortcomings. The TC community would not have been pushed into the arms of Turkey and any nationalist calls in the TC community would sound foul to the very ears of the TC's. Granted, we were politically immature at the time and mistakes (crimes) were made but such mistakes cannot be overlooked, this is the reality of life. So, we have paid dearly for our mistakes, but what worries me is that we are still so willing to repeat the same mistakes. We do not have visionary leaders and the trend now is to measure the public opinion and adapt policies accordingly. Yet, public opinion is shaped by the politicians who then seek reassurance, that is public support, and sure enough they get it. Its a vicious circle in the end and one can not pull out of it, unless of course something really dramatic happens. As Hugo said, the drama of Cyprus is the absence of drama. I think this just about sums up everything.

[brother]

I agree with you babaniot but i will add that on the tc side they are doing the exact same thing as the guzelyurtlu crime is showing.