Cyprus-Forum.com

[brother]

Look around the forum and you will come across him, but if i remember were i will let you know.

[mehmet]

[quote="brother"]
All the cypriots i know feel this way, and will continue to feel this way as long as the turkish army is there, and all the settlers keep pouring in.

As for racism, what are you talking about?

Not all.

Racism is another topic, but I would define it as discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity. Anything else is prejudice.

[iskismet]

On the radio today in the UK was a programme about racism.

One complaint centred on this scenario:

A black family walk into a pub in a rural part of the UK and all conversation ceases.

That's it! Apparently that is racism.

Another complaint was of a asian woman in a small rural town - people kept looking at her! Again that is interpreted as racist.

Now, my point about being racist was a little more extreme than those above.

The immigrants from Turkey live here - that is a fact. There will NEVER be a ruling that they will have to uproot and go back. The EU would not allow this to happen - bearing in mind ALL of Cyprus is in the EU and that Turkey is in accession talks.

The truth of it is these people LIVE here. They have children who were born here (and are thus TCs) , their jobs are here, their friends are here - end of story.

Anybody trying to move them would be guilty of discrimination - racial discrimination because they are Turkish.

[Piratis]

So instead of "discriminating" against the illegal settlers we should discriminate against Greek Cypriot refugees?

So the thief took the house and now we should leave the legal owner out of his home because if we take the thief out it will be a discrimination against him??? If you are so nice then why don't you share your home and property with the settlers? I would like to see what you would say if you were the one who was kicked out of his house and your property was stolen.

The settlers are illegal, they are not Cyprus citizens and their country (Turkey) should take care of them.

[iskismet]

Piratis - you are misunderstanding me. I am stating the current position. How it is.

How it is is now - the EU has changed things forever. We cannot just uproot people and we have to work around that fact.

[iskismet]

Piratis - I suppose I am suggesting compensation will be the only answer. Because you will not be able to move these people en masse. I can only reiterate that the EU (which you have voluntarily signed up for) will not allow the wholesale forced repatriation of immigrants. There is no chance of that happening - it is something that must be worked round - believe me.

[Piratis]

There are no immigrants. There are illegal settlers.

I suppose I am suggesting compensation will be the only answer

I agree. Turkey should compensate the people that they brought here to return to their country.

Because you will not be able to move these people en masse

In 1974 200,000 moved en masse within 2 weeks. If the legal owners could be moved en masse from their own homes, then the illegal settlers can be moved just as easily if the balance of power will allow it. (if = when ... because nothing remains constant)

[iskismet]

Piratis - understand me, that was 1974. You cannot do that now - there isn't a chance those people will be forced off the island. And surely, you have seen the pain and anguish, you wouldn't even consider it would you?

[-mikkie2-]

The settlers in Cyprus do need to be treated humanely BUT so do the Greek Cypriot refugees.

In my view, settlers that came here and have long standing roots in Cyprus should stay. Those that do not, or are just here for work or do not care much about Cyprus should leave. The Annan plan effectively allowed all settlers to stay. THat is one of the reasons why we said no to this plan. Therefore this must be taken into account in any future initiative.

Also, the problem in Cyprus after a solution is that the settlers will be discriminated against. I bet many TC's don't like the settlers but they can't do much about it simply because the settlers outnumber the TC's and they have a 40000 strong army to protect them.

The interests of Cypriots should come 1st and foremost. Turkey must accept that she did a great injustice to Cyprus and has to bear some of the responsibility. The settlers are here to colonise, which goes against the fundamental principles of the UN and the EU. Turkey must pay a price for this. It is as simple as that.

[iskismet]

First part - yes I agree but you will not be able to force people against their will - so you (by you I mean government) would have to offer compensation.

I would suggest the army protects (is perceived to protect) the TCs and the immigrants. That army will not always be there

The TCs do already accept some responsibility - I'm sure Turkey will also accept responsibility if the climate is right and the feeling of conciliation is genuine on both sides.

I wouldn't argue with your sentence ref colonisation.

But bear in mind 1000s of TCs have moved away - why can they not be replaced by immigrants.

PS: in any process of conciliation both sides would need to start to drop words like settlers, occupied, barbarians etc because trust will only grow very slowly.