@Erhan from Lefkosa | Sat, February 12th 2011 at 23:45 [see Erhan's comment below]Great post. From the heart, before you do anything you need to have guarantees about how gCypriots think. And above all you have to know what will feel fair to you & will be accepted by the masses of tCypriots. Get your leader(s) [imho Eroglu is compromised & his democratic credentials in doubt], Talat may be perfect in that he is experienced enough, knows Christofias, and can embody the hopes, fears and frustrations of tCypriots, to sign on a single sheet the principles based on which RoC v2.0 will be worked out. In my opinion his proposals need to be a LONG-AWAITED response to the NOVEMBER 30 1963 document! Once you have that in WRITING, then ...
The exchange took place here: Cyprus Mail | EU urges Turkey to open ports Published on February 12, 2011
Sun, February 13th 2011 at 09:21
Antifon comments:
@Val | Sat, February 12th 2011 at 23:47 [see Val's comment below]
... tCypriots can seek to reason with Turkey, if that is at all their best option. If not, they have secured an alternative. All they have to do is march over and refuse to go back to the occupied territories for as long as is needed for EU/US/UN to "force" Turkey's fascists out. If tCypriots do so ...
@jahitty from london/lefkosa | Sun, February 13th 2011 at 01:48 [see Jahitty's comment below]
... then not just the left, but the right as well, and it is vital for our future that such action cuts across classes, will unite with a single voice to chant "TURKEY, GET THE HELL OUT OF CYPRUS" "NO FOREIGN POWERS IN CYPRUS" "CYPRUS FOR THE CYPRIOTS". I know that most gCypriot houses will open for as long as tCypriots need to stay away from their homes.
BUT it all starts (SHOULD START) with a deal behind closed doors, between Christofias and a tCypriot leader who represents the masses of tCypriots, and NOT the will of the settlers, but a deal which will be accepted by the gCypriot majority. THIS IS A TIME FOR LEADERSHIP, especially from the tCypriot community. Stalling for time may be catastrophic for tCypriots.
As a member of the gCypriot right I honestly tell you that a solution based on NOVEMBER 30 1963 is the minimum which would assure me that tCypriots are both genuine and reasonable, in seeking a fair solution for a UNITED CYPRUS without divisive elements everywhere in the constitution. tCypriots accepting the NOVEMBER 30 1963 document as the basis would mean that tCypriots recognize the rotten deal the 82% gCypriot majority was forced to accept in 1960, a deal which would have been rejected 10fold by any sane Cypriot leader if left free to decide.
One of the things that I would change would be that the VP position is guaranteed for a tCypriot until such time that a tCypriot is elected by a majority CYPRIOT population for the Presidency, in which case the VP position is given to a gCypriot.
NOVEMBER 30 1963! An honorable basis indeed if taksim [division] is not on peoples' minds & we are once and for all ready to forgive for past mistakes and move on!
NOVEMBER 30 1963
Sat, February 12th 2011 at 23:45
Erhan from Lefkosa comments:
There are so many issues raised by reader comments, I will try to be brief.
1. A crushing majority of tCypriots would love to see Turkey leave the North with a political solution of the Cyprus problem. Maybe tCypriots are descended mainly from Turkish ancestry but they are and feel themselves to be very different from Turks and much closer to gCypriots.
2. The praises of Turkey's economy is irrelevant. Most Turks are poor and uneducated, and their cultural profile is not even close to European. The fact that there is a small minority of highly educated and Europeanized class of Turks does not matter here.
3. tCypriots do live under a puppet regime called the TRNC government, with the security forces under the control of Turkey. This is for the sole purpose of making sure that if tCypriots are out of control they can be brought in line by force. tCypriots have been subject to brainwashing by Turkey and its minions in the North to make them distrust the gCypriots and see Turkey as their only friend. Some idiots have been successfully reprogrammed this way. More importantly, most tCyriots are employed by TRNC and fear the unknown future after a solution.
4. tCypriots could with concerted action kick Turkey out of the North, but this is very very difficult if Turkey does not want to leave and if USA backs Turkey up. You see most tCs are afraid to openly go against Turkey, as they may lose their jobs or worse. And there are always those brainwashed or those who have attained positions only under Turkish occupation and who love where they are who would do everything to continue the farce of TRNC.
5. What gCypriots and the Republic of Cyprus can do to encourage solution seeking tCypriots is to make sure that any Turkish pressure tactics against tCypriots to muzzle them are brough to the attention of all the international bodies such as the EU and the UN, and also to be much more concrete and detailed about the life that tCypriots can expect in post-solution Cyprus. I have talked to some high ranking Rep of Cyprus officials trying to explain to them that a much better job can be done reaching tCypriots and getting them more solidly on the side of a solution than is being done now but they did not seem to think so or did not think the issue to be significant.
Sat, February 12th 2011 at 23:47
Val comments:
Antifon, great suggestion,you are not alone , there are many who see your point of view. TC brothers come over to us on the 2nd March, let us protest together then drink coffee. What will Erdogan do then?
Sun, February 13th 2011 at 01:48
jahitty from london/nicosia/lefkosa comments:
If there is going to be a solution then the only viable way is if the political left in the south and the North unite and invigorate thier members to such an extent that we no longer see the other as GC or TC but as my fellow worker compatriots. Ultimately I beleive this is the most lastng solution, in fact the problems between Turkey, Greece, Cyprus and beyond is all related to class anyway, but isnt it always! I believe now is the time for the left to re-ignite its forgotten values of commonly uniting GC and TC's just as AKEL did the before it began to abandon its core values of supporting the working classes both GC and TC in the 60's . The recent events have also brought elements of the right standing with the left. When I march I will be calling for the end of imperialsim and for GC, TC, Greek and Turkish workers to unite , because ultimately this is what its all about, i dont want to single out 'settlers' but instead the powers who are pulling the levers. This is what all Cypriots should be calling for.
