tCypriot revolution or a cool head needed instead?

The Turkish Cypriots (tCypriots) do not need a revolution. They need a cool head to form a realistic vision and strategy for the future. They must come up with a plan that can be accepted or discussed with gCypriots. Only this matters!

If so, that is if a common goal is set, then nothing can stand in the way of a reunited Cyprus, not even Turkey with its military might.

Turkey has only itself to blame if it is shunned by the EU | guardian.co.uk | Nov 2010

I hope you will read the enlightening article below by Robert Ellis. I would simply like to list the major violations of Turkey in the case of Cyprus he mentions:  [1] Turkey ratified the Hague convention of 1954 for the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict  [2]  UN security council resolutions  [3] Treaty of guarantee from 1960 between Cyprus, Greece, Turkey and the UK  [4] Article 49.6 of the Geneva convention of 1949, which stipulates that the occupying power shall not transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies  [5] Northern Cyprus is de facto Turkey's 82nd province, and the TRNC is regarded by the European court of human rights as "a subordinate local administration" under Turkish jurisdiction.

UBS points to a Cyprus hub for Israeli energy finds

Cyprus Mail - A report released last week [April 2011] by UBS’s research arm noted: “We believe the Leviathan partnership is looking closely at the possibility of establishing an LNG facility in Cyprus, given that Leviathan [gas find] is located halfway between Israel and Cyprus ... since Tamar can fulfill Israel's gas requirements for the foreseeable future, the Leviathan output will be directed at the export market. The two main alternatives are deploying a pipeline to Europe via Turkey or Greece, or setting up an LNG plant in Israel or Cyprus and shipping the liquefied gas to Asia or Europe ... Monetizing Leviathan requires a more challenging export mechanism of a pipeline or LNG. We believe a pipeline to Turkey is less relevant in the current geopolitical climate, and a pipeline to Greece would prove too costly and technically prohibitive, given the length of the route…the depth of the water…and the seismic sensitivity of the basin in the vicinity of Greece.”

Why are tCypriots not sympathetic to Turkey's Kurdish community's plight?

I liked the post below by a Kurd on The Economist website. As you read it please ask yourselves why tCypriots are not sympathetic to the plight of the Kurds in Turkey who ask for nothing less or more than tCypriots themselves ask for in Cyprus. Kurds are similar to tCypriots in that ...

Davutoglu's meltdown at NATO over Cyprus

Cyprus Mail - TURKISH FOREIGN Minister Ahmet Davutoglu saw red when pressured to accept Cyprus’ presence in EU-NATO meetings during a NATO summit in Berlin on Sunday.

A number of Turkish papers yesterday reported that Davutoglu and Czech foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg engaged in a verbal spat at the NATO foreign ministers’ summit over comments on Cyprus. So much so that the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton was quoted as saying she had never seen Davutoglu so “upset” before.

Davutoglu reportedly lost his cool when Schwarzenberg effectively told him to mind his own business, after the Turkish minister suggested the EU made a mistake accepting Cyprus.

If war has been decided, then Kurds will fight the war!

“This decision is clearly a decision of war on the Kurds. It is a decision to send the Kurds to the mountains [to become guerillas]. If the rulers of this country have decided for war, then that is just fine. Then the Kurds will fight the war.” Bengi Yıldız, BDP politician | April 19 2011

Euronews April 18 2011

Shocking hypocrisy!

“We can never think of a second state under this [Turkish] flag. We can never permit this kind of separatism and discrimination ... What is your problem with this flag? Its color represents the blood of our ancestors and its crescent ... It represents our independence ... I have never talked about a ‘single language’ but a single official language ... There is no longer a Kurdish question in this country. There are issues of my Kurdish brothers. There is an exploitation of my Kurdish brothers but they will not be deceived,” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said at a ceremony held to introduce his party’s parliamentary candidates to the press.

The sheer beauty of the four-party conference!

Instead of Turkey demonizing the overwhelming majority of Cyprus, the Greek Cypriots, and the ethnic minority of Kurds in Turkey, as the only way to cover up her inconsistencies, fascism and pseudo-democracy, she should instead be brave enough to sit around a table with the Republic of Cyprus, her Kurdish community and the Turkish Cypriot community to share her ideas and principles about majority-minority relations in unitary states.

Turkey of course has a serious conflict of interest.

Trick or Treaty?

THE COMMITTEE on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), yesterday adopted in Strasbourg a report questioning the validity of the Treaty of Guarantee in Cyprus. The report, which was adopted unanimously, points out that bilateral guarantees, such as those provided in the Treaties for the Independence of Cyprus, did not prevent conflicts. On the contrary, according to the report, the guarantees were used in the case of Cyprus, as a pretext for unilateral military action in breach of Article 2 (4) of the Charter of the United Nations and the relevant provisions of international law, prohibiting the use of force. ... The report notes that the right to self-determination of national or ethnic minorities shall not confer an automatic right to actions ending to the division of a country. The resolution calls on all member-states of the Council of Europe, not to recognize or support in any way de facto authorities in territories which are the result of illegal division, and especially those based on foreign military interventions.

No wonder Ergenekon has a free hand to meddle in Cyprus

The reporter asks people in the streets to tell him where Cyprus is located. The video is in Turkish with Greek subtitles.

Blind no more?

When confronted with the comparative politics approach between the plights for rights and freedoms of Cyprus' Turkish Cypriot and Turkey's Kurdish ethnic minority communities Turks are all too quick to dismiss the validity of the comparison by arguing that history and circumstances of any place and people are unique to that place and people. The statement is of course right. What makes the plight for rights of the minorities of the Republics of Turkey and Cyprus however, both circa 20%, acutely related to each other is the defining role of Turkey herself in both situations, a pariah state being heralded as a 'model for democracy' in the region, a bully that throws her weight around:

A four-party conference to break the stalemate

A four-party conference is indeed the way to go but not the way Turkey envisions it. The Republics of Turkey and Cyprus along with the Turkish Cypriot and Turkey's Kurdish communities need to be present. Only at such a conference can principles to govern majority-minority relations within the confines of unitary states, where minorities are ethnic minorities circa 20%, can be agreed upon. Else Turkey will continue to use force to oppress her minority and "protect" Cyprus's one, as well as use propaganda to demonize the Kurds and the Greek Cypriots. Such a  conference promises to end both Cyprus' and the Kurds' Turkeyish problem!

Turkish Kurdish dialog a must

“I did not come to Turkey to tell the Turks or Kurds how they should sort out the problems; that would be rather arrogant of me,” Joe Reilly, an elected representative of Ireland’s Sinn Fein party, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review.

“Simply because somebody said Sinn Fein was banned, it did not mean Sinn Fein did not exist. Part of the mentality of war is that you demonize your opponent. The language used is one of the things that must change for conflict to come to an end. How can there be dialogue if you do not know what your opponent is thinking?”

The Cypriots and the Kurds - Opinion - International Herald Tribune | Kirsty Hughes

LONDON November 14, 2006 — Turkey complains vociferously about the European Union's unfair treatment of the politically and economically isolated Turkish Cypriots. Why then shouldn't Turkey grant a big chunk of its own citizens - the Kurds - the same rights it demands for people who are not even Turkish nationals?

Why not apply your Cyprus logic to your Kurdish problem?

“We hope the visit of the president [Gül] will be a start, a step to prepare the conditions in which our people can govern themselves freely within the realities of Turkey, including, firstly, education in mother tongue and using Kurdish in the public sphere,” Aysel Tuğluk, co-head of the Democratic Society Congress, or DTK, an umbrella organization of Kurdish groups, Diyarbakir December/2010

X-raying Turkey

Hürriyet Daily News - Discussions over “a Turkey/AKP model for Arabs” due to the “Arab Spring” have put Turkish democracy into an X-ray machine, and made more visible the weaknesses, discrepancies, but more importantly, the course of events leading in the direction of authoritarianism. After all, if many in the West say, “A country where journalists are arrested and where press freedom is spirited off cannot be presented as a model to Arab countries,” it is not Arabs but Turkey that loses.

What Cyprus tells us about Turkey | FOREIGN POLICY Magazine

"However, there is a good reason that the United States should be paying active attention to the progress, or lack thereof, in resolving the Cyprus dispute. It just has less to do with the plight of Cypriots themselves, and more to do with the fate of Christofias's primary rival: Turkey. The Turkish government, which is increasingly throwing its weight around in the Middle East, still refuses to recognize the Republic of Cyprus or let its vessels dock in Turkish ports. Cyprus, as a full member of the European Union, can be expected to continue to block Turkey's EU accession bid until a resolution is reached. The fear is that, if Prime Minister Erdogan's government finds its path blocked to the West, it will increasingly drift into the orbit of Iran and Syria." - FOREIGN POLICY | October 2010

Constitutional Overhaul Basics

“Now in its 40th year, TÜSİAD has come very close to ending its mission. Either they change their attitude drastically toward democracy and revise their image, or they will wither like a rose and close themselves and become ossified. They are dead afraid of the military. They are not aware of the fact that Turkish society has been changing quickly. They are happy with the old system of having military pressure on the elected government. It’s a shameful approach to a democratic system” İshak Alaton told Today's Zaman for Monday Talk regarding the attitude of TÜSİAD.

Please ask yourselves how this process in Turkish politics, for a constitutional overhaul, is any different than what Makarios attempted in 1963. Both countries still face the challenge of a seamless and democratic integration of a significant ethnic minority, without violating the rights of the majority population. Why not demand of Europe and the USA to demand of Turkey the application of similar principles, Turkey being the minority "protector" for both the Kurds at home and the Turkish Cypriots abroad?

An example of a healthy Muslim "democracy"

“While Iran and China topped lists in December by reportedly jailing some 34 journalists each, Turkey, a candidate for membership in the European Union, has nearly doubled that number five months later, raising questions about the country’s commitment to freedom of the press and the legitimacy of its democratic image,” Steven M. Ellis, International Press Institute (IPI)

Cyprus' imperialists' design is at the root of the problem

The constitutional structure of the Republic of Cyprus which resulted from the 1960 Zurich and London Agreements suffered from fundamental defects which impeded the smooth functioning of the State.

The fact that the Constitution did not emanate from the free will of the Cyprus people but was imposed upon them by virtue of the agreements was at the origin of feelings of discontent among Cypriots. Moreover many of the constitutional provisions conflicted with international law e.g. the fact that the Constitution could not be amended, rendering the Republic of Cyprus subject to the will of the guarantor powers and depriving it of the fundamental requirements of the State such as internal independence and territorial supremacy.

Agreed! Have your nymph call my nymph!

Would it come as a surprise to you if I told you that the so-called "trnc", the illegal "statelet" formed on Republic of Cyprus territory, is a creation of Turkey's "deep state". We must not approach casually the fact that Turkey runs under a military constitution for the last 30 years and Turkish "democracy" is subservient to the generals, their clandestine organizations and keiretsus. A big project for the military boys, if not their biggest, is their Cyprus loot. Then comes Erdogan to threaten the boys' world like a bull in a china shop, Turkey's own Gorbachev in the sense that he is introducing changes in the country for which neither the society is mature enough nor the status quo is ready or willing to embrace. It is not clear how political developments in Turkey will play out in the end, but one thing is for sure: the "deep state" in Turkey and the "trnc" in Cyprus, and their unearthly business, will soon be coming to an abrupt end.

Lefkoşa is quickly becoming a problem much bigger than Diyarbakır

"Although you may continue to claim that you have gone to the island in order to save them from the Greek atrocities some 40 years ago, a sizable portion of the Turkish Cypriots now prefer to call you “invaders” and seek unity with Greek Cypriots. You cannot suppress them with pressure or violence, and they are very likely to continue if you don’t find a solution ... Cyprus may cause a loss of reputation for Turkey in the eyes of the international community, particularly with the EU. Turkey may insist on stressing that it has gone to the island as a guarantor, but it is quickly becoming a country that is unwanted in the island. It is true that the international community is not happy with the presence of Turkey and its soldiers on the island. If Turkey loses the support of the people of Cyprus, it will not be able to maintain its already controversial presence on the island. Thus, the island is looking like a highly explosive bomb in the hands of Turkey." - Today's Zaman 9/4/11

Can you smell the fear too?

"It is so sad not to see the prime minister [Erdoğan] – who spares no effort to yell at whatever meaningful democratic word he hears or action he sees and definitely has zero-tolerance against criticism and critics – remain lull so long on the exposed “democratic autonomy” demand [by Kurds] which indeed was nothing less than a confederation proposal under which Turkey’s Kurds would have their autonomous governance, separate flag, separate defense force and Kurdish would be accepted as the second official language. Why is he so silent? Why does he prefer to talk through proxies?" - YUSUF KANLI,  Hürriyet Daily News

Thinking out of the box is long overdue!

All I am saying is we need to think out of the box Turkey put us in all these years. There are forces at play as great as those that ended the Soviet Union. We must capitalize on them.

These are:

• Turkish Islamic "democracy model" is questioned by the west and Arabs
• The west is losing confidence in the dependability of Turkey as a partner
• Kurds of Turkey have raised the stakes, asking tCypriot-like rights in Turkey
• tCypriots' best option is whatever we agree to give them, else they face extinction. They are ready more than ever to look at things the way we do and be more receptive to our just ideas.

The crux of the matter

"The key to the Cyprus problem lies with Turkey and its ambiguous policies. Kurds make over 20% of population of Turkey. Is Turkey ready to grant Turkish citizens of Kurdish origin the same privileges that it’s demanding from Cyprus government to give to Cypriot Turks? If the answer is a NO, then Turkey must end its illegal occupation of northern Cyprus and leave this issue to the legitimate government of Cyprus to deal with. It seems to me that Turkey is simply bullying its smaller neighbors including Greece, Cyprus and Armenia, none of which pose any threat to Turkey. This is exactly why we don’t want Turkey in EU." - Hans,2/4/2011

I bet the Cyprus Republic can do better than Turkey in her handling of the 87-year long unsolved conflict with her Kurdish ethnic community which produced over 50.000 deaths in the last 30 years alone and unimaginable suffering!

An attempt to be honest with the tCypriot Unionist

I was watching on RIK (Cypriot state TV) a couple of weeks ago the pleas of a Turkish Cypriot (tCypriot herein) unionist for more Greek Cypriot (gCypriot herein) support and I was literally telling my self "Is this guy for real?". I was also thinking "How hypocritical the gCypriot reporter's silence was!" It was evident that the unionist was puzzled as to why gCypriot masses did not come out in the streets in support for their plight. He shouldn't be so naive! Let me try to explain:

But how could such a thing happen to these nice folks?

"It's difficult to have sympathy for anyone foolish or greedy enough to purchase property in a fake "state" that is a breeding ground for theft and corruption. Were these people aware that the majority of the land in the north of Cyprus is actually occupied land that legally belongs to someone else?

These British chancers have found to their cost that the "TRNC" is a kleptocracy. A gangsters' paradise where the unscrupulous prey on the greedy and the gullible, knowing that the law cannot touch them.

They should have perhaps paid more attention to the UK Foreign Office advice on buying property in the "TRNC". But I guess we're all adults and must take responsibility for our decisions. You live and learn, don't you?" - James S. from Oxford Fri, April 1st 2011 at 15:45

Revelation time!

“If it benefits energy diversity in Europe and energy supplies in Cyprus that is a good thing ... I really don't see a linkage between those two issues,” - US Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon, Reuters Jan 2011

"Cyprus is clearly a state. Cyprus does not need UNFICYP to exist... Cyprus is a member of the EU and there is no chance of that being altered... US investments in Cyprus amount to more than $379 million...This figure will soon increase substantially as an American energy firm begins exploring for oil and gas off Cyprus’ southwest coast" - US Ambassador Frank Urbanic 2008

Israel's minister of national infrastructures, Uzi Landau, even said Israel would "not hesitate to use force" to protect the fields and uphold international maritime law. - LA Times 2010

"[EU] membership makes them [Cyprus Republic] invulnerable” Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu in a meeting with the State Department's Undersecretary William Burns on Feb 18, 2010