It's inevitable

The landmass we incorrectly refer to as "Turkey" will disintegrate to some extend or another. Erdogan's choices, though intended to prevent the worst case scenario, are in actual fact expediting the inevitable.

I dare predict that the utter and complete failure, expected in 2013 sometime, to adopt a western constitution that addresses just Kurdish demands and introduces wider democratization reforms, will be a turning point in "Turkey" 's history & the beginning of a lethal spiral into unprecedented uncertainty as well as misery for all the constituent parts of the country.

Justice

Nothing will serve justice better than for a divided Constantinople (Istanbul) along ethnic lines to come about, with a Turkish and a Kurdish part, in line with prevalent ethnic Turkish Kemalist and/or "mild" Islamic thinking in Cyprus!

Should Cyprus be proactive?

The 9th conference on EU, Kurds and "Turkey" ended in Brussels last Thursday (6/12/12). The question that should be on our minds is whether the Cyprus government can act on the conference's conclusions to promote peace in the wider region as well as bring some sense to Cyprus's Turkish-British problem. I list three of the declarations adopted which I find relevant:

Get out!

Your backward Ottoman ways, your incomprehensible Kemalist (another word for ultra-nationalism?) ways, your illusionary mild-Islamic ways, are a disgrace for free peoples. Please get out on your own in order to save whatever shreds of dignity you have left. To free your own people is your number one priority. You have absolutely nothing of democratic value to impose on others. Get out.

Once a member, always a member?

The EU (and EU-17) is a political / economic alliance. When members were proven to disobey the rules & allowed their finances to drift, and as a result not to fulfill their obligations towards the union, they faced intense pressure from fellow members to put their economy in order. They were even ridiculed and many voices were heard for allowing for such members to be evicted from the group. New terms were concocted, such as 'Grexit', coined by The Economist, to refer to a possible Greek exit from the eurozone (EU-17) and/or EU.

Greek and Christian for millennia, solid albeit small

In 2004, the remains of an 8-month-old cat were discovered buried with its human owner at a Neolithic archaeological site in Cyprus.[2] The grave is estimated to be 9,500 years old, predating Egyptian civilization and pushing back the earliest known feline-human association significantly ...

In the Bronze Age the first cities, such as Enkomi, were built. Systematic copper mining began, and this resource was widely traded. Mycenaean Greeks were undoubtedly inhabiting Cyprus from the late stage of the Bronze Age, while the island's Greek name is already attested from the 15th century B.C. in the Linear B script ...

Magna Carta, Cyprus & Labour

The Labour Party discusses " 'Northern' Cyprus should not be seen as a third world "country"!

I gave them a piece of my mind (Posted on 03-12-12)

How totally absurd!

Capitalizing 'North' I'm afraid is not enough to make a state! Ed may be young but he is not stupid. He knows that over 90% of now illegally occupied northern Cyprus belongs to its legal citizens, all Greek Cypriots, forcefully thrown out of their homes and towns & kept away for almost 40 years. These Greek Cypriots hold title deeds given from the very land registry created by the former British empire!

Incompetence by the International Crisis Group?

It is impressively puzzling that the International Crisis Group (ICG) analysts/ Director for the Republics of "Turkey" and Cyprus have not managed to-date to utter a single word about the glaring hypocrisy of "Turkey" and ethnic Turks by studying side by side "Turkey" 's espoused principles in Cyprus and those back at home.

A hypocrisy lasting since "Turkey" started meddling in Cypriot affairs decades ago about how ethnic Turks see their own double digit (circa 25%) ethnic Kurdish minority & the ethnic minority community of Cyprus, the 12% (18% at their peak) Turkish Cypriots, where "Turkey" wishes to impart its wisdom on majority-minority relations by the use of its military might!

A Thanksgiving for Christians, Jews and Muslims alike

As a university student in America I always enjoyed the four day Thanksgiving holiday tradition. On Thanksgiving day, the fourth Thursday of every November, Americans give thanks to God, one's own, for the blessings and mercies throughout the year. It's the holiday season most likely to see members of the family come together from the four corners of the country and the world. And of course Thanksgiving dinner without turkey would be unthinkable. Like or hate it, turkey will feature on every Thanksgiving table across the country, and its delicious end will be accompanied with the thanks of an entire nation for the blessings it received during the year!

'Turkey’s wrong turn' by STEVE HUNTLEY Chicago Sun-Times

Anyone looking for hopeful signs of the role democratically elected Islamist governments might play in international affairs will find disappointment in how Turkey irresponsibly exploited the Israel-Hamas fighting with bluster, lies and fanatical characterizations of the Jewish state.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Israel a “terrorist state” and accused it of “ethnic cleansing” when its only offense is defending its citizens against rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip by the terrorist organization Hamas.

The Exclusive Economic Zone of Cyprus

"Turkey" today threatened Russia and Italy about participating in Cyprus's EEZ. "Turkey" refuses to see what the rest of the world sees: a UN, EU member. Turks as a result, ethnic Turks, believe the world has a problem. And they are right. "Turkey" is fast becoming the world's number one problem!

Ps. The bit of sea on the top right of the map could very well be Kurdish EEZ by end of 2013!

A Cyprus that deserves our admiration

Cyprus to Negotiate Gas License With Eni, Novatek, Total, KoGas
By Stelios Orphanides - Oct 31, 2012 - Bloomberg

Cyprus will negotiate the sale of oil and gas licenses for four blocks in its exclusive economic zone, which will be concluded in 2013, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism Neoklis Sylikiotis said.

Cypriot or Greek?

By Charalambos Constantinides

In our existence we perceive our world in three dimensions. Time is something that we can hardly understand yet we accept it. We talk of the passing of time, we devised instruments for its measurement and introduced in our languages scores of words nouns, adjectives, adverbs, relating to time. When we look back into the past we often go astray by thinking we are viewing a two-dimentional picture. So we can see on the same frame all people who lived, created and passed through Cyprus.

The legal basis of the Cyprus British bases

ALAIN PELLET: The legal basis of the Cyprus British bases (1 hour & 13 minutes in the English language, aside from a short intro)

"Turkey" has the answers!

Kurds make up 30% of "Turkey" 's population & Turkish Cypriots 12% [18% at their peak] of Cyprus' population. Turkish Cypriots' native language is an official language of the country and they receive full education in Turkish WHEREAS the Kurdish language does not have an official status in "Turkey" and is considered a foreign language by the state apparatus, Kurds are educated in the majority's la
nguage and can only learn the Kurdish language at the university level, if they choose Kurdish as an elective, and even this "privilege" is a recent development. "TURKEY" is actively involved in addressing the grievances of both nations' ethnic minorities (in the case of Cyprus illegally).

Do you by any chance spot anything interesting?

Political spectrum of "Turkey" 's Turkish community

Political spectrum in "Turkey", for the Turkish ethnic majority community, all the way from the far right to the extreme right!

Is our Turkish Cypriot Turkey's Kurd?

Linking the tC (Turkish Cypriot) issue to the Kurdish issue of Turkey is the only effective way to:

[1] uncover Turkish hypocrisy on its approach to majority-minority community relations;
[2] bring about a fair and permanent settlement to Cyprus' Turkish & tC problems; and
[3] help bring about community status recognition to the Kurds of Turkey, who by some estimates exceed 20m;

A Win-Win-Win approach for the Turkish, Kurdish and Cypriot peoples. It may also produce the first ever truly democratic constitution in Turkey's history.

The time to return the favor and meddle in Turkey's affairs is now!

Stop illegal sales of Greek property in occupied Cyprus

'Kurdistan reaches toward the sea' by Ofra Bengio

The weakening of the relevant states, alongside the tectonic sociopolitical changes taking place in the region as a whole, may end up changing the strategic map of the Middle East.
By Ofra Bengio | Aug.03, 2012 | 4:03 AM

The last year's upheavals in the Arab world have somehow blurred the sweeping developments taking place in a no-less important though less well-known strategic region that can be called the Kurdish triangle, comprising Iraqi, Turkish and Syrian Kurdistan. The net results of these developments may end up with the landlocked Kurdish Regional Government of Iraq in a position to create a corridor reaching the Mediterranean Sea. Clearly, if the KRG manages to secure such an outlet, its aspirations for independence will have received a significant boost.

Christopher Hitchens on Cyprus

"We are all prisoners of knowledge. To know how Cyprus was betrayed, and to have studied the record of that betrayal, is to make oneself unhappy and to spoil, perhaps for ever, one's pleasure for visiting one of the world's most enchanting islands. Nothing will ever restore the looted treasures, the bereaved families, the plundered villages, the groves and hillsides scalded with napalm. Nor will anything mitigate the record of the callous, and crude politicians who regarded Cyprus as something on which to scribble their inane and conceited designs. But fatalism would be the worst betrayal of all. The acceptance, the legitimization of what was done - those things must be repudiated. Such a refusal has a value beyond Cyprus in showing that acquiescence in injustice is not 'realism'. Once the injustice has been set down and described, and called by its right name, acquiescence in it becomes impossible. That is why one writes about Cyprus in sorrow but more - much more - in anger." -CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS

Cyprus's Turkish problems

There is NO 'Cyprus problem' as such.

Cyprus has two Turkish problems, the 'Turkey' one [invasion + ethnic cleansing + occupation + colonization] preventing the 'Rights for the Turkish Cypriot minority' one to be properly addressed!

We need a paradigm shift! Unless Cypriots manage it, we won't be able to properly address our Turkish problems.

Why Save Cyprus?

Eight great reasons to Save Cyprus by  Caroline Dudgeon, the Cypriot with immense passion for Cyprus!

1.To expose the treachery against the Republic of Cyprus by all those that colluded in the 1974 invasion and have stood back for 38 years while Turkey continues to change the demographic balance of Cyprus with illegal settlers.

BBC video from 1974 documenting Turkish Plans to invade Cyprus

According to this video (1:23 min) from BBC in July 1974, Turkey was planning to invade Cyrpus for years and that Operation Attila was not a military invasion developed on the fly in response to Greece's military junta's coup-d-etat in Nicosia.

The wrong side of the tracks

Nektarios Ioannides "I agree Serdar but we have to acknowledge the EU is not responsible for the situation the tCypriots are finding themselves today. The tCypriot leadership's decades long policy of self-segregation from the rest of the Cypriot populations is with all its repercussions as we know them today.

"Despite being fundamentally in disagreement with President Christofia's approach to the 'Turkey in Cyprus' problem I have to congratulate him for inviting tCypriots to the event as they are part of Cyprus. But that's all they are. A part. A minority that should enjoy and bare the responsibilities of every other minority in any other EU country.

Piss off Watson!

This is a post by Philip de Castan on his Facebook page.

Dear Friends.

I am writing this in English, so that our friends, who do not speak or read Greek, will know what I am on about.

Today I have watched the Ceremony of the Cyprus European Presidency. I am proud as a Greek Cypriot, that my tiny Country is been given this important post, even for the period of 6 months. For the first time, I have watched and heard our President Mr. Christofias, speaking as a "real" President. It is no secret that I regard him as a failure, but today, I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised. He has handled all questions fired at him well enough, and his speech was that of a President ( for a change, and in Greek thank God ! ). I am also pleased with the Cypriot delegation to the Council of Europe that came up front with realities that their counter parts in Europe might have not realized up to now. Overall, it was a very successful inauguration on our behalf, so far ....

SAVE CYPRUS. Tell Congress: Pass these resolutions now!

House Resolution 676 and Senate Resolution 57 both seek to pressure Turkey into finally giving Cyprus the freedom it deserves. The goal of each resolution is:

1. To expose and halt the Republic of Turkey's illegal colonization of the Republic of Cyprus with non-Cypriot populations;
2. To denounce Turkey's continuing military threats against Cyprus;
3. To end Turkey's illegal occupation of northern Cyprus; and
4. To allow Cyprus to exploit its energy resources without illegal interference by Turkey

How much longer?

In anticipation of the 9th Int'l Conference on "EU, Turkey and the Kurds"

Dear Ladies & Gentlemen:

I hope you address the following questions at your 9th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON "EU, TURKEY AND THE KURDS" to be held later in 2012.

An excellent answer to Turkey's propagandist Amanda Paul

Charalambos Constantinides provides a truly excellent response to Amanda Paul, a journalist for AKP's, and thus the Turkey's state's, mouthpiece. Thank you Charalambos & congratulations! A must read!

Some reporters underestimate the memory and the knowledge οf their readers. Amanda Paul, for example [a journalist for AKP's mouthpiece, Today's Zaman], has come up with the unfounded, arbitrary statement that during the intercommunal talks "Greek Cypriots have been going at a slower pace than the Turkish Cypriots want".

ROS-LEHTINEN: Time for Turkey to leave Cyprus in peace

Friday, June 15, 2012 | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Florida Republican, is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. 

Since its invasion of Cyprus in 1974, Turkey has claimed that it was acting as a protector and guarantor of the island’s security. But a closer examination of its actions on Cyprus indicates motivations of a very different character. Turkey’s invasion resulted in hundreds of thousands of Greek Cypriot refugees, who have been unable to return to their homes for almost 40 years. The international community has repeatedly condemned the illegal military occupation of Cyprus by Turkish troops. The United Nations Security Council has passed 75 resolutions calling for Turkey to allow Greek Cypriots to return to their homes and to withdraw its troops from Cyprus. Yet Turkey continues its occupation.

Why Islamism cannot be pluralistic - by Burak Bekdil

The shortcut answer is that Muslims can defend pluralism but political Islam will not -- unless, of course, for deception. Pluralistic thought has an avenue to survive in Islam the religion, but it does not have a space to breathe in Islam the political ideology. That is the heart of the matter in the political war between secular and non-secular Muslims; between Muslims who peacefully practice their faith and Islamists who violently and non-violently enforce their practices on others.

Letter to Hecate

to: Catherine.ASHTON @ec.europa.eu
date: Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 12:05 PM
subject: Apathy or even worse?

To: The Honourable Catherine Ashton Vice President of the European Commission and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy

Dear Catherine,

Confronting "independent" international experts

Responding to a number of inaccuracies and clear distortions of the truth in  Aphrodite’s Gift: Can Cypriot Gas Power a New Dialogue?  prepared by the International Crisis Group  Mr Charalambos Constantinides  addressed the following e-mail to ICG. An excellent read!

"

I have read with interest your above referenced report, but I was buffled by the repeated reference to the Greek Cypriot government when you should be referring to the Government of the Republic of Cyprus.

I am sure you know that the Greek Cypriots represent one of the two communities, be it the largest one (82%) living on the territory of the Republic of Cyprus, which comprises the whole of the island of Cyprus, save for the area covered by the two Sovereign British Bases.

Eureka!

Both Republics, Turkey (RoT) and Cyprus (RoC) are in need for a constitutional overhaul, Aristotle's very definition of a 'revolution'. Both Republics are unitary states struggling with properly addressing the rights of their largest ethnic minority community. Both ethnic minorities constitute circa 20% of the respective populations. Both suffered, and in the case of Turkey still suffer, at the hands of the majority. In both, Turkey has the power to enforce/influence a solution. It seems to me these two problems should be studied in unison. No?

No less for us than for the Kurds

Kudret Ozersay

"We will never accept less rights for the Turkish Cypriots in the Republic of Cyprus than Turkey sees fit for the Kurds of the Republic of Turkey!"

That would be some statement, wouldn't it?

Tell Turkey: End the Occupation of Cyprus Now

Nearly 38 years ago, Turkey illegally invaded the island of Cyprus, seizing 38% of its land and forcing hundreds of thousands of Cypriots from their homes. To this day, there are some 40,000 Turkish troops occupying the northern part of Cyprus. That’s more troops than the U.S. has in Iraq and almost half of the troops the U.S. has in Afghanistan. With tens of thousands of armed troops in an area about the size of Rhode Island, occupied Cyprus is one of the most highly militarized areas in the entire world.

Rolls Royce ambitions but Rover resources

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 06 ANKARA 000087

16. (C) The greatest potential strategic problem for the US, however, and the one that has some of the commentators howling, is the Turks neo-Ottoman posturing around the Middle East and Balkans. This "back to the past" attitude so clear in Davutoglu's Sarajevo speech, combined with the Turks' tendency to execute it through alliances with more Islamic or more worrisome local actors, constantly creates new problems. Part of this is structural. Despite their success and relative power, the Turks really can't compete on equal terms with either the US or regional "leaders" (EU in the Balkans, Russia in the Caucasus/Black Sea, Saudis, Egyptians and even Iranians in the ME). With Rolls Royce ambitions but Rover resources, to cut themselves in on the action the Turks have to "cheat" by finding an underdog (this also plays to Erdogan's own worldview), a Siladjcic, Mish'al, or Ahmadinejad, who will be happy to have the Turks take up his cause. The Turks then attempt to ram through revisions to at least the reigning "Western" position to the favor of their guy. Given, again, the questioning of Western policy and motives by much of the Turkish public and the AKP, such an approach provides a relatively low cost and popular tool to demonstrate influence, power, and the "we're back" slogan. Source: Wikileaks

Throw these buffoons out of Cyprus, all three!

Throw these buffoons out of Cyprus, all three of them!

'Never Never Land' to be renamed to 'Land of Oz' on July 1st 2012

I thought of these words by Claire Berlinski when I read that Turks are changing "TRNC"'s name to "TRC" in hopes of rendering it legal:      

"[Turks] see “truth” as something plastic, connected more to emotions than to facts or logic. If it feels true, it is true. ... The utter irrationality of Turks—and the utter uselessness, for them, of our Western notions of truth and logic—are points Americans won’t grasp unless they’ve lived here quite some time—and even then they won’t grasp them, because they make no sense." - Claire Berlinski  Smile and Smile: Turkey's Feel-Good Foreign Policy  | WORLD AFFAIRS JOURNAL July-August 2010

Bloody Truth

Dear all,

I regard it as a great honour to be here today to share the presentation of this excellently documented long awaited historical publication.

The “Bloody Truth” (click here for the book in PDF | the English version appears after the Greek) comes at a very crucial moment in time. At a time when so many have embarked on a ruthless systematic campaign of total distortion of historical facts making truth the first and direct victim of fragrant violation in order to reach their goals. It comes at a time when Turkish propaganda has practically gone over the top in its efforts to accuse the Greek Cypriots as those responsible for the events of 1963/64. It comes at a time when, failing to impose upon us the monstrosity of the “Annan Plan” which also included provisions for the distortion of our history books, Turkey and her allies are resolute in implementing this plan and its pro-Turkish provisions through the back door.

Leyla Zana means Kurdish Freedom

You too will be a Kurd after watching this.

 

Turkish Cypriot hypocrisy

Turkish Cypriots (tCs) exhibit the epitome of hypocritical behavior. I ask them to explain to the impartial observer why the authors of the 1960 Cyprus constitution granted guaranteed representation in state positions for the 18% tC ethnic minority 1.67 & 2.22 times its population numbers at the expense of all other Cypriots, on top of many other unnatural and apartheid super rights. I ask them further to explain how come 82% of Cypriots agreed to such evident unfair arrangements. I ask them to explain why they do not tell Turks of Turkey that the 22+% Kurdish community of Turkey should be granted no less rights than those they feel they deserve in Cyprus, to explain why they don't feel a brotherly connection to the Kurdish plight. tC thinking is my enemy because it lacks western reason! tC thinking is NOT Cypriot. It is hypocritical and demonstrates malevolence.

Interview: What can Cyprus do for the EU?

Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis, Foreign Affairs Minister of Cyprus, talks to EuroparlTV about her country's priorities for its first EU Presidency, starting on July 1.

The day all shall be sorted out

On the day Turkish Cypriots can genuinely recommend to Turks and Kurds of Turkey a just way forward for sorting out their 90-year long differences they will have attained the level of understanding necessary to effectively address the issues that have plagued them since the 1950s. All that is needed is a bit of history, honesty, fairness, self-reflection and courage.

A tragedy unfolding

Breaking news... "Police" and occupying Turkish army beating up Turkish Cypriot strikers in the illegally occupied area of Cyprus, where illegal Turkish settlers outnumber original Turkish Cypriots ten to one. The illegally occupied northern Cyprus was over 90% Greek before the Turkish invasion and ethnic cleansing of 1974, and 100% Greek for millennia before then. Who are these people really fighting in our towns over property they do not own and rights they do not have?

The Cypriots and the Kurds - Opinion - International Herald Tribune

The Cypriots and the Kurds - Opinion - International Herald Tribune
Kirsty Hughes
Published: Tuesday, November 14, 2006

LONDON — 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?

Cyprus is no Alexandretta, fools!

Charalambos Constantinides: "Turkey's plan relating to the fate of Cyprus does not differ an iota from that applied in the case of the plan on the basis of which Alexandretta had been annexed in 1939, save for the names of the people involved. Following the disintegration of the Ottoman empire, the French wanted to administer the province as part of their mandate for Syria because the majority of the population were Syrians who wished UNION (Enosis) with Syria.

Inform them, so that they can't pretend

Minister,

I propose periodic entries in the Turkish Cypriot press, via an authorized representative, in Turkish, targeting the settlers, informing them in detail about their illegal status, that the responsibility for their illegal presence on Republic of Cyprus soil lies exclusively with Turkey, and alerting them to the fact that with the advent of a solution, whenever it is achieved, their repatriation/relocation along with their children and grandchildren to the Turkish Republic, must be considered an absolute certainty.

If not Kurds, who? If not now, when?

In 1960, ethnic Turks of Turkey, in the name of both Turks and Kurds, maintained that a balanced constitution for a neighboring country hosting a major ethnic minority circa 15-20%, is a Presidential Republic with a majority President and a minority Vice-President, both with the right of final veto, with equal political status for the minority community, where all aspects of the Republic are bilingual (including the currency, passports, IDs, etc.), where the minority is constitutionally guaranteed representation in government structures far exceeding its population strength, with ethnically divided parliamentary chambers, municipalities, courts, etc.

A public debate destined to cause Turkey's ire?

Some interesting exchanges about the idea of introducing into public debate Turkey's double standards in approaching the rights of her own 15-20% ethnic Kurdish minority community  vs. Turkey's thinking since the 50s in approaching the rights of the Turkish Cypriot [tC] 18% ethnic minority community. The debate was fueled by the article  "What kind of pawn and in what game do Cypriots want to be? May 4, 2012"

What kind of pawn and in what game do Cypriots want to be?

François-André Philidor, the greatest chess player of the 18th century, called pawns "the soul of chess." They play an important - though sometimes subtle - role in every chess game, and should you reach the endgame, pawns can become the most valuable pieces on the board! Cyprus is too small to be considered anything other than a pawn on any international balance of power chess game. But Cypriots owe themselves to wonder what kind of pawn and in what chess game they wish to be. Perhaps they now have such luxury.

Unparalleled Cypriot generosity

I have come to the indisputable conclusion that the original Cypriots, the majority Cypriots, the Greek Christians of Cyprus, are the most generous, the most chivalrous, the most magnanimous people that ever walked on this earth. I explain.

Cyprus is more Greek than Turkey is Turkish

Cyprus is more Greek than Turkey is Turkish. Way more. For far far longer! Protecting Cyprus's demographic integrity must be foremost on all our minds.

Turkey & the rights of Turkey's Kurds vs. the rights of Turkish Cypriots

Organizing a "Turkey & the rights of Turkey's Kurds vs. the rights of Turkish Cypriots" conference, under EU auspices, is a fantastic idea in order to raise awareness about Turkey's double standards in relation to the rights of large ethnic minorities within unitary states!

Make it so they cannot afford to ignore you

Dilana Kurdi April 6 [The Kurdish message is] very clear but I don't know why people don't understand!

Kyriacos Kyriakides I am sure they do understand. But doing something about it is very complex. It involves 4 countries, all members of the UN, none of which is willing to part with its current powers/authority. From where I stand, I see a lengthy process ahead, during which Kurds must do their utmost to cultivate, and rebuild where needed, their identity. The borders will come as history unfolds, in some places faster than others, and God forbid if Kurds are NOT already a determined united nation when history knocks on the respective doors.