Vote totals:
Yes:
100%
No:
0%
Neutral:
0%
DEBATE: SHOULD CYPRUS HAVE SINGLE SOVEREIGNTY AND CITIZENSHIP?
SHOULD CYPRUS HAVE SINGLE SOVEREIGNTY AND CITIZENSHIP?
Reconciling Reality to Law
It is the Greek Cypriots who lay claim to the title of Republic o Cyprus after the island became territorially divided. According to Cyprus’s membership of the EU, the ROC is the legitimate authority for the whole territory of Cyprus. Reunification, will, as the name suggests, re unify the island as was the intention when the ROC was created in 1960.
SHOULD CYPRUS HAVE SINGLE SOVEREIGNTY AND CITIZENSHIP?
Stopping the Economic Exclusion of Northern Cypriots
UN Security resolutions 541 and 550 call upon the international community not to recognize any Cypriot state other than the Republic of Cyprus nor to recognize or facilitate the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The Greek Cypriots have laid claim to the title of the ROC and as a consequence the Turkish Cypriots have been struggling to overcome the problems caused by the isolation and exclusion. Despite recent actions by the UN and EU about lifting the embargoes on the TRNC, they have no legal capacity to do so until the problem of political division has been amended since the EU proposed regulations were blocked in the EU council by the Greek administration.
SHOULD CYPRUS HAVE SINGLE SOVEREIGNTY AND CITIZENSHIP?
Towards a Political Settlement
Both Demetris Christofias and Mehmet Ali Talat, leaders on both sides of the border were elected on the promise that they would find a political solution concerning the division of the island. However, Greek Cypriots are only prepared to accept unification under conditions which they deem to be fair, just, and not biased toward Turkish Cypriots, which is a hard task to manage. There are still major issues to be resolved such as territorial claims, the returning of property to Greek Cypriot refugees (the limited repatriations of the Annan Plan was a major reason for its No vote), the presence of Turkish troops in the north of the island aswell as round110,000 Turkish settlers, the constitution of a unified state, aswell as the role of British Sovereign Base Areas. The ROC would prefer a more unified state with Greek Cypriot political dominance (as they would represent 77% of the population), the TRNC, a looser federation with equal power sharing components.
However, the idea that reunification is possible will encourage dialogue on either side of the border in the discussion of these issues. However, there is still a mountain to climb.
SHOULD CYPRUS HAVE SINGLE SOVEREIGNTY AND CITIZENSHIP?
Reconciling Law to Reality
The ROC was founded under the London Zurich Accords, also known as the treaty of Alliance, and treaty of Guarantee was signed by the ROC, Turkey, Greece, and the UK. It stated that the ROC was co founded and co partnered equally by both Greek and Turkish Cypriots despite disproportionate population rates. The structure was based on the sharing of political power without territorial division. But internal turmoil and the Akritas Plan backed by the Greek Junta oppressed the Turkish minority and the international community has wrongly associated the ROC with the Greek Cypriot majority as Turkish Cypriots have been undermined and neglected.
The overthrow of elected President Makarios with the aim of ENOSIS; unification of Cyprus with Greece is what led Turkey to invoke its rights under the Treaty of Guarantee, and intervene in order to protect Turkish Cypriots from Greek Cypriot armed forces. Operation Atilla re-instated the lawful government but the deeply unpopular Atilla II was the beginning of permanent Turkish military presence. In 1975 the leaders of the two communities agreed on the transfer of around 200,000 people, the majority of them Greek Cypriots, to their respective sides of the border. The ROC exists no longer, but it is the Greek Cypriots who illegally lay claim to the title aswell as authority over the island’s total territory. The Turkish Cypriot community, exercising its right to self determination and sovereignty, has evolved administratively into a de facto, independent, democratic entity, and should be recognized.
SHOULD CYPRUS HAVE SINGLE SOVEREIGNTY AND CITIZENSHIP?
Conserving the Land of Northern Cyprus
Since the ROC has joined the EU, it has been felt that the unrecognized TRNC has fallen behind economically.
From the view of the conservationist it would seem that a reunification of Cyprus would put the land of northern Cyprus into the clutches of lucrative development plans. Rapid development and urbanisation has blighted much of the landscape and environment of the ROC, and it would be a shame to expose Northern Cyprus to this aswell. There are many victims in this landscape where fortunes are to be made, and development that is not properly overseen can spread to destroy areas of land of remarkable beauty or which compose part of the local heritage.
SHOULD CYPRUS HAVE SINGLE SOVEREIGNTY AND CITIZENSHIP?
Not until there is Justice for the Victims of the 1974 Invasion.
No one can ever compensate a victim of crime or war. Nothing will ever be enough. But stopping reunification on this basis is counter productive. A line should be drawn and people should learn from other countries, that holding a grudge against a nation is only going to lead to more bloodshed. The most humanitarian thing to do is to reunify.
A major reason for the No vote of the Annan Plan was that it absolved Turkey its responsibility for its invasion in Cyprus. The murders, rapes, destruction of property, and forcing round 200,000 Greek Cypriots from their homes and property make Turkey guilty of violating Articles 2,3,5, and 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights. Until this issue, that is cause for bitter resentment, is settled. Reunification and single sovereignty is bound to be unworkable.
