The Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament has recently urged Turkey “to withdraw its troops from Cyprus”.
The photograph shows the Turkish occupied town of Famagusta, which is a ghost town now.
What other EU institutions are unwilling to say, the EP, through its MEPs, is there for daring to say things as they are.
Turkey, a country aspiring to join the EU, occupies since 1974 one third of Cyprus’ territory, despite international calls to end its occupation. The government of Cyprus estimates that there are over 45,000 Turkish soldiers in the northern occupied areas of Cyprus.
So, according to the Members of the European Parliament, “Turkey needs to facilitate a suitable climate for the ongoing peace talks in Cyprus by withdrawing its military forces from Cyprus and by allowing the two community leaders (Cypriot President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat) to negotiate freely their country’s future”.
The two leaders negotiate Cyprus’ political settlement since September 2008.
The Committee’s report was adopted as a draft progress report on Turkey’s accession course, by a large majority (65 in favor, 4 against). The report is expected to be submitted for approval by the plenary next month.
This report tells some truths and proves the usefulness of the European Parliament, which, in contrast to other EU institutions, dares sometimes to say things as they are.
A map of Cyprus, showing the Turkish occupied areas in the north and the government controlled areas in the south.
(17 votes, average: 4.12 out of 5)
Loading ...
Unfortunately the Cyprus issue is very complicated and previous leaders have tried unsuccessfuly to find a solution with no results.The fact remains that in 1974 human rights have been abused when Turkey invaded Cyprus.Hopefully EP will insist on the position that the Turkish troops must leave the island if a solution can be found.
Is there a solution available? Meaning, is there an idea that will probably be acceptable to the people, if not the politicians?
How much of a civilian Turkish population is there in North Cyprus? Will they be allowed to live peacefully if the army leaves and the territory reverts to Greek Cypriot control?
Hi Andrei,
The situation in Cyprus is the following: (there are more details, I know, which I could explain some other time)
Cyprus was a british colony until 1960.
In 1960 Cyprus became an independent state.
82% of the population were Greek Cypriots and 18% Turkish Cypriots. They were mostly living together, in mixed areas.
In 1974 a coup by Greece resulted to a Turkish military invasion against Cyprus. Turkey occupies since 1974, 37% of Cyprus’ territory, in the north.
One third of Greek Cypriots became refugees, left their homes in the north and went to the southern areas of the island.
The northern occupied areas are inhabited by Turkish Cypriots and the southern by Greek Cypriots.
But many Turkish Cypriots chose to immigrate, mostly to the UK, because of the situation in the Turkish occupied areas.
Now, the occupied north is inhabited by Turkish Cypriots, Turkish settlers who are brought to the area from southern Turkey (and thus changing dramatically the demographic situation), thousands of Turkish soldiers/officers with their families as well as other nationalities.
The south is inhabited by Greek Cypriots, European citizens, legal and illegal immigrants and others.
The northern occupied areas proclaimed a state, which is only recognized by Turkey, and by no other country in the world. The so called “state” is called Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. There is a “president” a “parliament” etc, but they are not recognized anywhere in the world, only in Turkey. So, the north is actually administrated by a regime, the Turkish military.
This is not a biased opinion of mine, please check UNSC resolutions 550, 541.
When Cyprus became an EU member state, its whole territory became European territory. The EU recognizes only the Republic of Cyprus and not the regime in the north.
President of Cyprus, Demetris Christofias is negotiating with the Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat to reach a political solution of the problem.
But this is not easy, because the Turkish army sees Cyprus as a strategically important island and will never accept to withdraw its troops from northern Cyprus.
I hope you are still there and not too dizzy… Yes, the Cyprus problem is indeed a problem with many difficult aspects to solve.
But it would have been so much easier, if Turkey just withdrew its troops and left the legitimate citizens of Cyprus (Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots) decide upon their own future…
My compliments Athena on your succinct and brief explanations on what is a complex subject, in this and other articles on this weblog.
I have been involved for a number of years in efforts within the UK to produce support for a Cyprus solution in the British Parliament (given that Britain was and remains a guarantor power of the island’s sovereignty).
Readers of your article may wish to spend some time to look at and listen to the comments made in numerous video clips of British Parliamentarians during a Lobby by Cypriots at the Palace of Westminister in London on March 3rd 2009… entitled “Cyprus’s progress towards unity:
Time for Turkey to meet its obligations on Cyprus”.
These videos are available over the internet at a YouTube playlist visible online at the address provided with this post. The video is also available as a single item which can be downloaded and viewed offline from:
http://www.archive.org/details/PeterDroussiotisCyprusprogresstowardsunity-TimeforTurkeytomeetitsobligationsonCyprus
I hope your readers, and the members of the European Parliament who might view this video will find the comments interesting.
Dear David,
When Britain will recognize it’s own responsibility in the creation of the Cypriot problem/tragedy? Please give us a shout when that happens.
Best
Stergios
Dear David,
Indeed the Cyprus issue may appear to be a complex one, but in reality it is not.
It only requires the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Cyprus and the respect of international law on behalf of Ankara.
Turkey’s expansionist policy is causing problems not only in Cyprus but in the whole region, especially Greece.
Every effort to find support in the UK is important, since indeed, London is a guarantor power (although this is an anachronistic term anyhow).
Thank you for the videos as well.
Athena
According to Andreas Papandreou, the son of the democratically elected George Papandreou, (who the U.S. states eventually managed to overthrow between ‘65-’67 with the help of Papadopoulos’ junta) the British created the problem in Cyprus & the Americans pushed the Papandreous to allow the Turks to take over one fifth of Cyprus for a military base. Their refusal being one of the main reasons for their eventual overthrow.
I’ll quote from his book “Democracy at Gunpoint”:
“It had been British strategy, in response to the liberation effort undertaken by the Cypriot population, to pit Turks against Greeks,… Admittedly, the British plan had yielded its fruits. By 1964, when the Center Union assumed the reins of government in Greece, thorny problems in the relations between the two communities had made their appearance.”
“The real Cyprus problem had little, if anything, to do with relations between the two ethnic groups on the island. It revolved around the strategic importance of Cyprus in the eastern Meditaerranean basis… Britain knew that sooner or later it would have to pull out of Cyprus. When the moment came, it wanted to maintain a military foothold on the island.”
“Great Britain wanted to prevent at all costs enosis, the union of Cyprus with Greece”
“But while enosis did not suit the Allies, Cyprus’ independence, with enosis precluded, contained dangers for NATO and American strategy. The experience with Cuba suggested that a small country….could create a major crisis between the two superpowers were it allowed to follow an independent foreign policy. Enosis had the advantage of putting Cyprus into NATO’s ranks, but it had the disadvantage of making Greece too important, especially at the expense of Turkey, a faithful ally that had common frontiers with Russia. Thus, the Anglo-American ideal for Cyprus lay somewhere between enosis and independence.”
“In April the relations between Greece and Turkey reached the breaking point….Incident followed incident, until we were at the brink of war. ”
“George Papandreou, Stavros Costopoulus (the Minister for Foreign Affairs), and I were flown to Washington on the presidential plane….we were flown by helicopter to the lawn of the White House for a two-hour talk…He [President Johnson] started the talks by pointing out the difficult position of the United States…It could not take the side of either, and it could not afford to stop Turkey once more from intervening by military force.”
“Next day Dean Rusk came. I had imagined him to be a flexible, intelligent conversationalist. He was not. He hammered out his phrases unsmilingly. His purpose in visiting us was to convince us that unless we followed President Johnson’s prescription [allow Turkey a base on Cyprus], Turkey would attack Cyprus and/or Greece, and America would be unwilling to lift a finger.”