Turkish Cypriots may at last vote to re-unite island - Russian Ukrainian Belarus Travel Music Woman Dating News

	The Russian Meeting Place: A place to meet people and talk about all things Russian... International Discussions about Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Travel, Music, Russian News, Ukrainian culture, Belarusian Dating, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kiev and other intelligent topics about life in the former Soviet Union.

Pages: 1

Turkish Cypriots may at last vote to re-unite island
(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)

Posted by: CHORNYVOLK

Turkish Cypriots may at last vote to re-unite island
(Filed: 13/12/2003)

Northern Cypriots will go to the polls tomorrow to decide whether the island should be re-united for the first time since the Turkish invasion in 1974. Tabitha Morgan reports

Ertan Erkal, the headman of the isolated Turkish Cypriot village of Meric, welcomed a small group of opposition politicians into a coffee shop - the venue for the evening's election rally.

Regulars sat around the walls, eyeing the delegation from Nicosia. This was an all-male environment and the three women candidates looked awkward.

"We want more women in parliament," said Mehmet Hoja, 57, a retired teacher. But he was clearly uncomfortable to find a woman from the pro-Europe Peace and Democracy Party sitting at his usual table.

Far more than the future government of the 200,000 inhabitants of northern Cyprus rides on tomorrow's election. It could be the last chance of reuniting the island, divided since the Turkish invasion in 1974 - and perhaps the decisive moment for deciding whether Turkey enters the European Union.

The ruling National Unity Party wants to strengthen ties with what it calls "Motherland Turkey" and rejects United Nations proposals to re-unite the island. But for the first time its stranglehold on the Turkish Cypriots is under threat from three parties all favouring re-unification and joining the EU.

According to Mustafa Akinci, the Peace and Democracy leader, decades of international trade embargoes have eroded support for the status quo. "In every village I go to, people tell me they are worried about their future," he told the meeting. The EU says the 30-year partition has to end if Turkey is to succeed in its attempt to join.

A contracting economy, rising unemployment and prospects for an end to the island's partition have dominated the campaign.

The horizons of Turkish Cypriot voters have expanded considerably since the last elections. An easing of travel restrictions between the two halves of the island has given them a glimpse of the prosperity they might expect if their unrecognised republic votes for a party that will take them into the EU, along with the south, next May.

If, however, northern Cyprus opts to extend the governing party's mandate yet again, the steady haemorrhage of Turkish Cypriots leaving the island - most of them heading to Britain, where they have relatives - will continue.

The frustration felt by Mr Erkal and others prompted protests in northern Cyprus earlier this year. Tens of thousands demonstrated in support of EU membership and demanded an end to the island's division.

The opposition is hoping to win a parliamentary majority, which would enable them to remove the nationalist president of the unrecognised republic, Rauf Denktash, from negotiations with Greek Cypriots.

Posted by: Basileus

Well, it is clear Turkiye wants Kibris/Cyprus to be re-unified with the Greek part of the island, so it will become easier for it to join the European Union and harder for the EU to refuse Turkey. Where do I stand on this? I would like to see Cyprus join the EU in its entirety that way the EU is closer to the Middle East and can provide more of that lost influence there, it could potentially reduce Islamic fundamentalism, provided also the neo-conservatives of the Bush and Reagan types quit the policies that seem to encourage that kind of sentiment rather than secular since they are sectarian and sectarianism breeds sectarianism.
I hope for the best for both the people of Turkiye and Hellas (Greece).

Basil

Posted by: Aaron Chase

It would be a interesting re-unification. Not one from freedom from communism, but freedom from religious/military occupation. But after 30 years of being seperated, how will the people of Cyprus adjust to their neighbors?