A solution to the Cyprus issue can only be achieved
if it is based on at least the minima standards of international law and
the protection and respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms. After
all, Cypriots are of course entitled to enjoy the rights and freedoms guaranteed
to each and every human being on our globe.
One of the major aspects of the Cyprus issue is the presence of tenths
of thousands of Turkish settlers, illegally brought by Turkey to the occupied
areas of Cyprus. These Turkish civilians were given the
“status” of the “citizen” of the non existing (according, inter alia, to
the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights) “Turkish Republic
of Northern Cyprus”, and are considered as being part of the “population”
of the illegal puppet administration established by Turkey in the occupied
territories of the island.
During the 26 years following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, Turkey
has applied a policy of ethnic cleansing in the Turkish occupied areas,
consisting of two parallel actions:
b. The illegal transfer of large numbers of Turkish settlers to the areas of Cyprus occupied by her armed forces and by giving them the homes and properties of the Greek Cypriots who were forced to flee to the government – controlled areas.
THE POLITICAL ASPECT
Having in mind the above legal framework and considering
that no solution to an inter-state problem can be reached if it is not
based on the international legal order, we have to examine the situation
created in Cyprus regarding the presence and the fate of the Turkish settlers
in the occupied areas of Cyprus, before and after the implementation of
a solution to the Cyprus issue.
Due to the very small number of the population of Cyprus (less than
a million) any consideration of the Turkish settlers as being part of the
Turkish Cypriot community will dramatically alter the demographic structure
of the state. Such an artificial demographic structure will give to Turkey
a justification for demanding higher percentage of land for the Turkish
Cypriot community, in case of a federal solution to the Cyprus issue. In
fact, this was the original political plan when Turkey decided to transfer
the Turkish settlers in Cyprus.
It is, therefore, unacceptable both legally and politically for the
Republic of Cyprus to provide the platform leading to the completion of
an international crime against its land and its population.
THE FACTUAL AND HUMANITARIAN FACTORS
It is a fact that the Turkish settlers come from
another culture, completely strange to the culture of the Cypriots. Such
fact creates serious social problems, especially to the Turkish Cypriot
community, and influences negatively the cultural continuity of the Cypriot
population.
There is an allegation that the whole issue is a humanitarian one, since the Turkish settlers are married and have children born in Cyprus. Therefore, their compulsory withdrawal will produce major social and economic problems to them. If that is so, what can we say for the humanitarian issue arising from the violent persecution of the Greek Cypriots who were forced to leave their homes and properties in the Turkish occupied areas and live as displaced persons in their own country? At least it has to be a balance in expressing our humanitarian feelings, especially when the humanitarian issues regarding the Greek Cypriots are based on the rule of law, while the same issues regarding the Turkish settlers are based on an international crime.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
The Republic of Cyprus has a duty to protect its sovereignty and the
rights of its people, both Greek and Turkish Cypriots, against Turkey’s
expansive policy. No person can suggest that Cyprus’s small size may justify
any deviation from the minima standards of human rights protection and
respect.
The Republic of Cyprus, in the form which will emerge from a final
solution to the Cyprus issue, exercising its sovereign rights, may decide
to give a solution to any particular cases of Turkish settlers with obvious
humanitarian nature. Such decisions must be based on concrete criteria
and must be implemented by the state in exercising its authority. There
is no justification for a massive, uncontrolled naturalization by a non
existing state-entity, of so many foreigners, brought to Cyprus in breach
of the international legal order.