Its all greek to me
Turkey's current involvement in Cyprus is pretty well known and discussed, but I feel Greece's involvement has really fallen off since the hope of enosis pretty much died. But still, Greece is listed as a "guarantor power" off the 1960 treaty, and their military still has a presence on the island.
So, coming from an ignorant German: what role do mainland Greeks still have in Cyprus, and how much discussion or controversy does it generate? How do Greeks/Cypriots generally feel about it?
Note: This question was taken from Quora. Link: https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-realistic-solution-to-the-Cyprus-dispute/answer/Hermes-Jones-4?ch=10&oid=203585913&share=eaea727c&srid=3yll3&target_type=answer
I will not use any maps now because I will probably enrich my answer later, but in my opinion a federal state should be the fundamental step. A state that encompasses two communities and two regions (federal consituent states), like in Belgium. There will be a Turkish-majority region and a Greek-majority region. BUT, population will be able to travel to the other region and have full and alienable rights of residence, property, work and freedom of expression in all aspects. A Turkish Cypriot will have the right to move to Paphos and a Greek Cypriot will be able to live in Keryneia (Girne). No external factors, like Greece, Turkey, UK or other, should be able to meddle in the affairs of the federation. The region borders could be bound to freeze for e.g. 30 years and if the population has been relatively homogenised, meaning the percent of Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots has been rendered roughly equal in the whole of Cyprus at most at the municipal level, then the federation may start to turn into a unitary state SLOWLY. All churches and mosques that changed their use or were pillaged and abandoned since 1974 will be renovated and turned into archaeological sites with an aim to educate Cypriots to avoid the atrocities of the past.
This concerned the general structure of the state. The boundaries will indeed be the subject of negotiations and perhaps this is a difficult part of reunification. My approximate estimation is that the realitic and fair part would be for Morphou, Varosha, Kokkina and all major cities, including all of the divided Nicosia,to be made federal districts and not belong to any of the two communities. That would be a safeguard that none of the sides can use them to its advantage more than the other. THe first three carry a special sentimental value for Greek Cypriots so I include them wi the other proposed federal districts-cities.
All people that hold valid titles to property they were forced to abandon in 1974, including these displaced with the 1975 population exchange, would be given the right, or their descendants, to return to their original houses or estates.
Turkish settlers that settled in the North after the 1983 illegal independence declaration should be given 5 years to return to Turkey in a smoot
... keep reading on reddit β‘
The Cyprus Dispute has not only been an everlasting issue, but also one of the foremost obstacles standing in the way of Turkish integration into Europe. Therefore, Turkish government considers it essential to reach a consensus with the guarantor states, the EU, and the Southern Cypriot Administration, along with the UNSC.
Since the failure of the Annan Plan, there have been no tangible efforts to unite the island, and Turkey recognizes how the recent governments caused the relations to deteriorate by purposeless nationalistic approaches to the matter.
As the will of the Turkish Cypriots to unite the island was demonstrated in the 2004 Cypriot Annan Plan Referendum, the Turkish Government is now ready to make compromises to end the state of division.
Turkey would like to offer its guarantor counterparts a viable way to end the dispute in the island and unite the last divided country of the continent. Recently, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs came up with a plan to unite Cyprus under the formation of a Cypriot Confederation, a state comprising the Greek & Turkish regions.
Under the confederacy, both sovereign groups of the island would be united without a right of secession from the Cypriot union, having jurisdiction over their own region and residents. The confederacy would secure the rights of both groups by the existence of strong regional governments and a weaker central government, led by a collective body called the βConfederal Councilβ. The Confederal Council would be made up of 6 members, 4 from the Greek community and 2 from the Turkish community. Making executive decisions would require unanimity. The confederation would have a bicameral parliament, composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives and an upper house, called the Senate. Similarly to the Annan plan, the lower house would have 48 seats proportionately distributed to the communities, with the Turkish Cypriots not having less than 12 seats. The upper house would also have 48 seats, equally distributed between both communities. There would also be observers representing the Armenian, Latin and Maronite communities. The unification would also result in the Turkish Cypriots gaining recognition by the EU and funds to rebuild their regional economy that was under heavy embargos for the last 4 decades. If the island successfully unites, Turkey would also pull out its 54,900 troops and leave only 600 troops deployed, which is the same amount of deployed troops
... keep reading on reddit β‘
Whatβs it about?
Why are there so many countries involved
Why has Erdogan sent Syrian rebels to Libya?
Is there a risk of war happening?
A Perspective from each of those countries would be nice.
