EP Elections Told us a Lot |
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Prof. Dr. Ata ATUN |
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EP Elections Told us a Lot
European Parliament (EP) elections were held on May 25 in Cyprus and the voting was only in the Greek side. The Turkish Cypriots who are the Citizens of European Union had to cross the border to vote.
The result of this election reflected the reality of the Cyprus Problem and hinted clearly how the solution should be as well.
It was actually a very serious trial of the Greek view that there are no Turkish Cypriots or Greek Cypriots but only “Cypriots” exist in the island and the elections should be held jointly, under one single list of candidates and one single list of electors.
The Greek Cypriot Administration totally failed to understand the wish of the Turkish Cypriots to be represented in the European Parliament solely by 2 Turkish Cypriots. And on the contrary, aimed to erase the Turkish Cypriot identity and put into force the “Cypriot” concept.
In the beginning they did not want to hear the messages sent from EU concerning the representation of the Turkish Cypriots in the EP. The two seats they grasped from the Turkish Cypriots created a desire to keep them for themselves and also the idea of a Turkish Cypriot speaking in the European Parliament freely and conveying the injustice we did face for years since mid fifties, seems frightened the Greek Cypriot Administration.
When the pressure from the European Commission (EC) turned out to be unbearable anymore, they passed a law in the House of Representatives, enabling Turkish Cypriots to vote and get elected aswell.
Of course as usual this special law was again unfair and lacked to protect the rights of the Turkish Cypriots.
The total number of the Turkish Cypriots who were the citizens of Republic of Cyprus before 1974 and their descendants were declared as 95,900 by the Greek Administration.
Since the amount of Turkish Cypriots were quite enough to elect even two Turkish representatives to the EP, the Greek Administration quite smartly invented a method to escalate the number downwards and created artificially the “Residence address” blockade.
The residence address of almost the 28,000 Turkish Cypriots were their pre 1974 addresses in the southern part of the island and all of the electors, who declared their old addresses were disqualified from the elections.
The Greek Administration also declared that almost 10,000 Turkish Cypriots did not declare any residence address and duly eliminated also from the elections. The total number of Turkish Cypriots who were eligible for voting and candidacy dropped dramatically from 95,900 to a mere 58,638.
Out of this 58,638 Turkish Cypriots only 2019 crossed the border for voting. A further 150 elector sent back and only 1,869 Turkish Cypriot managed to vote.
Of course the result was a big disaster. None of the 5 Turkish Cypriots got enough votes to be elected. They even could not reach to 1 percent line.
This election tells to both of the Turkish and Greek Cypriots and as well to United Nation’s bureaucrats and European Union people that none of the people of the island of Cyprus are willing to have a common identity, common list, common voting and a common administration.
It came out as a crystal clear fact from the European parliament elections.
Ata ATUN
ata.atun@atun.com
http://www.ataatun.com
