THE QUESTIONS OF PALESTINE AND CYPRUS: JUSTICE, LAW AND POLITICS

ADEL SAFTY
Prof. Dr Adel Safty is Professor of International Relations and Law, and Dean of Leadership and Public Affairs at Bahçesehir University.

The Palestinians and the Turkish Cypriots share a history of conflict and unfulfilled aspirations. The plight of the Palestinians ranges from denial of rights of self-determination, land confiscation and economic encirclement, to the daily violence of occupation. As for the Turkish Cypriots, although Turkish protection has contained the existential threat, they continue to live under an embargo and their country is treated as a pariah.  

FORMALISING THE PARTITION OF CYPRUS: LESSONS FROM THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT

ISHTIAQ AHMAD
Dr Ishtiaq Ahmad is Associate Professor of International Relations at the Eastern Mediterranean University, Gazimagusa, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

Cyprus has been divided between Turks and Greeks since the UN-supervised Green Line partitioning Nicosia, the capital city, was drawn in 1963 after the Greek onslaught against the Turks and the collapse of the now-defunct Republic of Cyprus. Over a decade later, in July 1974, the Turkish intervention only extended the scope of this division to the entire island.

THE EUROPEAN UNION AND CYPRUS

NANETTE NEUWAHL
Dr Nanette Neuwahl is Jean Monnet Professor of European Union Law, the University of Liverpool.

The current accession negotiations with the European Union (EU) would seem to provide a unique opportunity to solve the Cyprus problem. Yet the EU does not seem to be able or willing to develop a coherent strategy with respect to Cyprus. What will happen, what are the opportunities and dangers inherent in the present situation? What are the alternatives for a viable solution? 

CYPRUS ADVANCES TOWARDS EUROPE: REALISM AND RATIONALISM

PATRICK R. HUGG
Patrick R. Hugg is John McAulay Professor of Law at the School of Law, Loyola University, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.

Today, events of unrecognised significance are altering the political environment surrounding Cyprus and its relationship with the European Union. First, the two new governments on Cyprus and the advancing process of accession negotiations between the EU and only one of these governments presents uncertainty and instability to the island, its neighbours and the EU.  

THE UNITED NATIONS' APPROACH TO THE CYPRUS ISSUE AND UNFICYP

OSMAN ERTUG
Osman Ertug is the Under-secretary at the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Defence.

To properly understand the world organisation's approach to any issue, including Cyprus, it is necessary to understand its structure, the composition of its membership and the power balances within it. One question that arises in this context is whether the UN is merely the total sum of its parts or whether the world organisation, whose mission, in the most general sense, is the pursuit of world peace, has an identity of its own.

GENOCIDE

HARRY SCOTT GIBBONS
Harry Scott Gibbons is a journalist. He served in the Middle East, Cyprus, Turkey, Greece and the United States and is the author of the book The Genocide Files, published by Charles Bravos, London, 1997.

For several years following the publication of my book, The Genocide Files, I have been repeatedly asked for my opinion on how the Cyprus problem can be solved, meaning: ‘What was the future of Northern Cyprus?'
Until now, I have always answered along these lines:
The Cyprus problem was solved in July 1974, when the Turkish Armed Forces intervened in the vicious civil war that followed a covert Greek invasion and an Athens inspired and led coup that deposed the president.  

TURKISH RULE AND TOLERANCE IN CYPRUS (1571-1878)

AHMET C. GAZIOGLU
Ahmet C. Gazioglu is the Editing Director and Manager of the Cyprus Research & Publishing Centre in Lefkosa, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. He is the owner and editor of the New Cyprus magazine and the author of various Turkish and English books on Cyprus. His recent English books include: The Turks in Cyprus (1990), Cyprus, EU and Turkey (1998), Two Equal & Sovereign Peoples (2nd Edition, 1999) and Past Masters of Illegality (2000).

According to British observers, during the Turkish period:
“Two independent powers existed in the island, each with a home, a citadel, and a place of arms in Nicosia. One was a material, the other a spiritual power. One was Turkish, the other Greek.”