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Mosby

(16,163 posts)
2. The United Nations won't even call Turkey an occupying power
Wed Oct 16, 2019, 02:21 PM
Oct 2019

The only country that earns that distinction is Israel.


Unsettled: A Global Study Of Settlements In Occupied Territories


The ongoing Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus constitutes one of the most substantial settlement enterprises today, and is particularly notable in that it takes place within the territory of the European Union. The majority of the territory’s population now consists of settlers, with a substantial ongoing influx (which does not appear to be the case in Western Sahara). Settlers have received substantial assistance and incentives from the Turkish government, though the extent of inducement has varied over time. Moreover, the influx of settlers has been at a direct cost of displacement and dispossession of the prior Greek inhabitants.

Despite this, no international organization and no state (aside from the Republic of Cyprus)140 have described the settlement program as a violation of the Geneva Convention, or otherwise illegal.141 Similarly, the ICC prosecutor is authorized to—and has been asked by Cypriot refugees—to investigate war crimes on the island dating back to 2002, but apparently the Turkish settlement project has not merited her attention (see Kontorovich 2014).

This is particularly notable because the European Union is an active and consistent critic of what it sees as illegal settlement activity elsewhere, but it has not used similar expressions regarding the legality of Turkish settlement activity in European territory. It is particularly notable that issues of legality under the Geneva Conventions have not been raised, because the Turkish invasion itself, as well as the settler influx, has been subject to criticism. One cannot say the international community overlooked the issue, or that countries were silent for political reasons. Thus, proposals to condemn Turkish settlement activity have repeatedly been raised at in the EU Parliament and other bodies, but have not been adopted. For example, both the UN General Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe have raised the issue of Turkish settlement activities,142 but have not said they violate international law. Indeed, PACE (the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) has suggested that it is a purely political, rather than a legal problem, as it called on the “Turkish-Cypriot administration” to “keep the arrival of aliens … under control,” as opposed to banning it.143

Finally, the fate of Turkish settlers received considerable attention in the UN-backed peace proposals for the island. Despite significant Greek Cypriot insistence on the removal of at least a substantial portion of settlers, the various proposals did not directly require the removal of any settlers, and instead required that the majority receive citizenship in a unified Cyprus, with the remainder being able to stay as residents. That the UN rejected more aggressive removal ideas at the expense of Greek support for the deal again emphasizes the lack of an evident international understanding that such removal is a legal obligation.

https://academic.oup.com/jla/article/9/2/285/4716923


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