By a Staff Reporter
THE government has said it plans to go ahead and enforce support measures for Turkish Cypriots and has made plans to set up a special Turkish Cypriot Affairs Service.
The measures were discussed at a two-member ministerial committee on Wednesday and will be put before the Cabinet on Thursday for final approval, Phileleftheros newspaper reported yesterday.
President Tassos Papadopoulos’ aim is to see that the matter is dealt with before April 16, when Cyprus is expected to sign the European Union Accession Treaty in Athens.
The measures are based on the old ones drawn up by the previous DISY government, with a few additions.
According to the paper, a few of these are: exporting goods from the occupied areas via the Republic and bearing the Cyprus seal; internal trading and the creation of EU control mechanisms; facilitating the employment of Turkish Cypriots in the unoccupied areas; the inclusion of Turkish Cypriots in the June 2004 European Union elections (by EU decree, of the six Cypriot European deputies, four will be Greek Cypriot and two Turkish Cypriot); relatives of Turkish Cypriot missing persons from 1963 and 1974 will be given the same financial treatment as their Greek Cypriot counterparts, with monthly subsidies; and facilitating the ability to obtain a Cyprus Republic passport and other official documents.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
