Turkish Cypriots hand in 41,000 settler list

TURKISH Cypriots have handed to the United Nations a long list of names of settlers from mainland Turkey who would be allowed to stay in Cyprus in the event of the island’s reunification.

Turkish and Greek Cypriots are preparing for simultaneous referenda on April 24 on a UN peace plan which envisages a reunited Cyprus joining the European Union on May 1. The plan allows up to 45,000 people of Turkish origin to stay on Cyprus.

“There are almost 41,000 names on our list. This means all settlers can stay,” said Huseyin Ozel, an official in Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat’s Republican Turkish Party (CTP).

Ozel told Reuters the list did not include a further 11,000 mainland Turks married to Turkish Cypriots or an undisclosed number of children born on the island to Turkish settlers. Both groups will also be allowed to stay in Cyprus. A further 10,000 mainland Turks will remain on the island on temporary working visas.

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.