Now the dust is settling after the verdict has been handed down in the Geoff and Mary Day case, a verdict that should never have been needed. In any other first world country this case would not have made it to Court. Is this the herald of a better tomorrow for the many, many people being unjustly treated in the TRNC? Of course, the property problems here are many and complex and frankly I do not envy the Government that has to start to unravel them, but unravel them they must.
If people are going to lose their homes because of old, unjust laws then the TRNC stand to lose so much more; their credibility. A country that has no credibility has nothing. Who will risk investing in it? Who will even want to visit it as a tourist?
Those brave men and women of Embargoed! and ATCA who inch by inch have worked so hard so raise the World’s awareness of the terrible wrongness of isolating people; their work is being undermined by the very Government they seek to help. Nothing can turn back time. The rights and wrongs of the past cannot be changed. What can and should be changed is attitudes.
The TRNC people do not deserve to be isolated, they are good, hard working people who should have more to look forward to. The Government can change the events now making so many so unhappy, that is what Governments are for. We all accept that change can be painful, it should not be life threatening.
Honour the Human Rights of your guests; ensure they do not lose their homes. Take action to connect the basic amenities of water and electricity at the same cost to all. Look at every grievance with fairness and humanity. Give every man, woman and child living here equality under the law, as it says in the TRNC Constitution. Abolish old laws that have no meaning in these modern times. Enact and enforce new laws where necessary.
Shout at the World, ‘look we are changing, we are modernising, we are fit to be recognised and respected!’ Stop insulting the people who have bought here by saying they bought ‘cheaply.’ It is bad enough hearing from Greek Cypriots that purchasers in the TRNC are cheapskates. You know they paid the market price at the time, indeed most could buy more cheaply now.
It is called ‘market forces’ and at the moment ‘market forces’ are pushing the prices down, down, down. Even as you say such things, you know it is not true. Embrace your supporters, do the right thing by them.
Many ex pats are leaving, I believe very few are coming to replace them. Those who chose to stay do so because of their love affair with this island, but even they can reach breaking point. Islam honours the aged, rejects usury and respects guests; why doesn’t the TRNC government?
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