Will Turkish Cypriots Have To Speak Greek After The Solution?

Will Turkish Cypriots Have To Speak Greek After The Solution?As is happening elsewhere in the EU, there is a push for citizens of countries to speak the language of that country. Initially the call is for immigrants and refugees to speak the language of the country but there is no reason that an employment requirement in the south, for example, should not be for the applicant to speak Greek. Of course, Greek Cypriots would argue that in a unified Cyprus both languages would be accepted but how many young Greek Cypriot customers would understand Turkish. It would make economic sense for a business in the south to employ Greek speakers over Turkish speakers.

Now, to do this would be discriminatory but how often is discrimination undertaken in a way that the offender would never be able to be prosecuted. This would lead to unemployed Turkish Cypriots feeling they were second class citizens and any attempt to affect change through the ballot box would be prevented by the Greek Cypriot majority. There would also be criticism of the complaining Turkish Cypriots by Greek Cypriots who would say that they should learn Greek. Perhaps that is why that in the past there was an imbalance of Greek Cypriots involved in commerce and Turkish Cypriots in agriculture.

However, two separate states would avoid this problem all together. In other words, leave things as they are.

 

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