European Court of Human Rights orders Turkey to pay Cyprus over 1974 invasion

[John ''True Grit'' Wayne]

EU Court orders Turkey to pay #Cyprus over 1974 invasionhttp://htz.li/1jk82JT

Europe's top human rights court in its largest ever judgment ordered Turkey on Monday to pay 90 million euros ($123 million) to Cyprus for its 1974 invasion and the island's subsequent division.

Achilleas Demetriades, a prominent human rights lawyer in Cyprus, who has won several cases in the European Court involving Turkey, said that the judgment also pertains to Turkey's failure to carry out an effective investigation of the whereabouts of Greek Cypriots who disappeared during and after the invasion of the island, and to provide that information to relatives of the missing.
Nicos Sergides, president of the Greek Cypriot organization of relatives of missing persons, said the ruling could offer fresh hope for relatives to find out what happened to their loved ones.

Where are these people Turkey.

[Braindead Colonel]

Some crimes against humanity will get you the "shock and awe" treatment, trip to the Hague included.
Others, just a rather cheap fine. Funny how that works out, eh?

[neoptolemos]

Some crimes against humanity will get you the "shock and awe" treatment, trip to the Hague included.
Others, just a rather cheap fine. Funny how that works out, eh?

Indeed...

[Geronimo2006]

Turkey is too important to NATO locationwise and militarily for Western countries to pressure them over this sadly.

[Col. Tartleton]

Less than a billion dollars... ROFL.

[John ''True Grit'' Wayne]

It does seem like a small amount when you think of the value of human life property and land.

[Kyriakos]

Turkey recently almost had a civil war, and a number of turkish posters in another game forum i go to claim that they probably would now be in fully-fledged civil war if it was not for the (convenient?) Ukraine crisis happening.

So regardless of the rhetoric once again, it looks likely that Turkey can only change in the near future, and possibly this change will come with a (voluntary?) partition as well..

[Nizam89]

Turkey recently almost had a civil war, and a number of turkish posters in another game forum i go to claim that they probably would now be in fully-fledged civil war if it was not for the (convenient?) Ukraine crisis happening.

So regardless of the rhetoric once again, it looks likely that Turkey can only change in the near future, and possibly this change will come with a (voluntary?) partition as well..

What kind of partition? What kind of civil war?
I am turkish myself and never heard of such a thing.

If you mention the 1st may revolts... that's jsut a minor incident somewhere in the outskirts of Istanbul no ones care about... even in some districts of Istanbul.

[Nesimî]

Civil war? I need to get out more if that is true, I certainly have not noticed it.

[Tureuki]

Davutoglu stated they do not accept the result, well I would not mind if we paid anyway, we could consider it as this year's Zakat

[PointOfViewGun]

They could count that fine towards Greeks' attempt at a coup and ethnic cleansing of Turkish Cypriots from the island.

Some crimes against humanity will get you the "shock and awe" treatment, trip to the Hague included.
Others are just ignored. Funny how that works out, eh?

[Seether]

They could count that fine towards Greeks' attempt at a coup and ethnic cleansing of Turkish Cypriots from the island.

Do you really believe Turkey should not pay the fine imposed?

[PointOfViewGun]

Do you really believe Turkey should not pay the fine imposed?

Technically, they should as I assume that they're bound by treaties to acknowledge the authority of the court.

Otherwise, it pisses on the current situation. The missing people are not only made up of Greek Cypriots. There are still hundreds of Turkish Cypriots that are missing. There have been a UN committee made up of both Turkish and Greek scientists operating on both sides to unearth those missing people. Moreover, there have been a comprehensive peace process between the two sides that have advanced in the last few years greatly. Such a one-sided verdict doesn't help with the negative sentiments at all.

Also, as far as I remember the EHCR gave the authority over compensation to special Northern Cypriot courts that have been providing compensation for years. They probably paid a lot more than this verdict's value. The number I remember was over 60 million pounds and I bet it over the years that number increased as well. I know of no such courts or compensation system in the Greek side helping Turkish Cypriots.

[Dante Von Hespburg]

In all fairness i'm not the most knowledgeable of the situation here, beyond the basics of Cyprus division. But this ruling seems to smack of politics as opposed to any kind of resolution to the contentious issues. It seems to be as if the EU is taking action to appease Greece in the matter, but making sure that the action lets face it, isn't exactly harsh..and indeed if the court were to favour the Greekish side in the end, it wouldn't be just a fine. So their also trying to keep Turkey happy.

What i believe though it results in, is the view of a rather pathetic action from Greece, and a minor annoyance for Turkey. It leaves everyone sour. (Like the one time i've visited Hull for that matter...)

[neoptolemos]

What i believe though it results in, is the view of a rather pathetic action from Greece, and a minor annoyance for Turkey. It leaves everyone sour. (Like the one time i've visited Hull for that matter...)

The claimant was Cyprus (a Cypriot lawyer) against Turkey hence I can't see how exactly Greece is involved in this.

[Dante Von Hespburg]

The claimant was Cyprus (a Cypriot lawyer) against Turkey hence I can't see how exactly Greece is involved in this.

Ahh i stand corrected then, replace Greece with Cyprus in my statement my friend! Though i would perhaps still see the EU as trying to satisfy Greece through this arrangement, as Greece does have quite a large interest in this.

[Akrotatos]

Ahh i stand corrected then, replace Greece with Cyprus in my statement my friend! Though i would perhaps still see the EU as trying to satisfy Greece through this arrangement, as Greece does have quite a large interest in this.

Why would EU try to satisfy Greece? We are trying to satisfy them at the moment. Really, whatever small geopolitical weight Greece had has totally evaporated. Nobody gives a about what Greece says or does that is irrelevant to the economy.

[Dromikaites]

In all fairness i'm not the most knowledgeable of the situation here, beyond the basics of Cyprus division. But this ruling seems to smack of politics as opposed to any kind of resolution to the contentious issues. It seems to be as if the EU is taking action to appease Greece in the matter, but making sure that the action lets face it, isn't exactly harsh..and indeed if the court were to favour the Greekish side in the end, it wouldn't be just a fine. So their also trying to keep Turkey happy.

What i believe though it results in, is the view of a rather pathetic action from Greece, and a minor annoyance for Turkey. It leaves everyone sour. (Like the one time i've visited Hull for that matter...)

As neoptolemos pointed out, it was Cyprus which initiated the lawsuit, not Greece.

But the ruling is actually making things easier for Turkey, because 90 millions is peanuts. This is exactly why the Turkish foreign minister said the ruling won't stop Turkey from reaching a settlement on the Northern Cyprus issue. Now that Turkey knows she is liable for less than what the government probably spends on toilet paper in one year, the compensations won't be subject to any further negotiation.

One of the things which make the Armenian Genocide hard to handle by the Turkish government is the size of the German compensations paid to Israel (~40 billion USD by the late '70s if memory serves me well). As long as the figure for compensating the Armenians is not known, the Turks fear it would be in the same ballpark as the one paid by Germany.

If the figure of those compensations would be set to something manageable by the Turkish finances, that chapter would also be out of the way. And based on the level of the compensations received by the Cypriots the Armenian compensation won't be anywhere near to that paid by Germany (by the way, to Germany's credit, that amount of money was increased voluntarily to more than 10 times the initially agreed sum).

So nope, the ruling is not a pathetic act, it is an act that makes the issue of Northern Cyprus easier to solve.

[Col. Tartleton]

Presumably its not one sided. Presumably they subtracted the Greek Cypriot money from the Turkish Cypriot money which is why its so little for Turkey. I imagine they deemed Turkey was slightly more in the wrong than the Greeks, but only slightly.

[Seether]

That's essentially what I was going to say. If it truly was one-sided, then the fine would probably have been significantly more. Neither Turkey nor Greece have clean hands, but (like CT said) Turkey was probably deemed to have been slightly more in the wrong... and hence the (relatively small) fine.