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Cyprus

Solution for the “nation”?
By Adem Ozoor

yprus is an island nation located
f in the east of the Mediterranean,

very close to Turkey and the
Levant. Normally, Cyprus is thought of
as a small island that attracts tourists
from around the world. Politically, it
is almost exhilarating to know that the
tiny island that’s about the size of a bird
seed on a map has endured decades of
dejecting history.

The island of Cyprus has been
visited by different groups in the
ancient world. Such examples include
the Greeks, the Phoenicians, and the
Romans. It’s also possible that the
island could have been visited by
other Semitic and Indo-European
tribes. But in more contemporary
history, the Ottomans visited Cyprus
in 1571 and claimed it as part of their
empire until 1878 when they leased
the island to the British Empire. Until
the early twentieth century, Turkish
and Greek citizens lived in Cyprus
without many problems. Some had
British nationalities, but both groups
heavily associated themselves with
their countries of origin. As the years
began to pass, nationalism towards their
motherlands began growing stronger
within the Greek and Turkish citizens to
a point where conflict was started.

In 1960, Great Britain declared

Cyprus a self-governing nation. The
Cypriot government consisted of both
Greeks and Turks, but it’s justified

to say that the Greeks were in almost
complete dominance. There is evidence
of this from 1963, when Greek officials
went absolutely mad and killed several
Turkish citizens and pushed the
remaining ones out into enclaves. Since
then, the Greeks remained in complete
Cypriot control.

On July 20th 1974, The Turkish
government decided to treat the Greek
Cypriots to a delicious “Turkish
delight” by invading Cyprus and
conducting an “ethnic cleansing”
regime, which finally led to the
declaration of the Turkish Republic of
Northern Cyprus. The unfortunate thing
is, albeit Turkish Northern Cypriots
are considered Turkish citizens and
northern Cyprus is federated by Ankara,
the Turkish Republic of Northern
Cyprus is not recognized by any
country in the world except Turkey.

It is true that Turkey’s invasion
back in 1974 was wildly violent, but
who can deny what Greek officials did
to the Turkish Cypriots is equally as
horrible? More sadly, almost no one
cares to recognise that Turkish Cypriots
have been in Cyprus just as long as the
Greeks, and together, they both built
its disturbing history. Also, as Cypriot

citizens, ae should have
nV.

equal rights as Greek Cypriots.

Another thing world leaders are
failing to recognise is Turkish Cypriots
in Northern Cyprus are happy about
their territory being considered a state
of their motherland. Evidence of that
shows when they protest, they carry
their flag along with the Turkish flag,
not the official Greek-inspired Cypriot
flag. Therefore, it is extremely unjust
for the world not to recognise the
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

The ironic thing is the entire world
recognises the Greek Cypriot’s political
requests. Which: Practice of Greek
culture and language on the island,
political alliance with Greece and
its membership within the European
Union despite its ridiculous Middle
Eastern geographical location. It is
absolutely revolting how the entire
world recognises the Greek Cypriot’s
needs, but fails to recognise the Turkish
Cypriot’s needs, especially because the
most often “back up” reason for this is
that “Turkey did not notify Britain and
the rest of the world before invading
back in 1974.” Well, Greek Cypriots
did not notify anyone before violently
secluding the Turkish Cypriots into
enclaves. Therefore, the argument
of Turkey’s lack of notification is
unarguably invalid.

Since Greek Cypriots dominate
the island politically, it would make

   

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perfect sense to have a border placed
between their part of Cyprus and the
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
It also makes sense because Greeks and
Turkish Cypriots both have the right

to self govern themselves. Technically,
that is almost the current situation in
Cyprus, but unfortunately there is no
official border because world leaders do
not recognise the Turkish Republic of
Northern Cyprus. Truthfully speaking,
there will be almost no peace on the
island as long as it remains the case.
World leaders need to forget issues that
took place between Turks and Greeks
in the past and focus on creating a
solution. If the key to creating peace
on the island of Cyprus is just putting

a border and recognising the north as

a Turkish state, why not just have it
done? Why all of the prejudice based
stubbornness?

 

The fresh produce dilemma —

Home delivery versus store bought
By Trevor Doré, Opinions Editor

his summer I decided to test out
| a fresh organic produce home
delivery service. I was given a
gift certificate for three free deliveries.
Before that, I hadn’t heard much about
them. I decided to give it a shot.

For those of you who are
unfamiliar with such a service, let me
give you a brief breakdown. For a flat
fee, 27 dollars for ten items all the
way up to 65 dollars for 30 items, the
company that offers the service delivers
fresh produce straight to your doorstep.
All you have to do is submit your order
every week online. Now you might be
thinking that 27 dollars sounds like a
bit much for 10 items but you have to
remember that these items are organic
and local where possible. Not to
mention, often one item constitutes two,
three even four pieces of fruit.

So for three weeks, I had fresh

   

produce delivered directly to my
doorstep. I didn’t have to make a
special trip down to the fruit and veggie
store and the house was constantly full
of delicious fruits and veggies. The
whole concept got me thinking and
wondering about the pros and cons of
such a service.

Firstly, lets examine the pros. Like
I said, all of the produce is organic
and local where possible. This is an
immediate pro for me — better for the
environment. Produce that falls in the
local and organic category is often more
expensive, however I would have to say

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hs

“that the ptices of home delivery versus

store bought are comparable. All of the
produce came fresh and for the majority
of the three weeks, I never ran out.
When you are surrounded with luscious
fruits and veggies, you automatically
eat more of them — another obvious
plus.

The delivery comes once a week,
the day of the week depends on region
in which you reside. Because the
delivery truck makes multiple deliveries
within a day, it prevents people from
jumping in their cars and individual
driving to the store. Fewer vehicles on
the road - another plus. To place your
order, you simply open the Internet
and you have immediate access to the
various products. Many companies
also deliver products that you would
find in a grocery or health food store.
With a little bit of planning, you can
take advantage of the pros and make a
one stop, once a week shop, saving you

time and money.

Although the benefits seem
outstanding, if you are not one to plan
out your needs for a whole week, the
home delivery system may not be for
you. Perhaps you like to make several
trips a week to different locations for
your food. Most of the home delivery
systems only offer organic produce so if
you haven’t bought into the craze, you
might find the selection limiting and
the prices a little bit steep. Going to the
grocery store allows you to get exactly
what you want and maybe grab some
things that you might have forgotten to
get the previous day.

Overall, I think the home delivery
system is a good idea. For those who
can plan out their weekly food needs,
it saves multiple trips to various stores
and ensures that your shelves are
always full. It also cuts down on the
time spent in traffic and waiting at the
checkout.

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