Enclaved Greek Cypriots

Enclaved Greek Cypriots are the Greek Cypriots who have remained in enclaved villages in Northern Cyprus after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974.[1]

In 2014, their population was 343. While the enclaved Greek Cypriots are legally equal citizens, they have no right to vote or run in elections. The Greek Cypriots of Rizokarpaso cannot vote to choose their muhtar, instead, Northern Cyprus and the Republic of Cyprus each appoint one.[2]

Notable cases

Eleni Foka was one of three Greek Cypriot primary school teachers in Karpasia, whose safety was called into question.[3][4][5] She was a teacher at the Greek-Cypriot elementary school in Ayia Triada, Yialousa, in the Northern Cyprus' Karpas region.[6] She took her issue to the European Court of Human Rights.[7] On 5 May 1994, her case was mentioned in a report submitted by the Republic of Cyprus to the United Nations International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination. It stated that:

"At the beginning of March 1994, the Greek Cypriot teacher of the enclaved school in Ayia Triada, Ms. Eleni Foka, was very nearly expelled [from Northern Cyprus] after making a public statement to the effect that she felt threatened. It was only after repeated protests that her expulsion was prevented.[8]

In February 2011, it was announced that Eleni Foka has joined the participants of the Greek Cypriots, et al. v. TRNC and HSBC Bank USA class action.[9] In the 1996/7 school year the primary school in Ayia Triada had to close down "due to the denial of the Turkish occupational forces to allow the school teacher Mrs Eleni Foka to return to her village, regardless of the intense efforts of the [Republic of] Cyprus government for her return."[10][11] The Cypriot Financial Mirror newspaper has recorded that as recently as September 2008, the government of Northern Cyprus has prevented schoolteachers from returning to the primary school in Rizokarpaso.[12]

See also

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/13/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.