Alice in Wonderland numbers

Submitted by Caleb (United States), Sep 1, 2010 at 10:15

What was the source of the European Commission figures? They were supplied, ultimately, by the Greeks operating under the title Republic of Cyprus. This "Republic" is no more representative of **all** the people of Cyprus than the former all Greek Cypriot National Guard was "national". The numbers on expellees are all over the lot. Some claim 220,000, some 200,000, some 180,000 others far less. [You, for illustration, were willing to let the 200,000 figure stand without conceding that **any** Greeks who initially fled the armies did later return to their homes.] The same goes for the land area populated by the Turkish minority prior to the 1974 Cyprus Operation. To hear the Greeks tell it, the Turkish community occupied only an enclave of maybe 15 percent, excluding the capital. In fact the capital Nicosia through which the Green Line now runs always had a mixed population of Turks and Greeks. Like the Queen of Hearts who declared "Words mean just what I want them to mean", Greece has attempted to lay exclusive claim to Macedonia, or at least enjoy some sort of copyright on the name so that no other nationality may use it.

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