Northern Cyprus was seized by an invading Turkish army in July 1974. Many of the Greeks and Maronites in that territory taken by the Turks then fled south, to the Greek-ruled Republic of Cyprus. In 1983, the Turks set up a puppet regime in the territory they had seized, calling it the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.” The Turks have propped up that pseudo-state — that has not been recognized internationally — ever since. It is the Turks who are “occupying” 36% of the territory of Cyprus.
Now the Turkish media are up in arms about what they describe as an attempt by Israelis — or if not Israelis, then Jews from everywhere — to “occupy” Northern Cyprus by buying up property in that region. If that is the definition of “occupation,” then Saudi Arabia, which now owns tens of millions of acres of American farmland, must be guilty of trying to “occupy” the United States. And given the large number of Americans who buy property in southern France and Italy for vacation homes, we must conclude that the United States is trying to “occupy” both of those countries. It is, of course, a nutty idea — that if citizens of one country buy property in another country, whether for farming, for setting up businesses, or for vacation homes, there must be some insidious plan to “occupy” that second country.
Over the past month, Turkish media has been reporting on the “silent occupation” of Northern Cyprus by Jews. More on this hysterical campaign can be found here: “Turkish media accuses Jews of occupying – Northern Cyprus!,” Elder of Ziyon, December 10, 2023:
About a month ago, the Cyprus Foundation published an announcement warning the public in Northern Cyprus and Turkey against the threat of the occupying Israel. In the statement, it was stated that ‘Israel’s occupation plan is not limited to Palestine’ and that the Island of Cyprus, like Palestine, was included in the “Promised Land” drawn by the Zionists. It added that this situation poses a threat to Turkey’s national security, and it called on the Turkish people to stop the “silent occupation” of northern Cyprus.
This is, of course, completely nuts. Cyprus was never considered by the Zionists to be part of the “Promised Land.” The Zionists claimed for inclusion in Mandatory Palestine only the land that had been part of the ancient Jewish kingdoms, on both sides of the Jordan River. In the end, the Zionists were forced by circumstances to give up their claim to that part of Judea that was east of the Jordan River. The British wanted that territory to be given to the Hashemite Emir Abdullah, as a consolation prize for not being allowed to challenge French rule in Syria, and so it was, despite the protests of such Zionists as Vladimir (Zev) Jabotinsky, who wrote a poem with the famous line “Shtei Gadot L’Yarden – Zu Shelanu Zu Gam Ken” which can translated as “Two sides has the River Jordan, This one is ours, and that one too.”
But Cyprus? It never was mentioned by the Zionists, early or late. They had, and have, as little interest in staking a claim to any part of Cyprus as they would to Bolivia, or Mongolia. But if your country is run by a conspiracy-minded antisemite such as Recep Tayyip Erdogan, of course you are likely, as a journalist in a police state where more journalists have been jailed than in any country in the world, to follow his lead, and see Zionist conspiracies everywhere.
This is as ironic as it gets, since of course it is Turkey that is occupying northern Cyprus. Practically no nation recognizes Northern Cyprus as independent.
In fact, only one country in the world — Turkey itself — recognizes the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” as an independent state.
Because of the uproar over this accusation, the Turkish government issued a list of the nationalities that have bought land in Turkish-occupied Cyprus. They said that there have been 15,000 applications for purchasing real estate in the territory over the last five years, and Israeli citizens ranked 12th among foreigners who bought property there, way behind the British, Iranians, Ukrainians and Russians.
Israelis ranked only 12th among buyers of real estate in Turkish Cyprus? So it’s a tempest in a teapot. There have been a paltry 3,000 applications for real estate purchases each year for the past five years. That’s not very many. And how many of those applications came from Turks living on the mainland? The Turkish government does not say. It does admit that Israelis are far below many other nationalities — including British, Iranians, Ukrainians, and Russians — in applying to buy property in Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus,. Once that information was released, that should have ended the conspiracy stories about Israel trying to take over northern Cyprus.
But that wasn’t enough to end the antisemitic rumors of a plan to “occupy” Turkish Cyprus. You see, Turkish pundits explained, the people buying the land from the UK, Ukraine, Iran and Russia were mostly — Jews! And Jews are becoming Turkish citizens in order to buy the land!
And Jews are using other evil means to secretly control the land and Turkish Cyprus’ economy!
How does the Turkish government know that most of these people applying to buy land are “Jews”? Good god, how many Jews are there left in Iran, anyway, and what makes the Turkish government think they would be allowed by the Iranian government to invest money overseas, when their every move is scrutinized by the state? Those journalists are simply making up far-fetched tales, about Jews here, Jews there, Jews everywhere, trying to take over Turkish Cyprus. But why would Israelis, or Jews, want to set their sights on Northern Cyprus? The economy of Northern Cyprus is not exactly flourishing. The territory has few resources. What, oh what could be the attraction for Israelis, who have so many other places where they might invest, including the United States, and the countries of the EU, which have much brighter prospects?
It is true that Israelis have been investing in Turkish Cyprus; there are websites about the pros and cons of such an investment and right now the real estate there is much cheaper than in Greek Cyprus. It looks gorgeous — as long as you are aware of the many risks. And Israelis like to take risks….
No one denies that a few thousand Israelis have been buying second homes — vacation homes —in Cyprus, where real estate is much cheaper than in Israel itself, or on the Greek islands, including the Greek part of Cyprus itself. In Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus, real estate is very inexpensive; that, and not a desire to “take over Turkish Cyprus,” explains the interest among Israelis to buy or build homes in the territory. You are still close to Israel, yet far enough away from the anxieties and dangers of day-to-day life in Israel itself. This has nothing to do with an insidious Jewish plan to buy up most of Turkish Cyprus.
The puppet prime minister of Turkish Cyprus is now looking at passing laws to restrict Jewish land purchases and other investments….
Note that the proposed legislation is not intended to restrict purchases only by Israelis, but by Jews, from wherever they come, a manifestation of pure antisemitism. Of course, such legislation will not do the Turkish Cypriots any good. The value of their property will decline, with a smaller market of would-be purchasers. The Jews who might have bought property, and thereby contributed to the local economy (in addition to putting large sums into the hands of Turkish Cypriot sellers of land, and to realtors, Israeli vacationers would need to buy food, rent cars, jet skis, and boats, pay tour guides, frequent restaurants and shops, hire babysitters, and so on, all of which boost the economy), will now look elsewhere for property to buy — in southern Spain or Sardinia or Calabria, perhaps even in the Republic of Cyprus, which unlike Northern Cyprus, welcomes real estate investors from all over.
Eventually Turkish Cypriots will tire of this nonsense, that has shrunk the market of potential buyers for the property they may wish to sell, and will insist that they be allowed to sell their property to whomever — including Jews, and even Israeli Jews — makes the best offer. As for the ranting Erdogan and his journalistic fellow travelers, they will learn soon enough that the Turkish property owners in northern Cyprus will be furious at being forced to engage in a boycott of Jewish buyers of real property because, they can explain, “it’s the economy, stupid.”
GreekEmpress says
Cyprus (all of it) belongs to Greek Cypriots! Turks are just squatters there, like they are in all of Anatolia.
Why would anyone want to own property in Turkish occupied Cyprus? The Turks could probably seize it any time they wanted.
I worry about Turkish designs on the rest of Cyprus as well.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
As usual, what Turkey is doing is pure projection. If they accuse Israel of wanting to take over Northern Cyprus, the thing we should assume is that Ankara itself wants to take over Southern Cyprus, & make the entire island rid of Greeks
I just wish Greece had a regime that was just as hostile to Turks & muslims in general, and armed to the teeth to not just defend themselves, but Cyprus as well
GreekEmpress says
Me too, Infidel.
I still have a cousin in Limassol and I worry for her and her family.
Shalom says
They have been intimidating the Cypriots and recently built a highway without any warning , something like that anyway, Grrrr
bill says
Erdogan wants Netanyahu before the ICC for ‘war crimes’, not the leaders of Hamas of course who have frequently committed war crimes a plenty; and of course not himself who has also committed many war crimes and crimes against humanity. Not to mention his denial of the Armenian genocide.
James Lincoln says
Yes, bill.
And all the while, Turkey remains a member of NATO.
Billy Corr says
The late LBJ, of blessed memory, advocated a bloodless partition of Cyprus years before Greek folly goaded the Turks to invade and set up a Turkish state in the north.
Talking of claims and so on. many here ill not have seen this map, taken to Pais at the end of World War One by the Zionists:
https://ecf.org.il/media_items/422
michael durkin says
Pot calling the kettle Muslims have bought up East Lancashire
GreekEmpress says
https://greekreporter.com/2023/07/20/cyprus-unforgettable-tragedy-of-july-20-1974-video/
GreekEmpress says
https://mfa.gov.cy/turkish-military-invasion-and-occupation.html
The Istanbulian says
Turkey steals land, takes Jewish money, sells Jews land, stirs up antisemitism, allows pogrom, Jews leave, land stays.
Hmmmmm
European pagan says
In the series Once upon a time in Cyprus (bir zamanlar Kıbrıs) the Greeks attacked the Turks… and I read that later the Greek side didn’t want to reunite…
Avenger says
So you have a problem with Greeks wanting Cyprus back under Greek rule but it’s not a problem that Turks murdered 3 million Greeks and other ethnic groups for their own domination of Anatolia. Sounds hypocritical.
Avenger says
This article by Hugh Fitzgerald would read better on a pro-Hamas website. Why does he think anyone be they Jews, British, Ukrainians, Iranians etc have the legal right to purchase land in an illegally occupied war zone? The properties being sold for the most part were owned by displaced or murdered Greek Cypriots. So wouldn’t it be a good thing that local Turks would suffer economically by not being able to sell off land that had never belonged to them? It was bad enough that the EU and US allowed Turkey to invade a sovereign nation but at least they could sanction Turkey like they are doing now to Russia.
Remember this is “Jihad Watch” not al-Jazeera news.
GreekEmpress says
+1