THE QUESTIONS OF PALESTINE AND CYPRUS: JUSTICE, LAW AND POLITICS
THE QUESTIONS OF PALESTINE AND CYPRUS: JUSTICE, LAW AND POLITICS
The Palestinians and the Turkish Cypriots share a history of conflict and unfulfilled aspirations. The plight of the Palestinians ranges from denial of rights of self-determination, land confiscation and economic encirclement, to the daily violence of occupation. As for the Turkish Cypriots, although Turkish protection has contained the existential threat, they continue to live under an embargo and their country is treated as a pariah. While the Palestinians struggle for independence, the Turkish Cypriots want recognition and sovereign equality. The first article of the United Nations’ Charter prescribes the UN’s purposes as, inter alia, to peacefully bring about, “in conformity with the principles of justice and international law”, the resolution of conflicts. The principles of justice are given precedence over the principle of international law because law without justice is, as Kesler put it, an arbitrary concept. The law also represents the codification of the game’s rules in conformity with the established distribution of power. The Palestinians and Turkish Cypriots have had justice denied them despite having the law on their side. I argue that they need to reassess where they are and where they are going, and learn the lessons of experience. One such lesson is about the relationship between justice, law and politics in international relations. Responding to this requires a multifaceted strategy including various forms of resistance and political and diplomatic offensives to form alliances and build coalitions.
___
- 1 Judgments, Advisory Opinions and Orders of the International Court of Justice: 1948-1991, United Nations, New York, New York, 1995, p. 79.
- 2 See Doreen Ingram, Palestine Papers 1917-1922: Seeds of Conflict, New York, George Braziller, 1972, p. 73.
- 3 Nevill Barbour and Nisi Dominus, A Survey of the Palestine Controversy, London, George G. Harap Co., 1946, p. 97.
- 4 Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), 19 December 1956, Vol. 562, No. 32, col. 1271.
- 5 Quoted in Ahmet C. Gazioğlu, Two Equal and Sovereign Peoples, Cyrep, Nicosia, 1999, p. 102-103.
- 6 ‘The Zurich and London Agreements: the Basic Structure of the Republic of Cyprus: Annex III’, Journal of Cyprus Studies, 14/15, Centre for Cyprus Studies, Eastern Mediterranean University, 1999.
- 7 ‘The Treaty of Guarantee: Annex III’, Journal of Cyprus Studies, 14/15, Centre for Cyprus StudiesEastern Mediterranean University, 1999.
- 8 See Andreas Papandreou, Democracy at Gun Point, New York, 1970, p. 100.
- 9 Pierre Obberling, The Road to Bellapais, Social Science Monograph, Boulder, distributed by Columbia University Press, 1982, p. 120-121.
- 10 See John Reddaway, Burdened with Cyprus: the British Connection, London, 1986, p. 224, quoted in Michael Moran, Sovereignty Divided: Essays on the International Dimensions of the Cyprus Problem, Cyrep, TRNC, 1999, pp. 24-25.
- 11 See Henry Cattan, The Palestine Question, London, Croom Helm, 1988, pp. 38-39.
- 12 See Cyprus Mail, 5 March 1964, quoted in Zaim M. Necatigil, The Cyprus Question and the Turkish Position in International Law, Second Edition, Oxford University Press, New York, 1993, p. 50.
- 13 Quoted in Ibid, p. 55.
- 14 Quoted in Ahmet C. Gazioğlu, Two Equal and Sovereign Peoples, opt. cit.; p. 116.
- 15 See Pierre Oberling, The Road to Bellapais, op. cit., p. 170.
- 16 Michael Moran (ed.), Rauf Denktash at the United Nations, Eothen Press, UK, 1997, p. 328.
- 17 Ibid., p. 187
- 18 Ibid, p. 185.
- 19 ‘Opinion of E. Lauterpacht, CBE, QC, on the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’, United Nations A/44/968, S/21463, 9 August 1990.
- 20 Judgments, Advisory Opinions and Orders of the International Court of Justice: 1948-1991, United Nations, New York, New York, 1995, p. 79.
- 21 See Adel Safty, From Camp David to the Gulf, Black Rose, Montreal and New York, 1992, 1997.
- 22 Adel Safty, Leadership and Conflict Resolution, Eastern Mediterranean University Press, 2000. 23 UN, SG/SM/7546, 12 September 2000.
- 24 Quoted in M. Ergün Olgun, ‘Confederation: the Last Chance for Establishing a New Partnership in Cyprus’, Perceptions, March-May 2001, p. 30.
- 25 Joe Verhoeven in La Reconnaissance dans la Pratique Contemporaine, Editions A. Edone, Paris, 1975, pp. 29-30.
- 26 Quoted in Pierre Oberling, The Road to Bellapais, opt. cit., p. 196.
- 27 Jeffrey Z. Rubin and Bert R. Brown, The Social Psychology of Bargaining and Negotiations. New York, Academic Press, 1975, p. 199.
- ISSN: 1300-8641
- Yayın Aralığı: Yılda 2 Sayı
- Başlangıç: 1996
- Yayıncı: T.C Dışişleri Bakanlığı