The officials stress that the solution to the Cyprus issue must bring political equality and fairness for the Turkish Cypriots. Since the Turkish Intervention of 1974, there has been  no bloodshed, but security and freedom for the Turkish Cypriots. TRNC will not accept a "forced" resolution but a correct and just resolution to the issue.
 
Meetings with Turkish Cypriots Regarding the Economy

Some members of the ATAA Delegation met Turkish Cypriot business owners and consumers, and learned that despite the higher per capita income of Turkish Cypriots, many products were up to three times more expensive in Northern Cyprus because due to the embargo Turkish Cypriot retailers were not able to purchase directly from their international counterparts.In response, some Turkish Cypriots were buying in Southern Cyprus.  As for products where Northern Cyprus was more competitive, exportation via Turkey increased prices, and Greek Cypriots who would otherwise shop in the North, did not because they were subject to threats and sanctions by the Greek Cypriot Administration. 

At a luncheon hosted by the internationally recognized Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce, the ATAA Delegation learned that airfares for flights from Europe to Northern Cyprus were not competitive because foreign airlines, which, for legal reasons, do not fly directly to Northern Cyprus and which make a stop in Turkey, pay expensive airport usage fees to Turkish airports and use more fuel.  In response, some people were flying to Southern Cyprus to get to Northern Cyprus.  Yet, direct ferryboat lines from Syria continued to Northern Cyprus, though sporadically.

A bank in Turkish Cypriot Nicosia.  ATAA Delegate Ali Manizade in a supermarket in Girne.

Yet, according to the Chamber of Commerce, other Northern Cypriot service sectors, such as ship repair, tourism and gaming, were flourishing.  A highly educated and skilled Turkish Cypriot work force and lower service rates were attracting shipping companies from as far away as China and the Nordic countries.  And, the unspoiled northern coast, casino resorts, and luxury home developments were rendering Northern Cyprus the favored retirement and summer home location for northern Europeans.


It became abundantly apparent to the ATAA Delegation that the inhumane embargo was causing millions of Turkish Cypriot dollars to flow from the North to the South, with little reciprocity from an ultra-nationalist and protectionist Greek Cypriot side, who is using financial duress to force Turkish Cypriots to succumb to a minority status in a Hellenic-dominated island.  It became equally clear that the Turkish Cypriot economy was finding creative and effective ways to survive and succeed.  The ATAA initiated discussions toward a cooperation protocol with the Chamber of Commerce to educate Americans regarding the economy of Northern Cyprus.

Defeating the Embargo and Blockade with Academic Freedom

Academic freedom and cultural exchange between the United States, Turkey and Northern Cyprus is an ATAA priority.  The reasons are simple.  Through international studies and cultural exchanges, issues stand a higher chance of being understood objectively and addressed effectively.  Secondly, there are over 40,000 students from Africa, the Middle East and Asia in Northern Cyprus’s six universities, as Northern Cyprus aims to grow its foreign education industry to 60,000 students by 2010. As one Arab woman studying in Northern Cyprus stated to ATAA President-Elect Evinch, “I wish Arabs and Jews could resolve their problems like the Turkish and Greek Cypriots have – they may talk and talk and talk, but they don’t kill each other.”

 
Near East University Main Library and one of three NEU conference halls

In 2005, ATAA commenced a policy of protecting academic freedom.  It joined a civil rights lawsuit against the State of Massachusetts to stop the censorship of scholarly material that disagree with the Armenian allegation of genocide.  In 2007, the ATAA coordinated efforts with the American Turkish Association of Southern California (ATA-SC) to defeat a Greek American effort which sought to terminate a student exchange program between Northern Cyprus’ Eastern Mediterranean University and California State University, the largest university system in the United States.  This time, in 2008, ATAA showed support to Near East University (NEU) by visiting the newly built university and initiating discussions toward a cooperation protocol to educate Americans about education opportunities in Northern Cyprus.

President-Elect Gunay Evinch at TRNC Prime Ministry: "Defeat the embargo, you defeat anti-Turkish hatred."

ATAA visited the NEU Main Library, some of whose special features include ancient archives, several million bound or electronic sources, conference facilities, and an “American Room” which was donated by the “People of the United States.”  In 2008, NEU’s library hosted over 2000 scientists in various conferences, while only five percent cancelled due to threats from the Greek Cypriot Administration.

ATAA also visited the Dental School, Medical School, and Public Communications and Broadcast School.  The Dental School included state of the art facilities and equipment exported by European companies.  The Public Communications and Broadcast School included one of the fastest Super Computer Systems in the world -- ranked 16th in Europe and 60th in the world -- donated by IBM despite Greek and Greek Cypriot threats.  Among many projects, the NEU Super Computer is used for one of the world’s most extensive cancer research data collection and analysis projects, in cooperation with the global University Health Network.



Communications and Broadcasting School Super Computer, gifted by IBM

NEU Dental School

ATAA Honors the Fallen

American law school human rights classes teach the Turkish Cyprus intervention of 1974 as one of two military interventions that actually protected human rights and brought democracy; the second is the British intervention in the Falkland Islands.ATAA paid tribute to the fallen in the 1974 Peace Operation at the Point of Intervention where the Turkish Amphibious Special Forces paved the way for the full intervention under the London-Zurich Accords of the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee.