Greek names for Turkish Villages and the British!

flightholiday


Joined: 19/07/2007
Posts: 3217

Message Posted:
29/10/2009 20:15

Long story have a look at ADA TV this evening at 20.30 TRNC 18.30 UK



http://www.adatv.tv/home/indexeng.asp



Ask Teresa if you miss it

Teresa


Joined: 21/11/2007
Posts: 1018

Message Posted:
29/10/2009 20:46

My husband was born in Gonyeli which is and always has been a Turkish village, He was given British citizenship 10 years ago and on his certificate his town of birth is shown as Gonyeli, it was also put on his British passport.

We applied to have his passport renewed here and supplied all the supporting stuff they need and was told it would be ready in 10 days.

When he never heard anything he called them and was told that in order for him to get his passport he needed to return his citizen certificate so they could change his town of birth to Geunyeli which is the Greek spelling.

When we objected we were told that unless he returned the certificate he would not get a passport, i called the commonwealth office in the UK who were very surprised and said they would help, that was until they spoke to the passport office in the South. They said that they are only allowed to use internationally recognised place names and Gonyeli is of course not recognised.

cont

Teresa


Joined: 21/11/2007
Posts: 1018

Message Posted:
29/10/2009 20:51

This is just another small way to make the Turks Greek but we will continue fighting for this but a word of warning to any other Turkish Cypriots who hold British passports DO NOT RENEW THEM HERE IN THE TRNC take or send them back to UK where i know they are still using the Turkish names.

Cyprusquest


Joined: 09/12/2008
Posts: 428

Message Posted:
29/10/2009 21:11

Could only hear it (thanks tom flightholiday for the link) no vision.



Teresa,

This comes over as typical British Small minded bureaucrats wielding the big stick at the little people and you should go to the ombudsman.



Have you asked Embargoed for help? Have you checked with Hans (ever a peoples champion) to see if he could unearth some older maps that confirm the Turkish name both during and before the British ruined the island for the sake of copper and power at this end of the Mediterranean?



You and Ali deserve some support in this

Teresa


Joined: 21/11/2007
Posts: 1018

Message Posted:
29/10/2009 21:26

Fevzi from Embargoed has been great and it is thanks to him that we have got the media attention, we will do everything we can to challenge this even if it does not help us it might help others from facing the same problem.

Thanks for your kind words, to most people they will be saying what is the point of getting upset about a spelling but this goes far deeper then just a spelling, this is my husbands identity.

elko2



Joined: 24/07/2007
Posts: 4400

Message Posted:
29/10/2009 23:44

We Turks write it as "Gönyeli" and the Greeks as "Geunyeli". I can accept it as "Gonyeli" but why change it to the way the Greeks write it which is wrong anyway. The other point is that the international norm is to accept the name used by the local people which is "Gönyeli" and it is acceptable to use only the letters found in English, thus "Gonyeli". It is also worth considering that Greek and Turkish are both official languages of ROC, so both versions should be acceptable on that count.

I believe that ROC have issued instructions to foreign embassies about the use of "official" names. When I applied for a visa at the Ondian embassy recently, the young Greek Cypriot clerk there asked me for proof of my address. When I tried to show her my TRNC ID card she refused to look at it point blank and mumbled something about having instructions that they can only accept official names. She said that she did not know Turkish. She was confused and asked for utility bill. What difference would

elko2



Joined: 24/07/2007
Posts: 4400

Message Posted:
29/10/2009 23:45

it make? All the bills are in Turkish. I think she realized her folly and accepted my visa forms.

ismet

Teresa


Joined: 21/11/2007
Posts: 1018

Message Posted:
30/10/2009 10:45

Ismet i think you are right about this being the ROC who have issued this rule.

Aslan


Joined: 23/06/2008
Posts: 757

Message Posted:
30/10/2009 11:21

I think Embargoed do a fantastic job and representation and hope like I have they use the European Commission for information on proceedings concerning cases of non-compliance with Community law. I have used them in the past and won the case against the ROC administration law on expat living in the "occupied area" being denied work permits in the South and will look for the next case against the ROC decision to deny EU citizens other than Turkish Cypriots the right to drive in the south with a valid driving licence issued in the TRNC.

swannee7


Joined: 21/08/2009
Posts: 394

Message Posted:
30/10/2009 17:49

Here's another 'twiglet' to throw into the burning bush. In the l950's and while living in Nicosia, I can remember this place being referred to as 'Gunyeli' (with accent over the 'u'). It was NEVER spelled the 'Greek' way referred to in other posts on this thread.

Teresa


Joined: 21/11/2007
Posts: 1018

Message Posted:
30/10/2009 18:32

Swannee that is our main argument however on the UN maps dated during the 1960s it is spelled guenyeli and also guneli.

flightholiday


Joined: 19/07/2007
Posts: 3217

Message Posted:
30/10/2009 19:19

Teresa



Have you asked Hans what he can dig up and also what about the pre UN British Army archives*?



* If I'm right they tried to do the seperation and would have created the maps pre 74 or even as far back as the 50's