The right to return

Since its inception Lobby for Cyprus has placed at the core of its policies the inalienable right to return of the refugees to their homes and lands.

'all the refugees should return to their homes in safety and calls upon the parties concerned to undertake urgent measures to that end.’
UN resolution 3212 on Cyprus
This is the main reason why we have not supported various solutions proposed as settlements of the Cyprus issue, such as the Annan Plan. They simply did not facilitate the right of all refugees to return, as called for by UN resolutions. Lobby was never concerned about going against the grain whenever necessary, as our policies comply with the requirements of international law.

Lobby is especially delighted to have become one of the ten founding members of the European Union of Exiles and Expelled People. This Union consists of a many national groups throughout the EU, all of which demand the right of all refugees to return to lands they were expelled from in the last 100 years. There are German, Estonian, Finnish and an Italian group. There are also Cypriot, Pontic Greek and Armenian groups, all of which demand the right to return to lands lost to Turkey. The Union is currently lobbying the European Parliament to secure the establishment of a right to return memorial day within the EU and the various founder members have agreed to work together to support the principle of the right to return of all fellow members.

While these views may be inconvenient to those demanding a solution based upon ethnic separation in Cyprus there is evidence that the tide is changing and that the Turkish imposed apartheid in Cyprus cannot be sustained.


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For further information please contact Lobby via e-mail: admin@lobbyforcyprus.org

1: Overview

2: The big steal

3: More myths of Turkish Cypriot ‘isolation’

4: Who really calls the shots in occupied Cyprus?

5: A society uprooted: Famagusta

6: How to win friends and influence people

7: Right to return

8: Morphou and Lapithos: Bittersweet pilgrimage – a refugee returns

9: A paradise destroyed: Morphou and Lapithos

10: Quotations

PHOTO REPORT
Lapithos and Morphou: a paradise destroyed

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