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Prompt #13:
"Who inspires you?" Janel is a reader and so journaled about a character from a book, but I'm going with a character from a movie. Do you remember Linda Hamilton in Terminator II? Oh my word I thought she was so tough - I wanted to be her!...
Today's photo prompt word was Peg. I wanted to get a photo of our blue pegs against the blue sky but we had a lot of clouds aswell!
Taken by Olivia (age 10)
Prompt #23 from Janel of "Run with Scissors" Journal prompts
Journal Prompt 23: Today I want you to fill an entire page in your journal with one of the elements of art. As an art teacher, I have to talk about all of the elements of art...daily.
Here they are:
1. Line
2. Color
3. Shape
4. Space
5. Texture
6. Form
I think this sort of has all of them in it.
I would say that the main attraction in Bangkok has to be the spectacular Grand Palace, it is a complex of buildings at the heart of Phra Nakhon district, Bangkok. The palace has been the official residence of the Kings of Siam ( and later Thailand ) since 1782. The king, his court and his royal government were based on the grounds of the palace until 1925. Construction of the palace began on 6th May 1782, by the order of King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke ( Rama I ), the founder of the Chakri Dynasty, when he moved the capital city from Thonburi to Bangkok. This area however was already occupied by Chinese merchants who he promptly asked to relocate to the present day China Town also known as Yaowarat area.
Having been here four times now, the novelty has worn off for me. But that does not deter from the sheer beauty of this attraction. This is the Place to visit, so be prepared for many crowds, due to its popularity many first time visitors to Thailand make this their first port of call. The present King Bhumibol Adulyadej and his Queen Sirikit along with his family still use this for many events in their busy calendar.
Unfortunately because this is the main attraction in Bangkok, sadly you will find the greatest number of con men and scammers or touts. They will try everything to part you from your money, from saying the palace is closed, to saying your dress code is all wrong. Royal Thai Army soldiers, from the 1st Infantry Regiment, King's Own Bodyguard guard the Palace, simply go to the main gate and ask them. They will soon inform you whether you can enter or not. The dress code problem can be easily solved by crossing the road and hiring what you need to cover up Tattoos or bare arms etc. There are several shops catering for the hiring out of clothes to gain access to the Grand Palace. You will find the dress code for Temples is rigidly applied here. The reason they use the Grand Palace is closed con is that they hope to coerce you into buying a river trip and some other trip around Bangkok to buy items that they get paid commission on.
Visitors are requested to be dressed properly and appropriately on entering the grounds of the Grand Palace. These are the guide lines for attire within this Palace.
Shorts, mini skirts, short skirts, tight fitting trousers, as well as tights cannot be worn as outer garments.
See through shirts and blouses, as well as culottes or quarter length trousers cannot be worn.
Sleeveless shirts or vests cannot be worn as outer garments.
Sandals (without ankle or heel straps) cannot be worn.
All shirt sleeves, whether long or short, cannot be rolled up.
Sweat shirts and sweat pants, wind-cheaters cannot be worn.
Phone: 02-623-5500 Ext. 1124, 3100 Open everyday from 8.30 a.m. to 16.30 p.m. Tickets sold until 15.30 p.m.
ADMISSION FEES:
Ticket costs 500 Baht each ( for Foreign Visitors ~ free for Thai residents ) and consists of three main parts :
1) The yellow part is for the Grand Palace and is valid only on the day of purchase. ( A guide book will be given to each visitor at the entrance to the temple.)
2) The blue part is for the Vimanmek Mansion Museum ( The world's largest golden teakwood mansion ) This part of the ticket is valid for seven days from the day of purchase. The Vimanmek Mansion Museum is located at Suan Phuttan Garden on Ratchawithi Road in the Dusit District of Bangkok, and may be reached by bus number 70, departing from outside the Grand Palace, or by taxi.
(Note : Entry to Vimanmek Museum will not be permitted without the blue part of the ticket, which may also be purchased separately, on a daily basis, at the museum for 100 Baht.)
3) The white ticket is for The Royal Thai Decoration and Coin Pavilion, which is on the right hand side before the entrance to the temple.
Construction began in 1782, at first the palace consisted of several wooden buildings surrounded on four sides with a high defensive wall of 1,900 metres in length, which encloses an area of 218,400 square metres. Soon the King ordered the building of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha; as the Monarch’s personal place of worship and royal temple. Once the palace was complete the King decided to undergo a coronation ceremony to celebrate in 1785.
The layout of the Grand Palace follows closely to that of the old palace in Ayutthaya. The Palace is rectangular shaped, with the western side next to a river and the royal temple situated to the east side, with all structures facing north. The palace itself is divided into three quarters: the outer quarters, the middle quarters and the inner quarters. Also in this Temple you will see a large model replica of the old Royal City at Ankor Wat in Cambodia.
The Galleries are some of the first exhibits you will see entering this complex of incredible buildings. These portray scenes from the Ramakien, first painted during the reign of King Rama 1. They have been restored several times over the years to maintain their condition and looks. The first scene of the story begins at the east gate opposite the Phra Wiharn Yod. The significant scenes from this story appear next to the gate leading to the Royal Palace.
Writing Prompt Journal made with lots of Vintage Ephemera regarding countries in Europe - each having a writing prompt for creative inspiration.
Check out my blog for more of what I make jennibelliestudio.blogspot.com
Journals available in my shop that is on profile page - www.flickr.com/people/39911180@N05/
Prompt: wide shot, high detail black and white pencil sketch portrait of an adult White West Highland Terrier cuddled to her puppy, high resolution, --ar 4:5 --v 6.1
digital fine art was created using Midjourney AI v 6.1 and Photoshop
A 22 August TYEE article by contributor Geoff Meggs prompted posting 1 more Vancouver Downtown Eastside (DTES) illicit drug use photo.
The Tyee is an independent, online news magazine from B.C. founded in 2003 devoted to fact-driven stories, reporting and analysis that informs and enlivens our democratic conversation.
BC’s Underground Economy Is Huge. And Deadly
By TYEE contributor Geoff Meggs, 22 August, 2024
Geoff Meggs is a former journalist and Vancouver city councillor. He was chief of staff to Premier John Horgan and has authored several books on B.C. politics.
The Article:
Before a bullet crashed through the front window of a Richmond sushi restaurant in 2020 and killed him, Jian Jun Zhu was alleged to be one of B.C.’s biggest money launderers, handling more than $80 million in one five-month period in 2015 and as much as $220 million annually.
The director of Silver International, an underground bank, Zhu could turn over millions of dollars a day, according to B.C.’s Civil Forfeiture Office, converting the ill-gotten gains of Mexican cocaine smugglers and countless other criminals into apparently legitimate funds.
If a single group of money launderers could do more than $200 million a year in business, then how big is B.C.’s total underground economy? If police can’t bring people like Zhu to justice, why should any money launderer fear justice?
The answers are elusive but point to the massive size of B.C.’s drug business. It’s fair to assume that the underground economy that includes the narcotics business is as large in some respects as mining or tourism, employs tens of thousands of British Columbians but pays no taxes, drives huge policing costs and has made fentanyl overdoses the largest single cause of death.
Unwinding such a larghe part of the BC economy is no simple task, particularily when it is so hard to see. The Manzo restaurant shooting was a rare instance of the underground economy briefly becoming visible, thanks in particular to reporting by the Vancouver Sun’s Kim Bolan, who covered the entire Zhu murder trial.
According to prosecutors, the shot that killed Zhu was probably intended for Paul King Jin, who was injured in the hail of bullets.
Jin was a target of the RCMP’s massive E-Pirate investigation, a multi-year effort that collapsed as a result of inadvertent disclosures and administrative errors by the RCMP. Jin escaped prosecution when E-Pirate folded in 2018, and later beat eight separate charges in 2023, when a special prosecutor concluded there was insufficient likelihood of a conviction.
While Jin must be presumed innocent, the Silver International people clearly kept dangerous company. Two other guests that night at the Manzo were later killed in separate shootings. In September, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Jeanne Watchuk will announce her verdict in the trial of Richard Reed, the man accused of firing seven shots at the Manzo, killing Zhu and wounding Jin.
Yet even if Reed is convicted, there is little or no prospect British Columbians will learn who paid for the hit and why.
The Silver International saga is just the tip of a money-laundering iceberg that economists have struggled to measure. One of the most ambitious efforts anywhere was undertaken here in B.C. in 2019, when then finance minister Carole James struck an expert panel on money laundering in B.C. real estate.
The panel’s report, “Combatting Money Laundering in B.C. Real Estate,” concluded that B.C.’s underground economy was probably equivalent to about 2.5 per cent of provincial GDP, an admittedly conservative estimate at the low end of previous guesses.]
With B.C.’s real GDP estimated at $300 billion in 2023, that puts the size of the underground economy at as much as $7.5 billion annually. To put that in perspective, that’s bigger than tourism’s estimated contribution to the provincial economy, about $5 billion in 2021, and similar to mining, at $5.9 billion. Narcotics is a large but unknown share of that total.
Unlike tourism and mining, however, the narcotics business pays no taxes — tourism paid $1.4 billion in 2021 — and offers its employees, if they can be called that, high-risk work for unreliable rewards. British Columbians pay an enormous price for fentanyl trafficking in countless ways, from targeted shootings to the deadly toll of fentanyl overdoses.
Chaired by law professor and former deputy attorney general Maureen Maloney, the expert panel noted that not all the revenues of organized crime are laundered. Some are plowed straight back into the business in cash payments or purchases. The narcotics business, in other words, is worth billions of dollars a year.
In the drug business, about 20 per cent of the cash is plowed back in, but 80 per cent of the proceeds need laundering to hide the proceeds of crime from police. International capital flows make a good home for dark money, and “some countries are more attractive than others for launderers due to their high GDP, which makes it easier to hide criminal proceeds in lucrative businesses or assets, or due to the financial expertise and low corruption generally associated with high GDP, which makes such countries safe havens for the money.”
If this sounds like a description of British Columbia, it is.
As far back as 2004, Fraser Institutes Stephen Easton made the incredible calculation that the cannabis industry, then illegal, was worth $2 billion annually in wholesale value, making it equivalent then to between 1.5 and 4.6 per cent of GDP.
Now legalized, the cannabis industry operating under B.C. government regulations is still worth $2 billion annually, but an additional and significant share of the business is still underground. (Thirty per cent of cannabis users say they still access the illegal market.) It was the massive illicit cannabis trade, of course, that incubated the growth of the violent cocaine and bud-smuggling industry that now traffics fentanyl.
Given the very large size of the narcotics business and the underground economy, it is reasonable to assume that its participants are all around us, in law offices, driving trucks, operating warehouses, selling real estate.
Or celebrating a deal at a restaurant. When Jian Jun Zhu died and Paul King Jin escaped by a hair in 2020, it was a brief and violent glimpse of a world that exists, unseen, all around us.
Frustrated by the collapse of E-Pirate, B.C. prosecutors sought to seize at least some of Zhu’s wealth through a civil forfeiture action directed at Caixuan Qin, his wife. After several years of legal battle, the province settled for $1 million in cash, jewels and casino chips, less than the average daily turnover at Silver International.
The message seems clear: B.C. money launderers have little to fear from police. It’s others in their illicit business they need to watch out for.
This week we were to have someone else draw in our planner and then add to it. My mom drew this wonderful chair. I colored it in and added a plant and rug. drawdaily.blogspot.com/2014/03/invite-someone-else-to-dra...
offset circles on watercolor paper colored with Inktense pencils using watercolor brush to dilute
Sponsored by: Daisy Yellow Daily Paper Prompts
CHATSWORTH - A prompt call to 9-1-1 from a passerby brought the Los Angeles City Fire Department and allied agencies to quickly conquer a small non-injury brush fire in the 11500 block of North Topanga Canyon Boulevard on September 29, 2020.
© Photo by Mark Lassman
LAFD Incident: 092920-0711
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What's Prompt Dog's favorite command? Why, dig of course, Dog loves nothing more than rooting up IP addresses and bringing them to his master!
this is number 1 in a series of 4
besides being a really fun, inspiring and supportive group, i love that the prompt addicts give us one week to work on a prompt. keeps our eye keen, our mind stimulated and possibilities open for longer ~ thanks, PA!
here is the start of the story of the series. i am out in the garden, forking dirt and building box beds, thinking about turquoise when 'eureka'! a few turquoise items come to mind.
i run to the house, cuz the light is changing outside ... take off my dusty wool socks, runners, garden gear and slip into something ... well, something turquoise ... at times like that i wish i had someone with me cuz i am not sure one ought to have this much fun alone : )
so, these are my turquoise flower sandals, given to me by our son's girlfriend ... and from where i stand, autumn is definitely befalling on this shrub.
prompt addicts . turquoise
Vasileia (Greek: Bασίλεια; Turkish: Karşıyaka) is a village in Kyrenia District of Cyprus. It is located 3 km west of Lapithos. De facto, it is under the control of Northern Cyprus. Its population in 2011 was 2,091.
In the heart of Vasileia there is an abandoned church.
Turkish Cypriot Karşıyaka Sports Club was founded in 1957, and now in Cyprus Turkish Football Association (CTFA) K-PET 2nd League.
Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a de facto state that comprises the northeastern portion of the island of Cyprus. It is recognised only by Turkey, and its territory is considered by all other states to be part of the Republic of Cyprus.
Northern Cyprus extends from the tip of the Karpass Peninsula in the northeast to Morphou Bay, Cape Kormakitis and its westernmost point, the Kokkina exclave in the west. Its southernmost point is the village of Louroujina. A buffer zone under the control of the United Nations stretches between Northern Cyprus and the rest of the island and divides Nicosia, the island's largest city and capital of both sides.
A coup d'état in 1974, performed as part of an attempt to annex the island to Greece, prompted the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. This resulted in the eviction of much of the north's Greek Cypriot population, the flight of Turkish Cypriots from the south, and the partitioning of the island, leading to a unilateral declaration of independence by the north in 1983. Due to its lack of recognition, Northern Cyprus is heavily dependent on Turkey for economic, political and military support.
Attempts to reach a solution to the Cyprus dispute have been unsuccessful. The Turkish Army maintains a large force in Northern Cyprus with the support and approval of the TRNC government, while the Republic of Cyprus, the European Union as a whole, and the international community regard it as an occupation force. This military presence has been denounced in several United Nations Security Council resolutions.
Northern Cyprus is a semi-presidential, democratic republic with a cultural heritage incorporating various influences and an economy that is dominated by the services sector. The economy has seen growth through the 2000s and 2010s, with the GNP per capita more than tripling in the 2000s, but is held back by an international embargo due to the official closure of the ports in Northern Cyprus by the Republic of Cyprus. The official language is Turkish, with a distinct local dialect being spoken. The vast majority of the population consists of Sunni Muslims, while religious attitudes are mostly moderate and secular. Northern Cyprus is an observer state of ECO and OIC under the name "Turkish Cypriot State", PACE under the name "Turkish Cypriot Community", and Organization of Turkic States with its own name.
Several distinct periods of Cypriot intercommunal violence involving the two main ethnic communities, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, marked mid-20th century Cyprus. These included the Cyprus Emergency of 1955–59 during British rule, the post-independence Cyprus crisis of 1963–64, and the Cyprus crisis of 1967. Hostilities culminated in the 1974 de facto division of the island along the Green Line following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The region has been relatively peaceful since then, but the Cyprus dispute has continued, with various attempts to solve it diplomatically having been generally unsuccessful.
Cyprus, an island lying in the eastern Mediterranean, hosted a population of Greeks and Turks (four-fifths and one-fifth, respectively), who lived under British rule in the late nineteenth-century and the first half of the twentieth-century. Christian Orthodox Church of Cyprus played a prominent political role among the Greek Cypriot community, a privilege that it acquired during the Ottoman Empire with the employment of the millet system, which gave the archbishop an unofficial ethnarch status.
The repeated rejections by the British of Greek Cypriot demands for enosis, union with Greece, led to armed resistance, organised by the National Organization of Cypriot Struggle, or EOKA. EOKA, led by the Greek-Cypriot commander George Grivas, systematically targeted British colonial authorities. One of the effects of EOKA's campaign was to alter the Turkish position from demanding full reincorporation into Turkey to a demand for taksim (partition). EOKA's mission and activities caused a "Cretan syndrome" (see Turkish Resistance Organisation) within the Turkish Cypriot community, as its members feared that they would be forced to leave the island in such a case as had been the case with Cretan Turks. As such, they preferred the continuation of British colonial rule and then taksim, the division of the island. Due to the Turkish Cypriots' support for the British, EOKA's leader, Georgios Grivas, declared them to be enemies. The fact that the Turks were a minority was, according to Nihat Erim, to be addressed by the transfer of thousands of Turks from mainland Turkey so that Greek Cypriots would cease to be the majority. When Erim visited Cyprus as the Turkish representative, he was advised by Field Marshal Sir John Harding, the then Governor of Cyprus, that Turkey should send educated Turks to settle in Cyprus.
Turkey actively promoted the idea that on the island of Cyprus two distinctive communities existed, and sidestepped its former claim that "the people of Cyprus were all Turkish subjects". In doing so, Turkey's aim to have self-determination of two to-be equal communities in effect led to de jure partition of the island.[citation needed] This could be justified to the international community against the will of the majority Greek population of the island. Dr. Fazil Küçük in 1954 had already proposed Cyprus be divided in two at the 35° parallel.
Lindley Dan, from Notre Dame University, spotted the roots of intercommunal violence to different visions among the two communities of Cyprus (enosis for Greek Cypriots, taksim for Turkish Cypriots). Also, Lindlay wrote that "the merging of church, schools/education, and politics in divisive and nationalistic ways" had played a crucial role in creation of havoc in Cyprus' history. Attalides Michael also pointed to the opposing nationalisms as the cause of the Cyprus problem.
By the mid-1950's, the "Cyprus is Turkish" party, movement, and slogan gained force in both Cyprus and Turkey. In a 1954 editorial, Turkish Cypriot leader Dr. Fazil Kuchuk expressed the sentiment that the Turkish youth had grown up with the idea that "as soon as Great Britain leaves the island, it will be taken over by the Turks", and that "Turkey cannot tolerate otherwise". This perspective contributed to the willingness of Turkish Cypriots to align themselves with the British, who started recruiting Turkish Cypriots into the police force that patrolled Cyprus to fight EOKA, a Greek Cypriot nationalist organisation that sought to rid the island of British rule.
EOKA targeted colonial authorities, including police, but Georgios Grivas, the leader of EOKA, did not initially wish to open up a new front by fighting Turkish Cypriots and reassured them that EOKA would not harm their people. In 1956, some Turkish Cypriot policemen were killed by EOKA members and this provoked some intercommunal violence in the spring and summer, but these attacks on policemen were not motivated by the fact that they were Turkish Cypriots.
However, in January 1957, Grivas changed his policy as his forces in the mountains became increasingly pressured by the British Crown forces. In order to divert the attention of the Crown forces, EOKA members started to target Turkish Cypriot policemen intentionally in the towns, so that Turkish Cypriots would riot against the Greek Cypriots and the security forces would have to be diverted to the towns to restore order. The killing of a Turkish Cypriot policeman on 19 January, when a power station was bombed, and the injury of three others, provoked three days of intercommunal violence in Nicosia. The two communities targeted each other in reprisals, at least one Greek Cypriot was killed and the British Army was deployed in the streets. Greek Cypriot stores were burned and their neighbourhoods attacked. Following the events, the Greek Cypriot leadership spread the propaganda that the riots had merely been an act of Turkish Cypriot aggression. Such events created chaos and drove the communities apart both in Cyprus and in Turkey.
On 22 October 1957 Sir Hugh Mackintosh Foot replaced Sir John Harding as the British Governor of Cyprus. Foot suggested five to seven years of self-government before any final decision. His plan rejected both enosis and taksim. The Turkish Cypriot response to this plan was a series of anti-British demonstrations in Nicosia on 27 and 28 January 1958 rejecting the proposed plan because the plan did not include partition. The British then withdrew the plan.
In 1957, Black Gang, a Turkish Cypriot pro-taksim paramilitary organisation, was formed to patrol a Turkish Cypriot enclave, the Tahtakale district of Nicosia, against activities of EOKA. The organisation later attempted to grow into a national scale, but failed to gain public support.
By 1958, signs of dissatisfaction with the British increased on both sides, with a group of Turkish Cypriots forming Volkan (later renamed to the Turkish Resistance Organisation) paramilitary group to promote partition and the annexation of Cyprus to Turkey as dictated by the Menderes plan. Volkan initially consisted of roughly 100 members, with the stated aim of raising awareness in Turkey of the Cyprus issue and courting military training and support for Turkish Cypriot fighters from the Turkish government.
In June 1958, the British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, was expected to propose a plan to resolve the Cyprus issue. In light of the new development, the Turks rioted in Nicosia to promote the idea that Greek and Turkish Cypriots could not live together and therefore any plan that did not include partition would not be viable. This violence was soon followed by bombing, Greek Cypriot deaths and looting of Greek Cypriot-owned shops and houses. Greek and Turkish Cypriots started to flee mixed population villages where they were a minority in search of safety. This was effectively the beginning of the segregation of the two communities. On 7 June 1958, a bomb exploded at the entrance of the Turkish Embassy in Cyprus. Following the bombing, Turkish Cypriots looted Greek Cypriot properties. On 26 June 1984, the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktaş, admitted on British channel ITV that the bomb was placed by the Turks themselves in order to create tension. On 9 January 1995, Rauf Denktaş repeated his claim to the famous Turkish newspaper Milliyet in Turkey.
The crisis reached a climax on 12 June 1958, when eight Greeks, out of an armed group of thirty five arrested by soldiers of the Royal Horse Guards on suspicion of preparing an attack on the Turkish quarter of Skylloura, were killed in a suspected attack by Turkish Cypriot locals, near the village of Geunyeli, having been ordered to walk back to their village of Kondemenos.
After the EOKA campaign had begun, the British government successfully began to turn the Cyprus issue from a British colonial problem into a Greek-Turkish issue. British diplomacy exerted backstage influence on the Adnan Menderes government, with the aim of making Turkey active in Cyprus. For the British, the attempt had a twofold objective. The EOKA campaign would be silenced as quickly as possible, and Turkish Cypriots would not side with Greek Cypriots against the British colonial claims over the island, which would thus remain under the British. The Turkish Cypriot leadership visited Menderes to discuss the Cyprus issue. When asked how the Turkish Cypriots should respond to the Greek Cypriot claim of enosis, Menderes replied: "You should go to the British foreign minister and request the status quo be prolonged, Cyprus to remain as a British colony". When the Turkish Cypriots visited the British Foreign Secretary and requested for Cyprus to remain a colony, he replied: "You should not be asking for colonialism at this day and age, you should be asking for Cyprus be returned to Turkey, its former owner".
As Turkish Cypriots began to look to Turkey for protection, Greek Cypriots soon understood that enosis was extremely unlikely. The Greek Cypriot leader, Archbishop Makarios III, now set independence for the island as his objective.
Britain resolved to solve the dispute by creating an independent Cyprus. In 1959, all involved parties signed the Zurich Agreements: Britain, Turkey, Greece, and the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, Makarios and Dr. Fazil Kucuk, respectively. The new constitution drew heavily on the ethnic composition of the island. The President would be a Greek Cypriot, and the Vice-President a Turkish Cypriot with an equal veto. The contribution to the public service would be set at a ratio of 70:30, and the Supreme Court would consist of an equal number of judges from both communities as well as an independent judge who was not Greek, Turkish or British. The Zurich Agreements were supplemented by a number of treaties. The Treaty of Guarantee stated that secession or union with any state was forbidden, and that Greece, Turkey and Britain would be given guarantor status to intervene if that was violated. The Treaty of Alliance allowed for two small Greek and Turkish military contingents to be stationed on the island, and the Treaty of Establishment gave Britain sovereignty over two bases in Akrotiri and Dhekelia.
On 15 August 1960, the Colony of Cyprus became fully independent as the Republic of Cyprus. The new republic remained within the Commonwealth of Nations.
The new constitution brought dissatisfaction to Greek Cypriots, who felt it to be highly unjust for them for historical, demographic and contributional reasons. Although 80% of the island's population were Greek Cypriots and these indigenous people had lived on the island for thousands of years and paid 94% of taxes, the new constitution was giving the 17% of the population that was Turkish Cypriots, who paid 6% of taxes, around 30% of government jobs and 40% of national security jobs.
Within three years tensions between the two communities in administrative affairs began to show. In particular disputes over separate municipalities and taxation created a deadlock in government. A constitutional court ruled in 1963 Makarios had failed to uphold article 173 of the constitution which called for the establishment of separate municipalities for Turkish Cypriots. Makarios subsequently declared his intention to ignore the judgement, resulting in the West German judge resigning from his position. Makarios proposed thirteen amendments to the constitution, which would have had the effect of resolving most of the issues in the Greek Cypriot favour. Under the proposals, the President and Vice-President would lose their veto, the separate municipalities as sought after by the Turkish Cypriots would be abandoned, the need for separate majorities by both communities in passing legislation would be discarded and the civil service contribution would be set at actual population ratios (82:18) instead of the slightly higher figure for Turkish Cypriots.
The intention behind the amendments has long been called into question. The Akritas plan, written in the height of the constitutional dispute by the Greek Cypriot interior minister Polycarpos Georkadjis, called for the removal of undesirable elements of the constitution so as to allow power-sharing to work. The plan envisaged a swift retaliatory attack on Turkish Cypriot strongholds should Turkish Cypriots resort to violence to resist the measures, stating "In the event of a planned or staged Turkish attack, it is imperative to overcome it by force in the shortest possible time, because if we succeed in gaining command of the situation (in one or two days), no outside, intervention would be either justified or possible." Whether Makarios's proposals were part of the Akritas plan is unclear, however it remains that sentiment towards enosis had not completely disappeared with independence. Makarios described independence as "a step on the road to enosis".[31] Preparations for conflict were not entirely absent from Turkish Cypriots either, with right wing elements still believing taksim (partition) the best safeguard against enosis.
Greek Cypriots however believe the amendments were a necessity stemming from a perceived attempt by Turkish Cypriots to frustrate the working of government. Turkish Cypriots saw it as a means to reduce their status within the state from one of co-founder to that of minority, seeing it as a first step towards enosis. The security situation deteriorated rapidly.
Main articles: Bloody Christmas (1963) and Battle of Tillyria
An armed conflict was triggered after December 21, 1963, a period remembered by Turkish Cypriots as Bloody Christmas, when a Greek Cypriot policemen that had been called to help deal with a taxi driver refusing officers already on the scene access to check the identification documents of his customers, took out his gun upon arrival and shot and killed the taxi driver and his partner. Eric Solsten summarised the events as follows: "a Greek Cypriot police patrol, ostensibly checking identification documents, stopped a Turkish Cypriot couple on the edge of the Turkish quarter. A hostile crowd gathered, shots were fired, and two Turkish Cypriots were killed."
In the morning after the shooting, crowds gathered in protest in Northern Nicosia, likely encouraged by the TMT, without incident. On the evening of the 22nd, gunfire broke out, communication lines to the Turkish neighbourhoods were cut, and the Greek Cypriot police occupied the nearby airport. On the 23rd, a ceasefire was negotiated, but did not hold. Fighting, including automatic weapons fire, between Greek and Turkish Cypriots and militias increased in Nicosia and Larnaca. A force of Greek Cypriot irregulars led by Nikos Sampson entered the Nicosia suburb of Omorphita and engaged in heavy firing on armed, as well as by some accounts unarmed, Turkish Cypriots. The Omorphita clash has been described by Turkish Cypriots as a massacre, while this view has generally not been acknowledged by Greek Cypriots.
Further ceasefires were arranged between the two sides, but also failed. By Christmas Eve, the 24th, Britain, Greece, and Turkey had joined talks, with all sides calling for a truce. On Christmas day, Turkish fighter jets overflew Nicosia in a show of support. Finally it was agreed to allow a force of 2,700 British soldiers to help enforce a ceasefire. In the next days, a "buffer zone" was created in Nicosia, and a British officer marked a line on a map with green ink, separating the two sides of the city, which was the beginning of the "Green Line". Fighting continued across the island for the next several weeks.
In total 364 Turkish Cypriots and 174 Greek Cypriots were killed during the violence. 25,000 Turkish Cypriots from 103-109 villages fled and were displaced into enclaves and thousands of Turkish Cypriot houses were ransacked or completely destroyed.
Contemporary newspapers also reported on the forceful exodus of the Turkish Cypriots from their homes. According to The Times in 1964, threats, shootings and attempts of arson were committed against the Turkish Cypriots to force them out of their homes. The Daily Express wrote that "25,000 Turks have already been forced to leave their homes". The Guardian reported a massacre of Turks at Limassol on 16 February 1964.
Turkey had by now readied its fleet and its fighter jets appeared over Nicosia. Turkey was dissuaded from direct involvement by the creation of a United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) in 1964. Despite the negotiated ceasefire in Nicosia, attacks on the Turkish Cypriot persisted, particularly in Limassol. Concerned about the possibility of a Turkish invasion, Makarios undertook the creation of a Greek Cypriot conscript-based army called the "National Guard". A general from Greece took charge of the army, whilst a further 20,000 well-equipped officers and men were smuggled from Greece into Cyprus. Turkey threatened to intervene once more, but was prevented by a strongly worded letter from the American President Lyndon B. Johnson, anxious to avoid a conflict between NATO allies Greece and Turkey at the height of the Cold War.
Turkish Cypriots had by now established an important bridgehead at Kokkina, provided with arms, volunteers and materials from Turkey and abroad. Seeing this incursion of foreign weapons and troops as a major threat, the Cypriot government invited George Grivas to return from Greece as commander of the Greek troops on the island and launch a major attack on the bridgehead. Turkey retaliated by dispatching its fighter jets to bomb Greek positions, causing Makarios to threaten an attack on every Turkish Cypriot village on the island if the bombings did not cease. The conflict had now drawn in Greece and Turkey, with both countries amassing troops on their Thracian borders. Efforts at mediation by Dean Acheson, a former U.S. Secretary of State, and UN-appointed mediator Galo Plaza had failed, all the while the division of the two communities becoming more apparent. Greek Cypriot forces were estimated at some 30,000, including the National Guard and the large contingent from Greece. Defending the Turkish Cypriot enclaves was a force of approximately 5,000 irregulars, led by a Turkish colonel, but lacking the equipment and organisation of the Greek forces.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1964, U Thant, reported the damage during the conflicts:
UNFICYP carried out a detailed survey of all damage to properties throughout the island during the disturbances; it shows that in 109 villages, most of them Turkish-Cypriot or mixed villages, 527 houses have been destroyed while 2,000 others have suffered damage from looting.
The situation worsened in 1967, when a military junta overthrew the democratically elected government of Greece, and began applying pressure on Makarios to achieve enosis. Makarios, not wishing to become part of a military dictatorship or trigger a Turkish invasion, began to distance himself from the goal of enosis. This caused tensions with the junta in Greece as well as George Grivas in Cyprus. Grivas's control over the National Guard and Greek contingent was seen as a threat to Makarios's position, who now feared a possible coup.[citation needed] The National Guard and Cyprus Police began patrolling the Turkish Cypriot enclaves of Ayios Theodoros and Kophinou, and on November 15 engaged in heavy fighting with the Turkish Cypriots.
By the time of his withdrawal 26 Turkish Cypriots had been killed. Turkey replied with an ultimatum demanding that Grivas be removed from the island, that the troops smuggled from Greece in excess of the limits of the Treaty of Alliance be removed, and that the economic blockades on the Turkish Cypriot enclaves be lifted. Grivas was recalled by the Athens Junta and the 12,000 Greek troops were withdrawn. Makarios now attempted to consolidate his position by reducing the number of National Guard troops, and by creating a paramilitary force loyal to Cypriot independence. In 1968, acknowledging that enosis was now all but impossible, Makarios stated, "A solution by necessity must be sought within the limits of what is feasible which does not always coincide with the limits of what is desirable."
After 1967 tensions between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots subsided. Instead, the main source of tension on the island came from factions within the Greek Cypriot community. Although Makarios had effectively abandoned enosis in favour of an 'attainable solution', many others continued to believe that the only legitimate political aspiration for Greek Cypriots was union with Greece.
On his arrival, Grivas began by establishing a nationalist paramilitary group known as the National Organization of Cypriot Fighters (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston B or EOKA-B), drawing comparisons with the EOKA struggle for enosis under the British colonial administration of the 1950s.
The military junta in Athens saw Makarios as an obstacle. Makarios's failure to disband the National Guard, whose officer class was dominated by mainland Greeks, had meant the junta had practical control over the Cypriot military establishment, leaving Makarios isolated and a vulnerable target.
During the first Turkish invasion, Turkish troops invaded Cyprus territory on 20 July 1974, invoking its rights under the Treaty of Guarantee. This expansion of Turkish-occupied zone violated International Law as well as the Charter of the United Nations. Turkish troops managed to capture 3% of the island which was accompanied by the burning of the Turkish Cypriot quarter, as well as the raping and killing of women and children. A temporary cease-fire followed which was mitigated by the UN Security Council. Subsequently, the Greek military Junta collapsed on July 23, 1974, and peace talks commenced in which a democratic government was installed. The Resolution 353 was broken after Turkey attacked a second time and managed to get a hold of 37% of Cyprus territory. The Island of Cyprus was appointed a Buffer Zone by the United Nations, which divided the island into two zones through the 'Green Line' and put an end to the Turkish invasion. Although Turkey announced that the occupied areas of Cyprus to be called the Federated Turkish State in 1975, it is not legitimised on a worldwide political scale. The United Nations called for the international recognition of independence for the Republic of Cyprus in the Security Council Resolution 367.
In the years after the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus one can observe a history of failed talks between the two parties. The 1983 declaration of the independent Turkish Republic of Cyprus resulted in a rise of inter-communal tensions and made it increasingly hard to find mutual understanding. With Cyprus' interest of a possible EU membership and a new UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1997 new hopes arose for a fresh start. International involvement from sides of the US and UK, wanting a solution to the Cyprus dispute prior to the EU accession led to political pressures for new talks. The believe that an accession without a solution would threaten Greek-Turkish relations and acknowledge the partition of the island would direct the coming negotiations.
Over the course of two years a concrete plan, the Annan plan was formulated. In 2004 the fifth version agreed upon from both sides and with the endorsement of Turkey, US, UK and EU then was presented to the public and was given a referendum in both Cypriot communities to assure the legitimisation of the resolution. The Turkish Cypriots voted with 65% for the plan, however the Greek Cypriots voted with a 76% majority against. The Annan plan contained multiple important topics. Firstly it established a confederation of two separate states called the United Cyprus Republic. Both communities would have autonomous states combined under one unified government. The members of parliament would be chosen according to the percentage in population numbers to ensure a just involvement from both communities. The paper proposed a demilitarisation of the island over the next years. Furthermore it agreed upon a number of 45000 Turkish settlers that could remain on the island. These settlers became a very important issue concerning peace talks. Originally the Turkish government encouraged Turks to settle in Cyprus providing transfer and property, to establish a counterpart to the Greek Cypriot population due to their 1 to 5 minority. With the economic situation many Turkish-Cypriot decided to leave the island, however their departure is made up by incoming Turkish settlers leaving the population ratio between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots stable. However all these points where criticised and as seen in the vote rejected mainly by the Greek Cypriots. These name the dissolution of the „Republic of Cyprus", economic consequences of a reunion and the remaining Turkish settlers as reason. Many claim that the plan was indeed drawing more from Turkish-Cypriot demands then Greek-Cypriot interests. Taking in consideration that the US wanted to keep Turkey as a strategic partner in future Middle Eastern conflicts.
A week after the failed referendum the Republic of Cyprus joined the EU. In multiple instances the EU tried to promote trade with Northern Cyprus but without internationally recognised ports this spiked a grand debate. Both side endure their intention of negotiations, however without the prospect of any new compromises or agreements the UN is unwilling to start the process again. Since 2004 negotiations took place in numbers but without any results, both sides are strongly holding on to their position without an agreeable solution in sight that would suit both parties.
On the tag I put a print of a drawing I did a couple years ago..printed out from another bigger journal. Back then I was very sad and hibernating, and I wanted this page to say, "that girl is now getting out and seeing things!"
The second prompt from Journal 52 : Somewhere, a Simple Place led me to words about where I feel happiest.
Darren and Mike gave me a mesh tunnel made for pets at Christmas time, thinking that when the kittens got old enough to use it, I could take them outside.
I put it in the closet, and then promptly forgot about it!
I was delighted to find it again!
Ozzie has been on the mission from hell to get out. Once he's out, he totally freaks, and wants to get back in....but he still wants to go, and if I'm sitting on the front porch and Vinny can see me, he about looses his mind, because all he wants to do is be with me!!
I knew that Vinny would be a good canidate for the tunnel. He is so mellow, and would be content to just be near me and take in all the smells and sights. I thought Ozzie would be somewhat resisitant to being restrained, and probably try to claw his way out, but I was wrong!
Both of them really seemed to enjoy the whole deal. They spent about an hour laying in the sun and watching the house sparrow that's nesting in the bird bottle hanging on the porch post fly back and forth.
Of course now, everytime I go anywhere near the front door, they think they're going out!
As for the rest of the crew.....Floydd wants out, but he would NOT be content to be confined, so I take him out for the occasional stroll through the garden under tight supervision.
Simon, Sally and Dora seem to have absolutely NO desire to check out the great outdoors, which is more than fine with me.
And of course Leo and Stella can pretty much come and go as they wish during the day,by using the cat door, which has been fixed so they can get in, but not back out.
Stella can actually pry the door open, even if it's setting is on one way.......she was smart enough to figure out that if she pulls the flap TOWARDS her, she can then slip her head underneath and make her escape. All my other cats so far have not been able to figure this out, as the natural inclination is to just sort of head-butt the flap and push out.......but I've been watching Vinny and Ozzie. I have a feeling that it's not going to be long before they too figure out the secret. I think they are up there on the Kitty IQ scale!
Prompt #2: HOPE
This is the back/journaling of my art journal card for this prompt.
2010 art journaling group with Rachel at www.oneyearartjournal.blogspot.com
Come get messy with us!