Turkish settlers in Northern Cyprus
[3] The vast majority of the Turkish settlers were given houses and land that legally belong to Greek Cypriots by the government of Northern Cyprus, who is solely recognised by Turkey.
Mainland Turks are generally considered to be more conservative than the highly secularized Turkish Cypriots,[5][6] and tend to be more in favor of a two-state Cyprus.
In 1967, Rauf Denktaş had noted that there was a need to encourage the Turkish Cypriots now living in Turkey to return to Cyprus, so as to maintain the "balance of the population".
In the 1970s, Turkey had been experiencing increasing political violence and economic difficulties, exacerbated by high unemployment and an influx into the cities.
A number of people from both communities did remain on the other side of the divide, but the vast majority of these ended up moving forcibly or voluntarily, particularly after the Third Vienna Agreement signed in August 1975.
[12] There are no reliable censuses conducted in the immediate aftermath of the war,[13] but according to one estimate, the population of the north decreased from 234,000 to 70,000, of which 20,000 were Greek Cypriots still remaining in the area.
[20] The policy of settling farmers was conducted along the lines of the Agricultural Workforce Agreement signed by the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus (TFSC) and Turkey in 1975.
Once they arrived in Famagusta, they were initially accommodated briefly in empty hostels or schools, and then transferred to the Greek Cypriot villages, which were their destinations of settlement.
[19] The paperwork of these settlers were initially done in a way that would make them appear to be Turkish Cypriots returning to their homeland, to prevent accusations of violation of the Geneva Convention.
When asked about the policy of settlement, İsmet Kotak, the Minister of Labor, Rehabilitation and Social Works of the TFSC, said that what was happening was an intense, rightful and legal return of Turkish Cypriots that had been forcefully driven out of the island.
The first group, citizens, can further be differentiated into skilled laborers and white-collar workers, Turkish soldiers and their close families, farmers who have settled in Cyprus and individual migrants.
Such reports have never been scientifically or statistically scrutinised, despite opportunities of opposition parties to do so using the electoral rolls in their possession, thereby continuing a "war of numbers".
Between 1992, when it was founded, and the election of 2003, which represented a shift away from it, the Democratic Party (DP) received the majority of settler opposition votes.
Meanwhile, between 1990 and 2003, the UBP maintained a vote share averaging at around 40% at settler villages, but this was still less than the support it received in rural areas inhabited by native Turkish Cypriots.
[35] The position of the internationally recognised, Greek Cypriot-led[36] Republic of Cyprus and Greece, backed by United Nations resolutions, is that the settlement program is completely illegal under international law, as it violates the Fourth Geneva Convention (which prohibits an occupying power from willfully transferring its own population to the occupied area) and is a war crime.
