Of the many hot issues surrounding the Cyprus problem, the demographic question is one of the biggest. Who actually lives in northern Cyprus and what influence they have over the elections is a topic of much debate. This is because it goes to the core of questions about identity, not only for Greek Cypriots but Turkish Cypriots too. The first wave of people who came from Turkey, commonly referred to as ‘settlers’, came mainly from Anatolia. They tended to have different cultural norms and religious attitudes to indigenous Turkish Cypriots, let alone Greek Cypriots. Another wave brought students, construction workers and other workers who, as Mete Hatay, who has studied this issue for years explains, do not take root. “They come and go,” he says. So how many ‘settlers’ are there? What influence do they have in elections? And who counts as a settler anyway? Read full article here.