Kyrenia - occupied but not surrendered!

Denktash's true motives

The spurious claims of Rauf Denktash for sovereignty and the independence of his pseudostate are inextricably allied to his perception of the land and refugee issues. In a desperate bid to stop the refugees from reclaiming their stolen lands, Mr Denktash continues to insist upon recognition of his illegal regime.

This, he feels is the only possible means by which he can retrospectively block or cancel out in some way the legal and inalienable rights of the refugees.

The pseudo assembly in the occupied north declared in a 'resolution' adopted on 9 March 1998 that "the international community must accept the reality of the existence of two separate states in Cyprus as a basis in the subsequent stages of the negotiation process". Denktash also continues to try to deny the legitimacy of the Cyprus government.

One may wonder why he is taking this tough line? Denktash himself recently gave the answers very succinctly in a radio interview on 12 March 1998. He said "the EU means free circulation, free settlement, and free property purchase. The EU is built on these principles. If we get on this train before we are recognised, before our sovereignty is acknowledged and before we attain the right to place certain valid reservations on these issues, then we will have lost our right to express reservations. Under these conditions whatever Clerides says will be implemented."

Denktash went on to add that accession to the EU would grant all Greek Cypriot refugees the right to return to their homes, there would be no property exchanges and "Hellenism" would be victorious in Cyprus.

Putting aside the rhetoric concerning Hellenism, Lobby for Cyprus can certainly identify with the main concern: the land issue and the return of the refugees. Denktash assumes that if his regime is accorded some kind of sovereignty then he might be able to place "reservations or blocks" on the free movement of refugees and in doing so their capacity to reclaim their stolen lands and properties. It all sounds plausible. However, on closer examination, once again Denktash's reasoning falls flat on its face.

To begin with, whatever territorial or constitutional arrangement is enforced upon the Cypriots, the land stolen from Greek Cypriots remains theirs; this was amply demonstrated by the Titina Loizidou case before the European Court of Human Rights last year. It will be recalled that in this decision the acts and decrees of the illegal authorities were declared legally worthless and DenktashÕs issuing of title-deeds to his cronies was laughed out of court. It was confirmed that Greek Cypriot refugees remain the legal title-deed owners and had not lost this legal right in spite of their having been ethnically cleansed from their homes by the Turks. Accordingly, no sleight of hand, no granting of limited or qualified sovereignty to the occupation regime is able to retrospectively obliterate the rights of tens of thousands of refugees to reclaim what is rightfully theirs.

There is no doubt that on any solution this property will appreciate greatly in value once returned to its legal owners, the Greek Cypriot refugees. This will make compensation packages or property exchanges, notions that the hapless Mr Denktash desperately seeks succour from, completely worthless. In no way could such exchanges or compensation match the value of the undeveloped land in the occupied area on its return to its legitimate owners. This is so, irrespective of whether or not Cyprus joins the EU. This is an argument Denktash cannot win.

Numerous UN resolutions recognise a single entity, the Republic of Cyprus, as having complete sovereignty and independence. The UN and Security Council would be hard pressed to water down their resolutions and give some sort of sovereignty to an illegal regime. To do so would be to place the UN, the EU and all the major power brokers in complete contempt.

The whole approach of the major power brokers has been to cobble together an agreement, however flawed or unworkable. There seems to be an air of uncertainty, of desperation, of no guiding principles at work.

In short, whatever is placed on the table is highly unlikely to be attractive to the Greek Cypriot refugees.

Not until the legal significance of land ownership in the occupied area is fully understood and addressed can meaningful progress be made.

The Greek Cypriot refugees will never
give up their right to return

200,000 Greek Cypriot refugees were uprooted from their ancestral homes. Why should they give up their right to return to their stolen homes?

The common enemy

During early February 1998 a very significant event occurred in occupied Cyprus. Two senior Turkish Cypriot politicians, Ozger Ozgur and Alpay Durduran established the Patriotic Union Movement (PUM). The publicly stated objective of this new political grouping, which seems to command wide support amongst indigenous Turkish Cypriots in occupied Cyprus, was to "prevent the annihilation of the Turkish Cypriots".

Such rhetoric is of course widely used by Turkish propagandists except in this case the stated threat to the Turkish Cypriots is said to be Turkey itself. The PUM claims that TurkeyÕs deliberate policy of ethnic cleansing of Greek Cypriots from occupied Cyprus since 1974 has now been continued by a policy of ethnically cleansing Turkish Cypriots from Cyprus and replacing them with more politically docile Anatolian colonists, who are far more willing to see the turkification of Cyprus than the Turkish Cypriots, whose culture and traditions have far more in common with the Greek Cypriots than those of the colonists.

The influx of over 100,000 colonists has forced over 60,000 Turkish Cypriots to flee the occupied area to the UK, Canada and Australia. This tragic exodus, caused deliberately by Turkey, is well documented in the report of the UN Secretary General of May 1994 and countless initiatives by the European Union and the Council of Europe. The 1991 Cuco report, commissioned by the Council to examine the consequences of Turkish ethnic engineering within occupied Cyprus, concluded that one of the reasons for this exodus was the inability of the Turkish Cypriots to come to terms with the Islamic fundamentalism practised by many of these colonists and also the fact that with them they have brought drugs and other criminal behaviour to Cyprus.

The Turkish Cypriot voice has been kept silent for many years now; those who speak out, such as the respected journalist Kutlu Adali, are gunned down or mysteriously disappear, as happens in Turkey.

If the EU and the US want Turkish Cypriot participation in the peace process they would do well to talk to the Turkish Cypriots themselves and not Ankara's puppet Rauf Denktash and his henchmen.

Now that Turkish Cypriots have realised that the common enemy is Turkey, the prospects of uniting the island may actually be brighter.

Turkey, democracy and the EU

During the last few years many well reasoned and persuasive arguments have been put to justify Turkey's exclusion from the ranks of applicant countries queuing up to join the EU. The most obvious reasons are its appalling human rights record, which includes the routine torture and murder of women and children, the genocide of the Kurds, suppression of free speech, repression of intellectuals, academics or anyone else daring to question the facade of democracy and the illegal invasion and occupation of Cyprus.

However, even more cogent reasons might be found in two hitherto overlooked factors: the burgeoning population of Turkey and the astonishing powers vested in her military and security forces by the Turkish constitution.

Turkey presently has a population of over 60 million and some estimates put her population by the year 2000 as over 80 million. Aside from the terrible public health consequences that this will have on cities such as Constantinople, politicians in Europe will soon start to question the level of Turkish representation within the European Parliament.

In recent years the European Union has vested increasingly greater powers in its Parliament. If Turkey were to join the EU it would, because of its population, be able to return more members to the European Parliament than any other state.

Such a situation would be intolerable to the senior EU member states such as France and Germany and might explain some of the recent decisions taken by the EU. Whilst allegations by Turkey that the EU is an exclusive Christian club are laughable, it is highly unlikely that these member states in particular, with their heavy representation in the European Parliament, would welcome a heavy parliamentary representation from Turkey; this could change the dynamics of the Parliament quite dramatically.

A further problem is the fact that try as it may, Turkey cannot pretend to be a democracy whilst it retains unamended her constitution which gives to the military, as one of its functions "the timely and correct identification of threats against the unity of the country and the nation."

It is this provision which enables Turkey's armed forces to intervene in internal politics whenever it wishes. As many commentators have pointed out, this provides any Turkish government with draconian powers against dissenters of all kinds.

Clearly, if Turkey were truly a democratic state no such provision would be needed. It is an anathema to any supporter of democracy and certainly to those in Europe brought up to respect the rule of law and democratically elected representatives. Europeans are not accustomed to the involvement of the military in whatever area of politics it wishes to involve itself in.

Indeed, it is proper to question whether there is in fact any such entity as the "Turkish nation". Whilst Sunni Turks are the largest ethnic group in Turkey independent experts from the University of Tubingen in Germany in 1980 identified no fewer than thirty seven sizeable ethnic groups in the country; amongst these are the Kurds, Pomaks, Laz, Chechens, Alawites, Armenians and Greeks. When viewed in this light, it is not surprising that the Turkish military has embarked on the genocide of Armenians, Greeks and Kurds during this century; it is after all only doing that which is expected of it by the draftsmen of the constitution. One wonders however, which ethnic minority in Turkey will be next.

Turkey has no place in Europe until it becomes a proper democracy. That day seems very far away. Is it any wonder therefore that the EU hesitates in inviting Turkey to contribute to the government and administration of the European democracies?

Turkey and Cyprus' applications to the EU

If Turkey were somehow to find its way into the European Union how would this affect the EU? Indeed, how would Cyprus' accession affect the EU?

Take Turkey first. Any membership would certainly represent a millstone around the neck of the EU treasury and of course the other member states. Specifically it would have adverse consequences upon German high finance and even possibly upon the social fabric of Germany itself. Why is this?

To begin with there are over two million Turkish Gastarbeiter resident in Germany. Presently, they and their families, do not enjoy EU citizen rights. If Turkey were to join all that would change and any German government would be powerless to control the immigration of Turkish Gastarbeiter and their families to Germany. Complicating matters further is the fact that amongst the millions of unemployed in Turkey will be many other contacts and friends of these Gastarbeiter and they would also now be drawn to Germany.

They would then be able to claim entitlement to local social security rights, including payments. There is no question that very soon a political time bomb would have been created that would affect initially Germany but ultimately all of the EU. Germany's central role and leadership of the EU would be severely diluted.

It can be seen therefore, that any perceived political and strategic advantages to Turkey's membership of the EU would be severely outweighed by the tangible disadvantages and the threat of destabilisation.

By contrast, on any economic or financial analysis Cyprus offers great prospects to Europe. The healthy Cypriot economy would contribute to EU coffers, whereas Turkey's would drain it. Cyprus' strategic importance, whether militarily, economically, commercially is such that to deny it membership because of outside pressure would be an act of gross negligence by the EU member states and a dereliction of their duties to their citizens.

Given that Turkey is likely for the foreseeable future to be denied access to the EU, can Europe really afford to shut the door on Cyprus? That would deny Europe almost completely the range of access in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East that it would otherwise have. And the price of Cyprus' admission, compared to that of the Eastern European states and of course Turkey would be negligible. Shutting the door on Turkey's admission might be seen by some as regrettable but to those affected by her entry in Europe as essential. In the case of Cyprus, admission to Europe offers some degree of compensation and an opportunity that must be grasped.

The key to our return

The title-deeds held by the Greek Cypriots are the key to the return of the refugees to their homes in the occupied north of Cyprus.

They are proof that the Greek Cypriot refugees are the legitimate owners of their land and properties in the occupied areas, despite the phoney deeds that Denktash issues to the 100,000 plus colonists he and Ankara have sent to alter the demographic structure of the island.

The Greek Cypriots have demonstrated that they are not prepared to surrender their legitimate rights or accept any inducements or property exchanges to give up the right to return to or reclaim their homes and properties which they have been denied for the past 24 years.

Plagiarism by Turks

Lobby for Cyprus has uncovered further proof that Turkish propagandists are using lies and misinformation in an attempt to justify Ankara's invasion, ethnic cleansing and occupation of the north of Cyprus.

This is consistent with the Turkish policy of spreading unfounded propaganda and disinformation in order to justify Turkish violation of human rights, as often documented by Amnesty itself, against Kurds and Greeks.

In this instance, the Turks have plagiarised an Amnesty International report on human rights abuses, in a clear case of copyright infringement and have converted it into a propaganda leaflet which has been distributed to British MPs and other decision makers.

While retaining the exact text, the locations in the Amnesty report have been changed to Cyprus, aggressors supposedly become Greek Cypriots and victims are falsely given Turkish Cypriot names.

Such material is dangerously misinforming, but it is being produced with such regularity and ferocity that someone will believe it.

As well as damaging the credibility of Amnesty International it is offensive to the real victims in the Amnesty report.

That the Turks feel they need to lie to convince the world is evidence that they themselves know that Ankara's aggressive actions in Cyprus are wrong.

This evidence will only serve to strengthen the resolve of the Greek Cypriots that their aim to return to their homes and lands is a just cause. The Greek Cypriots are as resolute as they were in 1974. We will never give up our struggle. We will return!

Cultural destruction of Europe by Turkey

The vandalised Armenian monastery of St Magar in occupied Kyrenia district is evidence of Ankara's blatant disregard for the cultural heritage of Europe. The occupation regime now plans to convert the St Magar monastery into an hotel.

Why Turkey must not be appeased

Appeasing aggressors never works. It did not work with Nazi Germany, or more recently Saddam's Iraq. So why should it now work with Demirel's Turkey?

Take a moment to recall TurkeyÕs track record: having not contented itself with the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1921 Turkey then embarked upon the ethnic cleansing of the Greeks of Asia Minor displacing over two million persons in 1922 and committing horrendous atrocities in the process. But as with the Armenians the world turned a blind eye.

Throughout the 1950s Turkey continued to persecute Greeks, culminating with the brutal invasion and occupation of the northern third of Cyprus in 1974. 200,000 Greek Cypriots were made refugees in their own homeland as a result of Turkey's ethnic cleansing; over 1,500 persons are missing, 6,000 were killed, and 1,000 women and girls were raped, as documented by the European Commission on Human Rights and European Court of Human Rights.

Since 1974 Turkey has imposed apartheid in Europe by enforcing segregation of Greek and Turkish Cypriots who have lived together peacefully for hundreds of years. No-one of Greek name or origin is permitted to return to or reclaim their stolen properties. More than 100,000 Anatolian Turks have been transported to Cyprus to colonise the stolen lands and to permanently alter the demographic composition of the island.

Indeed, Turkish Cypriots themselves have been fleeing the occupied areas in their thousands, unable to co-exist with the massive alien force of illegal colonists transplanted to the occupied areas by Ankara.

Hundreds of churches have been destroyed, looted, or turned into stables to culturally as well as ethnically cleanse the land.

The Hellenic culture and identity of the island which survived for more than 3,000 years has been almost totally destroyed by the Turkish invaders.

The Greek Cypriots who were brave enough to remain in the occupied area (Karpass peninsula) are subjected to the most horrendous abuses. They are denied the most fundamental freedoms and human rights.

And because the world has turned a blind eye to Turkey's flagrant abuses of human rights in Cyprus, no solution has been found to this ongoing tragedy; Turkey simply ignores international demands for the return of all refugees; nor will it remove its army of occupation. Instead, Turkey is permitted to consolidate its hold over Cyprus.

Emboldened by this lack of action against it, Turkey carries on a war of genocide against the Kurds living in Turkey. Over 3,000 villages have been destroyed and millions ethnically cleansed. Once again the West appeases.

Indeed, the West is now trying to foist upon Greek Cypriot refugees a "solution" in Cyprus; refugees will be offered paltry compensation not to return to their homes, thus legitimising TurkeyÕs theft of their lands.

But the refugees will not be so bribed; they will not accept compensation for their title-deeds. They understand that aggressors must be resisted and not appeased.

"No occupying army can prevent EU membership"

Philippe Monfils MEP, member of the Joint EU-Cyprus committee, the team set up to enable Cyprus' accession into the EU, said at the groups 13th meeting: "No army of occupation can prevent the accession of Cyprus into the EU". He stated that the EU cannot accept that "an army of occupation can prevent an independent state, recognised by international law, from choosing freely itÕs destiny with Europe".

No veto to Turkey - van den Broek

EU Commissioner for External Affairs, Hans van den Broek stated in Washington that any move to "suspend" Cyprus' accession to the EU would be "tantamount to giving a veto to a third country... We started these negotiations for the simple reason that we feel no country should be allowed to veto anothers legitimate aspirations for EU membership and I refer of course in this case to Turkey".

He said that in a meeting in 1997 he asked of Denktash: ÒWhy do you isolate the Turkish Cypriot community from the rest of the island? I find that difficult to understand".

Turkey leads the world in jailing of journalists

The annual report of the US Committee to Protect Journalists, states that Turkey leads the world when it comes persecution and imprisonment of journalists. Out of the 90 journalists in prison throughout the world, 31 are in Turkish jails.

"...while the peace talks went on, Turkish soldiers were killing and terrorising innocent civilians... As they are in Cyprus in the name of Turkey, that nation must immediately take action against the animals that wear its uniform."
The Sun (August 5, 1974)

"We visited 26 former Greek villages [in occupied north of Cyprus]. We found not a single undesecrated cemetery..."
The Guardian (May 6, 1976)

"...the Turkish Cypriots in the occupied northern part of the island seem to have joined their compatriots in the south as victims of Turkish aggression and occupation"
US Senate Subcommittee report (1976)

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