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t
were still there. Naturally Turkiye refused to attend the conference.
communal
divisions in the whole world. I believe that my partition offer is the
best solution for the Greek Cypriot community."Gobbi further warned the Greek Cypriots by saying that "the Turkish Cypriot community is the tip of the iceberg; but beneath the surface, there is a giant mass like Turkey."
1. There is a lack of people of sufficient experience at the appropriate
level who would act as examiners to set and mark the examination.
This is patently not true and Dr Adrian Woodthorpe
is being patently discourteous to the existing Turkish A' Level examiners
and those Turkish educators who he has refused to meet with to fill this
perceived shortfall.
2. The Turkish A'Level is not financially viable.
This is patently not true.
We have estimated that the cost of setting, printing and marking the Turkish
A'Level is less than £2000.00 a year which is £10.00 per candidate.
The Edexcel Examinations board charges each candidate a £45.00 premium
for sitting the examination thereby more than recovering their costs. Any
fixed costs that the Edexcel Examinations Board may have will not be affected
by the abolition or retention of the Turkish GCE A' Level and cannot be
allowed to cloud the picture. The Edexcel Examinations Board's Annual
Report for 1996-1997 shows a surplus of £13,800,000 up from £7,700,000
the previous year. Surely the British Parliament will not allow an organisation
with a surplus of fourteen million pounds to cite poverty as an excuse
to curtail the academic aspirations of the Turkish speaking British youth?
3. The entry for the Turkish GCE A'Level increased by 40% in 1994
but has remained at a similar level since then.
The 40% increase in 1994 was a huge increase and
reflects the fact that the Turkish communities in London, Birmingham and
Leicester have finally established themselves, created their Turkish Supplementary
Schools and are now positioned to stimulate better and greater academic
successes from the new generation of Turkish students.
The latest phase of the Turkish and Turkish Cypriot
community's campaign to save the Turkish A'Level took place on Wednesday
the 4th of March. Mr Andy Love, the Member of Parliament for Edmonton,
together with the Co-ordinating Committee for the Campaign to save the
Turkish A'Level handed Mr. Gordon Tempest-Hay, the Head of Policy and Communications
at Edexcel, a 6000 signature petition. Mr. Andy Love and the Co-ordinating
Committee also delivered a copy of the covering letter to Dr Nick Tate,
the Chief Executive of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority.
Together with the 6000 signature petition, the Co-ordinating
Committee presented Mr Gordon Tempest-Hay with copies of some of the hundreds
of letters written by the children at the Turkish Language and Culture
Supplementary schools, asking the EDEXCEL Foundation not to scrap the GCE
A'Level in Turkish Language. The covering letter addressed to Dr. Christina
Townsend, the Chief Executive of the EDEXCEL Foundation, states that there
is no evidence that the EDEXCEL Foundation has seriously considered the
implications of abolishing the GCE A' Level in Turkish language nor that
any detailed studies were carried out before this hasty and inexplicable
decision which will detrimentally effect thousands of British children
of Turkish and Turkish Cypriot parentage.
According
to Greek newspaper To Vima the United States has made strong representations
over the S-300 missiles issue and the Paphos air base, warning that in
the eventuality of the missiles being deployed in South Cyprus they would
be destroyed by Turkiye.
To Vima reported that the American
Assistant Defence Secretary Jean Londal warned Nicolaides, the Greek
Cypriot representative in Washington, over "clouds gathering on the
horizon." Londal is quoted as having told the Greek Cypriot representative:
"We do not have the pressure to press Turkey. Not only is it not the 51st
state of the US as you appear to think but moreover no-one can oblige her
to agree to something which goes against her fundamental interests."
Londal also made it very clear that the US was determined to respect the
policy set by Turkiye to protect its vital strategic interests in the region.
Furthermore, the illegal Greek Cypriot
Radio reported that following the US, Britain has also demanded that
the S-300 missiles not be installed in South Cyprus. The news said the
British Prime Minister Tony Blair made the demand in the congratulatory
message he sent to the Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides after
his re-election. Blair also called upon Clerides to demonstrate "good
intention" with regard to the rightful demands of Turkish Cypriots
for equal political status.
Ignoring these demands and warnings
and hiding behind the unjust recognition, the Greek Cypriot side claimed
that it has the right to defend itself and said that they will go ahead
with the deployment. Dimitris Reppas, the spokesman for the Greek
government claimed that it was "the inalienable right of the 'Cypriot
Republic' to arm itself in order to defend its sovereignty."
Reppas also said that the Greek government opposes proposals recently put
forward by British Prime Minister Tony Blair regarding the equal participation
of Turkish Cypriots in accession talks between Greek Cypriots and the European
Union.
In the meantime, referring to the
warning of Mr. Londal, the Russian ambassador to South Cyprus, Muradov
said that the missiles would be deployed in Cyprus this autumn.
Intentions of the Greek
Cypriot side were further confirmed by fake president Glafcos Clerides
himself in an interview he gave to the Russian newspaper, Kommersant
where he pledged to go ahead with the purchase of S-300 missiles.
He said: "The Greek Cypriot Air Force must purchase an effective tool
to protect us from Turkish air strikes."
Clerides, by referring to
a 'Greek Cypriot Air Force', which does not exist, was in fact cunningly
trying to disguise the Greek Air Force which will be stationed in
Paphos air base in South Cyprus. The
Turkish air strikes he is talking about must be the imaginary strikes from
his nightmares which, if ever they do take place, will be entirely of his
own fault. If he gave up his efforts to turn South Cyprus into one great
arms arsenal he would not suffer from these nightmares.
In another recent development, the Greek
Cypriot media reported that the Greek Cypriot administration is spending
$85 million towards acquiring more Russian T-80 tanks.
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| Greek news agency called Macedonian Press Agency happily announced
on 22 February that the European Union had asked Turkiye to uphold the
Treaty of Laussane with regards to the protection of the Greek -
Christian minority and of the religious monuments in Turkey. It also stressed
that the protection of minorities' rights is a prerequisite for this country's
strengthening of ties with the European Community.
Hallelujah! The European Union finally remembered the Treaty of Laussane. Alas, it only remembered it for the benefit of the Greek - Christian minority in Turkiye following an incident where an ethnic Greek was injured in Istanbul. We cannot help wondering why the EU never remembers to ask Greece to uphold the Laussane Treaty. Perhaps the EU is not aware of the 150,000 Turkish minority in Greece and the daily attacks carried out on them, or the 500,000 expelled from Greece since the Lausanne. And perhaps the EU is also not aware that Greece has military installations and personnel on the Aegean islands despite the Lausanne. Could it be that being a Christian club the EU only worries about the Greek - Christians and not anyone else? |
The great democrat of the EU, Premier of Luxembourg, Junker is continuing
with his harassment 
of
the Turks living in Europe who dare to criticise his comments on Turkiye.
Similar to the stunt he pulled during the EU summit back
in December, this time, he arranged for the Austrian police to pay a visit
to a Turkish man's house. Fortunately for the Turk, the policemen
were better democrats than Junker. When they found out that the man had
only exercised his democratic rights and freedom of speech and criticised
Junker they apologised and left.
Junker's actions prove that he is far from being a democrat. In fact
it shows what kind of a hypocrite he is.
Oops! He might get the British bobbies to
pay us a visit too.
North
London MEP Mrs. Pauline Green replied to our letter in which we enquired
about her alleged involvement with the Turkish Cypriot newspaper Avrupa.
In her letter, Mrs. Green categorically denied any involvement with the
newspaper or with any Turkish Cypriot or Greek Cypriot organisations.
However, she refused to reveal
the names of Turkish or Turkish Cypriot organisations, which she had previously
claimed to have helped receive funding from local councils and the EU.
She said: "You will know that contacts on this sort of issue between
a politician and organisations within her or his constituency are of course
confidential, and I have no intention of exposing the names of individuals
or organisations with whom I have worked to secure funding. Suffice it
to say, they are all mainstream public organisations whose bona fides are
beyond doubt."
We wrote back to Mrs. Green
and told her that the discussions between a politician and an organisation
may be confidential, however, we reminded her that public funds these organisations
receive should be made public. After all
these funds are raised from taxpayers who have the right to know how their
taxes are being spent.
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Scottish writer Mr Harry Scott Gibbons, a former Middle East correspondent,
known for his researches
into the Cyprus issue, was in TRNC at the beginning of March.
Gibbons, who was in Cyprus during the 'Bloody Noel of 1963', personally witnessed the atrocities and crimes committed by the Greeks and Greek Cypriots against the Turkish Cypriots upon which he wrote his first book on Cyprus called "Peace Without Honour". In his book, he recorded the events that he had witnessed as well as giving a good account of how Makarios was offering peace on one hand and ordering attacks on Turkish Cypriot civilians on the other. Gibbons later became the author of three books that shed light on the events between 1963-74, which have recently been collected in one volume entitled "The Genocide Files". In a statement he made soon after his arrival in TRNC, Gibbons stressed the fact that Glafcos Clerides was the leader of the terrorist gang that burned down Kuchuk Kaimakli in 1963 and should therefore be tried at the International War Crimes Tribunal like the Serbian leader Radovan Karadzic. Gibbons argued that the Greek Cypriot Administration should not be admitted to the European Union because of the inhuman crimes they had committed against the Turkish Cypriots before 1974. He said: "Claims of human rights violations by Turkey has blocked her EU membership prospects. If this is the situation, then the Greek Cypriot membership should also be blocked because of the human rights violations they committed against Turkish Cypriots. Furthermore experts should come to Cyprus and research into these facts." Gibbons stressed that he had included facts and not claims in his books. The Turkish Cypriot peoples' rights had been violated on many occasions, he said, and his book should be used as a source for finding a realistic solution on the island. Gibbons further pointed out that he did not see a difference between the massacres the Turkish Cypriots and the Bosnian Muslims had been subjected to. He said: "In both cases the international community kept silent." He also argued that all the countries that are involved in the Cyprus conflict are only there for their own interests and that none of them are concerned with the future of the Turkish Cypriots. |
On the 2nd and 3rd of March, the Greens Group in the European
Parliament organised a debate around the Cyprus issue, which took place
in Brussels. At the end of the two day discussions, the participants concluded
that the prospect for an eventual Cypriot membership to the EU cannot be
realised as long as a federation has not been established on the island
and the participation of Turkish Cypriots in the accession talks is not
secured on equal terms.
Speaking on behalf of the Turkish side, Mumtaz Soysal of
Democratic Left Party (DSP) criticised the EU decision to start accession
talks with Greek Cypriot side before a solution on the island is reached.
Mr. Soysal said: "Regarding the Turkish Cypriots on the island as a
minority is unacceptable. Such an attitude could never be fruitful."
He then urged the EU to change its stance.
British expert on Cyprus, Mr Oliver Dodd, who also participated,
said that the Turkish Cypriots were not offered equal terms and therefore
their participation in the EU talks was impossible under the circumstances.
The Belgian co-chairwoman of the Greens in the EU Parliament, Ms Magda
Aelvoet, dubbed South Cyprus' intention to deploy Russian missiles
on the island as a grave mistake. She said: "The EU will not give the
green light for the membership of a Cyprus where tension is increasingly
mounting. A dialogue under these circumstances cannot be productive."
The other participants also agreed that a solution
on the divided island was a precondition for Cyprus' EU membership and
that the accession talks, which will start soon between the EU and South
Cyprus, will not produce any results under the present circumstances. The
Greek Cypriot and Greek delegates, participating in the panel, hinted that
they were aware of the fact that if the Turkish Cypriots did not take part
in the negotiating team, the talks would yield no results.
With
all the hectic developments taking place around us with regards to the
Cyprus problem, an incident that took place at the Imperial College in
London last February went by almost unnoticed. Those who witnessed the
incident must have been reminded of the true sentiments of Greek Cypriots
who, at every given opportunity, preach to the world about how the Turks
and Greeks lived in harmony in Cyprus as 'brothers' until Turkiye
and Denktash put an end to it.