We demand Recognition of our Sovereignty and Equality   "Peace At Home, Peace With the World"  27 Old Gloucester St.London WC1 3XX

In a joint press conference with the Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem on 31 August 1998, the TRNC President Rauf Denktash announced a proposal for a lasting solution in Cyprus. President Rauf Denktash read out the proposal as follows:

"As a final effort to achieve a mutually acceptable lasting solution in Cyprus, I propose the establishment of the Cyprus Confederation based on the following arrangements: 

1. A special relationship between Turkey and the TRNC on the basis of agreements to be concluded.

2. A similar special relationship between Greece and the Greek Cypriot Administration on the basis of symmetrical arrangements to be concluded.

3. Establishment of a Cyprus Confederation between the TRNC and the Greek Cypriot Administration.

4. The 1960 Guarantee System shall continue.

5. The Cyprus Confederation may, if parties jointly agree, pursue a policy of accession to the EU. Until Turkey's full membership to the EU, a special arrangement will provide Turkey with the full rights and obligations of an EU member with regard to the Cyprus Confederation.

The ultimate aim of the negotiations will thus be a partnership settlement which will be a confederated structure composed of two peoples and of two states of the island supported by symmetrical agreements with the two respective motherlands and guarantor states. All rights and powers which are not referred to in the confederal entity will reside with the two confederated states. Any agreement to be reached as a result of the negotiations will be submitted for approval in separate referenda. By participating in these negotiations the parties will acknowledge that the Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides are two sovereign and equal states, each with its own functioning democratic institutions and jurisdiction, reflecting the political equality and will of their respective peoples.

They will also acknowledge that the authorities of one party do not represent the other. We believe that only this structure,

a) will provide for the security of both sides,

b) will safeguard their identity and well being.

If the Greek Cypriots agree to this final basis, we are ready to begin negotiations to establish the Cyprus Confederation."

TURKISH CYPRIOT NETWORK COMMENT

This proposal, based on the realities of Cyprus, is the only possible solution that will provide security and safeguard the identities of the two peoples of Cyprus. Nevertheless it was met with outright rejection from Greece and South Cyprus. Rejection from Greece came within hours after the proposal was announced. It is very important to understand why Greece rejected the offer long before the South Cyprus administration. By doing this and accusing the Turkish side of trying to split Cyprus permanently, Greece in effect, was signalling Greek Cypriots not to consider the proposal and was activating her lobbies in the EU and in the US in order to exert pressure on the administrations of various influential countries. Upon the announcement of the proposal, Greek and Greek Cypriot officials suddenly began to remember the 1977 and 1979 high level agreements, which envisage a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation. They also remembered that various UN resolutions call for a federal solution. While the Greeks accuse the Turkish side of trying to divide Cyprus permanently, they forget that their side never believed in a federal solution. Recent announcements made by many Greek Cypriot organisations, including the powerful Orthodox Church, were all in rejection of a federal solution. After signing the 1979 high level agreement for a federal solution and misleading the Turkish side and the whole world for years, Kyprianou himself confessed that he never believed in a federal solution. In fact the then Greek Cypriot foreign minister Nikos Rolandis resigned in 1985 because of Kyprianou's intransigence and his rejection of a federal solution. Speaking at a forum held in Athens on 4 March 1985 sponsored by the Independent Movement for Freedom, Mr. Rolandis said: "During my five and a half years as Foreign Minister, I found that President Kyprianou never wanted at heart an agreed basis upon which a Federal Cyprus Republic would be built." Rolandis also said: "What astonishes me most is that whenever a new UN initiative is launched, the President and some of his advisers, from the onset of the initiative, intensify their efforts on how to put the blame of failure on the other side, ..." At the time almost all of the Greek Cypriot leaders, including the present Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides were very critical of Kyprianou for his intransigence.

The next Greek Cypriot leader Vasilliou who followed Kyprianou carried on with the same tactics. In fact he gave Kyprianou a letter of promise stating that he would follow in the footsteps of Makarios, in return for Kyprianou's support. Vasilliou is the Greek Cypriot leader who rejected the Ghali set of ideas and by doing so he rejected another chance for finding peace in Cyprus.

The present Greek Cypriot leader, Clerides, was one of the staunch critics of Kyprianou. However when he came to power he chose to pursue the same politics as his predecessor. In his leadership, securing the support of the EU, Greek Cypriot side abandoned negotiations insisting on pre-conditions and pursued with the EU membership application. The EU's involvement in the Cyprus conflict, its biased support for the Greek Cypriots and the decision to start the accession talks with the Greek Cypriots in the name of all Cyprus proved that a federation in Cyprus is impossible. The only viable solution for Cyprus is the one where the two peoples of Cyprus will live side by side as neighbours with respect to each other's sovereignty and rights. The Turkish side is willing to do this but unfortunately the Greek side wants to own and rule the whole of Cyprus. Instead of considering the confederation proposal the Turkish side made they prefer to deploy Russian missiles. As the Turkish side said, this is the final offer to find a solution to the problem in Cyprus that the Greeks created themselves. 

An article published in The Sunday Times newspaper on 13 September 1998, which revealed the dubious relationship of the British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott with a racist Greek Cypriot organisation is evidence in itself that certain members of the Labour party and the government can not be trusted to be impartial when it comes to the Cyprus conflict. According to the Sunday Times, "It was the second year running that Haris Sophoclides, a wealthy property developer and London-based director of a multinational construction company, had offered to be the Prescotts' host." ... "The two men are old friends but Sophoclides's relations with Prescott go further than providing a haven to escape from the stresses of high office. He is something of a whiz with money and was the conduit for a substantial donation from wealthy Greek businessmen to a trust financing Prescott's private office."

As reported by The Sunday Times, Sophoclides is the head of the "Greek Cypriot Brotherhood", a racist group, which includes influential Greek businessmen, with the ultimate aim of achieving ENOSIS while hiding behind the concept of 'united Cyprus'. People who are truly aware of the realities of Cyprus know that for the Greek Cypriots 'united' Cyprus means nothing but oppression, in fact, extermination of the Turkish Cypriots.

The Sunday Times revealed that "Sophoclides arranged a donation of between £5,000 and £10,000 from the Brotherhood to Labour. It was also before the general election that the J &P boss arranged for £10,000 to be paid into the John Prescott campaign/research trust, the fund financing the shadow deputy leader's private office. The money came from a small group of wealthy Cypriot businessmen."

Sunday times reports that this trust was run by Alan Meale, his private parliamentary secretary and now a junior minister in Prescott's department. "Meale, too, takes a close interest in Cypriot affairs: he visited the island three times on fact-finding trips last year, declaring in the MPs' register that two of them were paid for by Greek Cypriot organisations (of which Sophoclides has since become president)."

The Sunday Times also quoted Kyriacos Christodoulou, the co-ordinator of "Lobby for Cyprus" a fascist Greek -Greek Cypriot organisation financed by the Greek Cypriot administration, as saying "Meale is one of the strongest supporters of a united Cyprus. John Prescott is also a friend of Cyprus." This organisation is well known for its hatred for Turkish Cypriots and continuously runs a campaign of lies about Turkish people. " In March this year Meale sponsored a Commons motion condemning the Turkish invasion and calling for the island to be reunited so that it could join the European Union" the newspaper said.

Another revelation from the newspaper was that "Sophoclides's 30-year-old son, Tony, has for the past four years worked for Prescott as a parliamentary researcher."

The Sunday Times pointed out that "The government's code of conduct for ministers clearly states that in respect of gifts, services and hospitality, 'no minister or member of their family should accept a gift from anyone which would, or might appear to, place him or her under any obligation'."

The offices of John Prescott said that the holiday and the flight in the private jet were paid for. However, where many of the trips taken by certain MPs and MEPs are paid for by Greek Cypriot organisations and where the son of Sophoclides has been working for John Prescott for four years, it is naive to think that these people can remain impartial regarding the Cyprus issue. It is no surprise that the very same people who travel to Cyprus three times a year on 'fact finding missions' continuously table anti Turkish motions in the parliament. Just like motion 1526 was tabled by MPs led by Andy Love, Joan Ryan and Stephen Twigg who are supposedly friends of the Turkish community in North London. The motion goes so far as to claim that it is the right of the Greek Cypriots to deploy the Russian S300 missiles. It is alarming for the Turkish Cypriot community in the UK and in the TRNC to see that influential high ranking MPs in the parliament are involved in this kind of relationships. Especially when we take into consideration that Britain is a guarantor power, this is completely unacceptable. We cannot expect British government to act fairly when it comes to the Cyprus issue, while this kind of association exists between the rich Greek Cypriot businessmen and Labour MPs. This extensive article in The Sunday Times highlighted the holidays paid by Greek Cypriots and the money that certain Labour MPs had taken from Greek Cypriots, supposedly for the election fund. What the newspaper forgot to mention was the 'crunchy grapes' that Greek Cypriots keep delivering to John Prescott to see him through long nights at the parliament. 

In the issue 26 of the TCN Newsletter, under the headline 'Policy of Deception', we reported about the Greek Cypriot woman Andrulla Palma who revealed that although her husband was on the so called Greek Cypriot missing list, she knew for years that her husband was dead and buried in south Cyprus. In that article we highlighted the lies of the Greek Cypriot side and briefly mentioned an article that was written by Julia Langdon in the Guardian. We indicated that many British politicians and members of the media were the victims of Greek deception including Julia Langdon.During that time, members of TCN carried out an extensive letter campaign, as a result of which The Guardian admitted that publishing the article was a mistake.

It seems that we were wrong to assume that Julia Langdon was a victim of Greek deception. It seems that she might be earning her wages by writing lies in newspapers as a similar article of hers was recently published in the Irish Times.

For some mysterious reason, every time Julia Langdon gets her articles published in a newspaper, the Greek Cypriots themselves prove her wrong. After her article was published in The Guardian, Andrulla Palma's story appeared in the Greek Cypriot press, which proved that not only the Greek Cypriot administration was misleading the world for years but proved that Julia Langdon's article was also full of lies.

This time, as reported in the Greek Cypriot media, two Greek Cypriot women attempted to dig up two graves in a military cemetery in South Cyprus, trying to find their husbands but were stopped by Greek Cypriot authorities. Machi, the newspaper of Nicos Sampson, the terrorist who was responsible for the murder of thousands of Greek Cypriots, reported that the attempt by two women, both of whose husbands have been missing since the intervention, to dig up two graves at the Lakatamia military cemetery, broke the law and said the women had been prompted to do this by others.

Cyprus Mail, another Greek Cypriot newspaper, reported on 27 August 1998 that a statement from the Humanitarian Affairs Office said that Charalambous Palpas and Andreas Siamisi were believed to be among 126 Greek Cypriots about whom there is strong evidence that they died during hostilities. The widows of the two men in question, Androulla Palpas and Maroulla Siamisi, tried to dig up the grave of an unknown soldier at a Nicosia cemetery in protest of being kept in the dark over their husbands' fate. The report also said that the women had been informed six years ago that their husbands were probably dead when the witness statements had been secured. It was also added that until all the known remains have been identified through DNA testing the missing list would remain at 1,619 despite the fact that 126 are known to be dead. And even though one of the missing persons, a 16-year old Greek Cypriot with American citizenship, has been declared dead through DNA testing on his remains, the list will still not read 1,618.

Upon these revelations, Papadimitris Papakiriyakou, a Greek Cypriot priest came forward and added one more confession to the chain of confessions by Greek Cypriots. Papakiryakou said that on 17 August 1974 Greek soldiers brought hundreds of dead soldiers to the cemetery where he helped bury them. He also revealed that there was a three-month-old baby among the dead who was brought from the Nicosia hospital and dumped into graves. These recent revelations once again show that the deception around the missing people issue, which was started by Makarios years ago, continue and will go on as long as the international community fail to tell the Greek Cypriots to come clean about the so called missing. Deception will continue, as long as there are the likes of Julia Langdon, who do not mind assisting deception. 

During a recent visit to Western Thrace, the president of the Greek parliament Apostolos Kaklamanis said that the "Moslem minority in Thrace should assimilate into the Greek community and its Hellenisation is definitely required." Upon strong criticism from Turkey Kaklamanis denied that he urged Hellenisation of the Moslem minority, and had not referred to the group as "Turkish". Although Kaklamanis denied that he had made such comments, in his refusal, he still insisted on referring to the 'Turkish' minority as the 'Moslem' minority thus denying their identity. Denying the identity of a people shows that the aim is nothing but assimilation of that people. It is what we will go through in the EU without Turkey being a member. 

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- He's supposed to be a messenger of peace. But the leader of the Greek Orthodox Church is sounding more like a general preparing for battle. "We are ready, if necessary, to shed blood and make sacrifices. We, as a church, pray for peace ... But we bless the sacred weapons when the moment demands it," Archbishop Christodoulos said recently on the Assumption of the Virgin holy day, which doubles as Greece's armed forces day.
    In the nearly four months since his enthronement, Christodoulos, 59, has peppered Greeks with feisty opinions on everything from economic affairs to the dream of reclaiming lands from the "barbaric"' Turks and others.
  Initially viewed as a reformer who might modernise the church, Christodoulos has become a darling of the far right. The ultra-nationalist newspaper Stohos dubbed him "Archbishop Thunderbolt." His stormy comments reach far beyond the pulpit.
    Orthodox leaders have traditionally enjoyed deep respect as keepers of an essential element of the Greek ethnic identity during four centuries of Muslim Ottoman rule. The church helped fan the 1821 independence revolt. But boasting about the past is not the same as chiming in on current affairs, critics say.
    Christodoulos could be inflaming nationalist fervour at a highly sensitive time. Plans by Greek Cypriots to deploy anti-aircraft missiles on their part of Cyprus are heightening tensions between Greece and neighbouring Turkey, whose troops occupy the northern third of the divided Mediterranean island. "If he wants to reinvigorate church life, he should stress pastoral work, religious education, the education of clergy, outreach to the young, and not by way of demagoguery or political rabble rousing," said Nicholas P. Constas, an assistant professor of theology at Harvard Divinity School.
   Christodoulos shows no signs of quieting down. During the Aug. 15 armed forces day blessing, he vowed "as the leader of the Greeks" to open an abandoned monastery in Turkey. And he called for the restoration of Greek lands in Turkey, bellowing the war cry of the ancient Spartans: "We stand defiant!" "We send a message in every direction, to the civilised West and the barbaric East," he cried.
   Christodoulos says his only mission is to get people back to church, but many of his statements are political. Among other things, he warned that the government's policies to align Greece's economy with the rest of the European Union are leading to "perdition and destruction."
   He has lambasted efforts to fully separate church from state and threatened to smite critics with his sceptre, crowned by two intertwined snakes being crushed by a cross.
   Some officials have had enough. "If he wants to deal with politics, he should take off his robes," said Justice Minister Evangelos Yannopoulos. Unlike a politician, Christodoulos has to answer to no one.
   Orthodoxy, one of more than a dozen Orthodox churches world-wide, is Greece's state religion. More than 90 percent of its 10.2 million people are baptised into the church.
    The church is Greece's second biggest landowner after the government, with unofficial estimates of its wealth at about $1 billion.
   But while financially healthy, the Greek Orthodox Church is ailing spiritually. Regular church attendance is sliding and fewer faithful are able to understand the archaic Byzantine Greek used in its services.
   According to a recent poll, only 12 percent of Greeks worship every Sunday, compared with 31 percent in 1963.

The head of the Orthodox Church, archbishop Chrysostomos, who is well known for his opposition to a bi-zonal, bi-communal federal solution, has reiterated his opposition to a federal solution once again. After a meeting with Chrysostomos, head of a US-based Greek organisation told journalists that at his meeting with Chrysostomos he had made clear to the patriarch that the expatriates were concentrating their efforts on informing foreigners of the human rights violations in Cyprus, and not on the specific details of solution proposals. He said that in order to carry out an enlightenment campaign properly, "huge" funds were needed, and that he had suggested to archbishop Chrysostomos that the church might contribute to the efforts.
But Chrysostomos said that as long as the solution proposed was that of a bizonal, bicommunal federation, the church would not give any money towards promoting it. Orthodox Church in Cyprus is the richest and the most powerful establishment in South Cyprus and is the pulling power behind the hate campaign against Turkish Cypriots. Even if the Greek Cypriot politicians wanted a federal solution, which they do not, they will have to overcome the tight grip of the church over the Greek Cypriot political life.
 

 According to Turkish daily Cumhuriyet, the US government has stated that the Greek Cypriot Administration and Greece were quick to reject confederation proposal made by Turkish Cypriot President Rauf Denktash. According to news in the Greek press, the US suggested that decisions should be taken in a cool manner and proposals should be better evaluated in the international public. It is reported that during private contacts of US diplomats on the island, officials noted that Denktash' proposals included some positive points. Also, after a meeting with Glafcos Clerides, the US Ambassador to Nicosia Kenneth Brill commenting on the proposal of Turkish Cypirot President Rauf Denktash for the establishment of a Cyprus Confederation as a permanent solution in Cyprus said: "It is a political and not a military proposal. That is why it is useful and positive" 

  The American Wall Street Journal has noted that the US should see the realities in Cyprus. The newspaper stated that the basic aim of the deployment of Russian-made S-300 missiles on southern Cyprus was to provoke an international crisis and to show Turkey as the aggressor. The newspaper said that there were three reasons of the hostility between Turkey and Greece.
   The first one is nationalist words spoken for political interests, the second is intolerance created with the rejection of Turkey by the European Union and the third one is investments worth millions of dollars in the Caspian and Balkan regions.
   In our past issues we have said that isolating Turkey, by showing Turkey as an aggressor, was the main aim of the Greek policy.  We now see that influential western media is also realising that this is the case.
   Greece is continuously raising the tension in the region by arming the Greek Cypriots and making anti Turkish propaganda. It is clear that in order to isolate Turkey, she is even prepared to go to war with Turkey. Knowing that she is going to loose such a war, Greece does not intent to go to a full out war with Turkey. She intends to keep any fighting to Cyprus. This is the reason why Greece is shying away from the so called defence dogma between Greece and South Cyprus. We see that once again Greece is sacrificing the Greek Cypriots for her own political ends.  The idea is a short lived skirmish kept to Cyprus, but who can guarantee that it will be a short lived war and it will be kept to Cyprus. Greek Cypriots should wake up and see how Greece has sacrificed them before and is prepared to do it again.