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

When Turkey's State Minister for Cyprus Affairs Mr. Gurel visited the TRNC last month, the Turkey-TRNC Partnership Council held a meeting and assessed the EU's 10 November 1998 decision to commence substantive talks with the illegal regime in the south for full membership in the name of all Cyprus.

The Partnership Council prepared a joint declaration, which was read out by Mr. Gurel. The first few lines of the joint declaration were as follows:

"The destructive effects of the membership process launched by the Luxembourg Summit on efforts to find a solution to the Cyprus problem are for all to see. The EU's disregard of the equal sovereignty of the Turkish Cypriot people and its commencement of talks with the Greek Cypriots on behalf of Cyprus have eliminated all the parameters, primarily the equality of the sides, that had emerged during the process to find a solution to the Cyprus problem. With the strength derived from the EU, the Greek Cypriot side rejects the equal political and legal status, including the sovereignty rights of the Turkish Cypriot people, which is one of the two equal co-founder partners of the Cyprus Republic, and aims at heightening the military threat on the island and in the region by unilateral policies."

These few lines clearly define the latest situation about Cyprus, where over the last few years, the EU has taken a biased stance on Cyprus and has given unjust support to the Greek Cypriots.

The argument that the EU has been using for its support for the Greek side is that 'the accession talks for membership will act as a catalyst in finding a solution to the Cyprus problem. In reality, the events of the last few years proved that the EU is totally wrong. Because the EU ignored the rights of the Turkish Cypriots completely, instead of bringing the sides closer it moved them further apart . As it stands the only thing that the Greek Cypriot side wants is to enter the EU hoping to drag the Turkish Cypriots in without Turkey to deprive them from Turkey's protection. On the other hand the Turkish Cypriot side is demanding the recognition of their rights including their sovereignty and saying that the only viable solution for the Cyprus problem is confederation.

The result of the general election held in the TRNC this month proved that the EU's policy has indeed pushed the two sides further apart. The voters in the TRNC, more than ever before, preferred to vote for the parties on the patriotic front. By giving an overwhelming support to the parties on this front the Turkish Cypriots proved that they support a confederal solution to the Cyprus problem.

National Unity Party (UBP) of the Prime Minister Dervish Eroglu and the Democrat Party (DP) of the Deputy Prime Minister Serdar Denktash came out as the leading parties as they were before the election. The Communal Liberation Party (TKP), the social democratic party increased its votes and became the third party. This was the first time since its establishment that the TKP has moved into this position. TKP achieved this by openly saying that they will do anything to make the TRNC live. The Republican Turkish Party (CTP), which is the only party that supports a federal solution has lost more than half of its seats in the parliament and came out as the main looser. This party's opposition to the peoples' wishes and the double-dealings of its members with certain EU parliamentarians, specifically the party members here in London, damaged the party badly.

Apart from giving out a strong message to the whole world about the wishes of our people, the general election also showed that the TRNC exists with all its democratic institutions even if it is not recognised. Ignoring the TRNC and the wishes of the Turkish Cypriots who are as equal as the Greek Cypriots will not solve anything. Perhaps now, the EU politicians and the Greeks will realise that ignoring the rights of the Turkish Cypriots and Turkey is not helping in finding a solution to the Cyprus problem. They should rethink their Cyprus policy.

Distribution of the votes at the general election were:
UBP 40.33% (24 seats), DP 22.61% (13 seats), TKP 15.36%     (7 seats), CTP 13.5% (6 seats). The rest of the votes were distributed amongst the other parties who are all on the right of the political spectrum.

Bearing in mind that these are the very politicians that visit south Cyprus every year to attend border demonstrations against our republic and who are at the forefront of every motion given to parliament condemning Turkey or TRNC,  this sudden interest is very suspicious. We cannot help thinking that the interest in ETCA is certainly related to the nearing European elections.

It is very suspicious that Pauline Green, who has shown no sympathy to the rights of the Turkish Cypriots and who gives her full support to the Greek Cypriots, is showing interest in a Turkish Cypriot association. As she did last year, she only remembers the Turkish Cypriots whenever there is an election.

In the area, where Pauline Green is going to stand for re-election, the Turkish and the Turkish Cypriot communities are the biggest communities. Pauline Green knows this and she also knows she needs their votes to win the elections.

The case of ETCA is an other double standard from Labour party towards the Turkish Cypriots. ETCA, until few months ago was a member association to the Council of Turkish Cypriot Associations (CTCA), where it was forced to pull out by Jeff Rodin the leader of the Enfield Council. ETCA was told by Jeff Rodin pull out of CTCA or loose your grant. The reason given was that the CTCA is a political organisation and an association that receives grant from the Enfield council could not be a member to a political organisation.

In reality, it is not because the CTCA is a political organisation, it is because the CTCA fully supports the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and tries to defend the rights of Turkish Cypriots through lobbying activities. This was the main reason why ETCA was forced out of the CTCA.

After ETCA was made to pull out of the CTCA, Jeff Rodin using the members of ETCA, went on knocking on the doors of the Turks living in the area asking them to support Labour party during the recent local elections. This is a true example of double standards used by Labour party members. Shamelessly they used ETCA for their political gains.

Blaming only these politicians for the double standards they have been using against our people would not certainly be right. We have to take part of the blame ourselves, after all it is some of our own people,  who are helping these two-faced politicians. Most of these people who played a vital role in pulling ETCA out of the CTCA, are the ones helping them. These are mainly extensions and representatives of political parties in the TRNC.

How hilarious, Spyros Kyprianou, who is one of the top man of EOKA, who is responsible for the murder of hundreds of Turkish Cypriots is becoming a social democrat. His party and his policies are known to be the most chauvinistic on the Greek Cypriot side. Perhaps he thinks by pretending to become a social democrat he will have more acceptance amongst the so called social democratic circles in the EU. He might have a valid point, after all the so called socialist and social democrats of the EU are the ones who treat murderers and creators of genocide as presidents and statesmen. They have proven this with Clerides the fake president of Cyprus, Milosevic the butcher of Bosnia and Abdullah Ocalan the leader of the PKK terrorists.

Even if Kyprianou fails to attract support from the Greek Cypriots for his new venture, he should have no worries. We have no doubt that Pauline Green MEP will embrace him as a new member of her “political family”, as she did with Vassos Lyssarides. Vassos Lyssarides, the leader of the so called socialist party EDEK is an other fascist who also is a murderer.

No matter what they call themselves, no matter how they are treated by two faced European politicians, people like Clerides, Kyprianou and Lyssarides are all fascists. They are members of terrorist EOKA organisation and they are all MURDERERS.

An article published in the UK’s, ‘East Anglian Daily Times’ on October 31, 1998 devoted large coverage to the statements made by Ipswich Labour MP Jamie Cann supporting Turkey’s presence in Cyprus following the 1974 Peace Operation.

The article by Graham Dines, the newspaper's political editor is as follows :

“Ipswich’s Labour MP has angered the town’s tiny Greek Cypriot community by defending in the Commons the continuing Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus.

Jamie Cann cried ‘rubbish’ when Essex Tory David Amess quoted the United Nations as saying the occupied region was the most heavily militarised in the world.

Mr. Cann intervened again to say Turkey, a guarantor of Cypriot independence, had not invaded the country in July, 1974.

‘Turkey intervened in a military-coup that was taking place in Cyprus and during which Turkish citizens were being massacred’, he said.

Scores of Cypriots were killed and more than 14,000 residents, stranded tourists and Service families were rescued by the Royal Navy and RAF as thousands of airborne Turkish troops parachuted in at dawn after shelling Kyrenia. Tank and air battles raged until eventually a security zone was thrown across the island, which is still in existence today.

Speaking in the debate, he recalled the island's struggle for independence in the 1950s and the atrocities carried out by the Greek Cypriot terrorist group EOKA which wanted Cyprus to become a sovereign part of Greece.

‘Greek Cypriots were the ones shooting British soldiers and Turkish Cypriots the ones who sheltered, succoured and protected them’, he added.

Mr. Cann said once independence was granted and the British left Cyprus, the Greek community broke the treaty, dispossessed the Turks and herded them into ghettos.

'I have seen the graves in some of those ghettos', he claimed. 'There are no men in them because, as was the case with the Serbians after them, the men were moved on, God knows where they are'.

When the Turks pleaded with London to intervene, Mr. Cann angrily recalled that, ‘my Prime Minister Harold Wilson and my Foreign Secretary Jim Callaghan did nothing to stop the massacres. Turkey did and I congratulate it on that’.”
 

After the recent visit to Greece and Turkey of the US President's special envoy for Cyprus, Richard Holbrooke and his aide Tomas Miller, a plan to reduce the tension in the region has emerged.

Although the talks were supposed to be secret, as usual, information was  leaked to the Greek Cypriot media and was made public by a Greek Cypriot television station.

According to the news from the television channel, Holbrooke's seven-point plan aimed at reducing tension and for preparing the necessary ground to cancel the deployment of the S-300s in Cyprus called for:

1. Widening of the Green Line between the two sides by 1 km.

2. A reduction in the number of Turkish and Greek troops.

3. Cancellation of orders for arms by the two sides.

4. Postponement of military exercises.

5. A reduction in tank units.

6. Measures to facilitate travel between the Turkish and Greek
   Cypriot sides.

7. Resumption of the intercommunal talks.

The seven-point plan drafted by Holbrooke calls for the postponement of the delivery of the S-300 missiles to the island after Greece and the Greek Cypriots agree to the plan.

According to Anatolia Agency Turkey criticised Theodoros Pangalos, the Greek Foreign Minister, who set up a parallelism between Turkish-Greek relations, Cyprus, and the existing problems of Kuwait with Iraq.

A statement from the Turkish Foreign Ministry said that Pangalos distorted the history and realities between Turkey and Greece.

Reminding that it was the Greek side who tried to unite Cyprus with Greece by use of force, the statement said:

“Turkey intervened militarily to prevent these developments within the framework of her rights stemming from the 1960
guarantee agreement which Greece also signed.”

Saying that the claim of Pangalos that two thousand persons were kidnapped by Turkey were “ridiculous”, the statement added, “The Greek Foreign Minister intentionally disregards that the main reason of the so called missing persons problem in Cyprus stems from Greece’s attempt to annex Cyprus, and the hundreds of Greek Cypriots whom he claimed as missing were in fact the persons who lost their lives at the clashes between the Greek Forces and the Greek Cypriots during the Greek coup in 1974.”

On 9 December 1998 Greek Cypriot daily Simerini said "Reppas spoke the American language with a Greek accent, with regard to the S-300 missiles, after his meeting with Clerides. Before a final decision would be taken about the missiles, Reppas wondered whether they genuinely bolstered Cyprus' defence."

The decision to purchase the missiles, which was taken by Greece two years ago without taking into consideration the interests of other countries has backfired. Facing the international community's pressure and the determination of Turkey to stop the deployment of these missiles, Greece is trying to find a way out of this issue, which she had put herself and the Greek Cypriots into. Using the missile issue as a bargaining chip was the main intention for the purchase but in the face of the determination of the Turkish side, it seems that Greece has backed down.

To cover up their intentions, Greek Cypriot side has been playing the poor little Cyprus and claiming that the decision to purchase the missiles was taken because of the threats from Turkey. The recent visit to the island by Detlev Graf Zu Rantzau, the German envoy for Cyprus showed that some countries are aware that the claim of the Greek Cypriot side is unfounded.

After his meeting with Clerides, commenting on this imaginary threat from Turkey, Rantzau said, "We feel there is no such threat". Rantzau further commented, "my government's argument is that even if there were a threat, we would feel that the deployment of these missiles would not enhance the security situation because, if anyone wanted to attack Cyprus, these missiles would not help Cyprus, because they would be taken out before hostilities began."

Over the last few weeks the diplomatic traffic and with it the pressure on the Greek-Greek Cypriot side intensified. Diplomats like Holbrooke and Miller visited the region in order to find a way out for this duo. Greek and Greek Cypriot media published speculation after speculation about the fate of the missiles.

The visits of these diplomats and the pressure of the international community lead all concerned believe that, as a face saving operation for Greek and Greek Cypriot leaders, the missiles would be stationed in Crete instead of Cyprus. But the latest news coming out of the south is that the fake president of Cyprus is still living in an imaginary world where he thinks he can use the missile issue as a bargaining chip.

Cyprus Mail reported on 15 December 1998 that Clerides said the deployment of the missiles would go ahead as scheduled. He said "The real picture of the situation is that at present there is nothing on the table, either from the UN or the US co-ordinator for Cyprus or anybody else with regard to a reduction in tension. We know that everybody is examining this matter, but we have not seen any concrete proposal so far."

It is very clear that while looking for a way out Clerides is still hoping to come out of this mess with a gain in return for the cancellation of the S-300s. It looks like he will be very disappointed because Turkey will never allow them to use this issue to give into their demands. Clerides can only play with the missiles in his dreams.

On 21 December 1963, Greek - Greek Cypriot duo started to murder the Turkish Cypriots in order to annex Cyprus to Greece. This was the day the Greek and Greek Cypriot fascists under the leadership of Makarios had put the AKRITAS extermination plan into action. In the days that followed hundreds of Turkish Cypriots were murdered and around forty thousand of them were forced to live in tents and caves for 11 years. During those days the so called civilised world, including the guarantor Britain, did not lift a finger to help the Turkish Cypriots. In fact they tried to give Cyprus to the murderers. The determination and the brave struggle of our people stopped the annexation of Cyprus by Greece. 

In 1974 in an other attempt to annex Cyprus to Greece, Greek military and EOKA terrorist staged a coup. They caused thousands more deaths this time mostly Greek Cypriots. Using her rights Turkey intervened and stopped the complete extermination of the Turkish Cypriots. Since than, the so called human rights champions in Europe who never cared for Turkish Cypriots, remembered Cyprus. Since than they have been given the Greek Cypriots unconditional support. These two faced people always remember up to 20 July 1974 when Turkey intervened to save the Turkish Cypriots but they refuse to remember 15 July 1974 when Greece tried to invade Cyprus. Their actions, which continuously support the Greeks are encouraging the Greeks to push Cyprus towards more tragedies. We hope that people of Cyprus Greek or Turkish learn to live in peace as neighbours and are never subjected to horrible scenes like these children who were murdered by Greek terrorists in 1964. If we do not want to live through these scenes again we must never forget them.

© 1997, TURKISH CYPRIOT NETWORK. All rights reserved. For further information and comments please contact us. Address: 27 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3XX. TEL: 0930 194 191(all calls charged at 50p per min) Email: tcn@tc-net.demon.co.uk