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

In his address prior to the vote of confidence, Serdar Denktash the leader of the Democratic Party (DP) criticised the new government's proposed programme during the debate claiming that the Government did not have a clear foreign policy and was ambiguous on the Cyprus issue. Explaining that the government's programme did not give explicit support for the Confederation solution proposed by the previous government. He called upon the government to state unequivably whether they were withdrawing support for the confederation proposal.

Responding to criticism from the opposition, the leader of the Communal Liberation Party (TKP), and Deputy Prime Minister Mustafa Akinci said "We are ready for a federation under Turkey's de-facto guarantee. We will however, continue to exert a determined effort to strengthen and promote recognition of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus". Akinci also noted that the Greek Cypriots had an alternative to federation and reminded that "The official proposal of the TRNC is no longer a federation".

In his response to criticism that the confederation proposal was omitted from the government's programme, Prime Minister Devris Eroglu reiterated that the programme included statements such as the continued existence of the TRNC and pursuing joint policies on the Cyprus issue with Turkey. Noting that the Government Programme was crystal-clear on the EU issue Eroglu stressed that recognition of the Greek Cypriot regime as the government of the Turkish Cypriots was out of the question.

Under pressure from his Hellenic masters in Athens, Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides announced the climb down on the 29th December 1998 stating that the missiles would be either deployed or stored in Crete.

The crises, which began in 1996, when the Greek commander of the Greek Cypriot national guard Nicolas Vorvolakas and the previous Greek Defence minister Gerasimos Arsenis suggested the purchase of S-300 missiles from Russia, has achieved nothing other than to raise political and military tensions in the region.

Turkey reacted vigorously to suggestions that the missiles could be deployed in Crete because Crete is a strategic island in the Aegean region and constitutes the same sort of military threat to Turkey as would deployment in South Cyprus. Foreign diplomatic sources claimed that it would be difficult to deploy them on Crete because of the NATO bases there. The deployment and commissioning of the missiles will require the stationing of Russian officers on Crete for between six months to a year.

The Greek Cypriot newspaper Simerini reported that the Cretans are opposed to the deployment of the S-300 missiles on their island because the planned site at Sitia is a popular tourist area and locals that it will upset the tourist industry.

Although the cancellation of the missiles has ended the turmoil of the international community, it has fragmented the Greek Cypriot community. Considering that Clerides secured re-election last year by promising to deploy the Russian missiles in south Cyprus, he is now facing calls for resignation from both political leaders and the public.

DIKO leader and former Greek Cypriot leader Spyros Kyprianou stated at a press-conference, that the cancellation of the missiles was just plain wrong and said that "If I were the President I would have resigned".

The leader of Greek Cypriot socialist party EDEK, Vassos Lyssarides, spoke of treachery and compared the Greek Cypriot public to a bride and Clerides to an S-3 00 bearing groom. "You do not let the bride go to church and then not bring the groom. Even if the bride is wrong, the responsibility in the end belongs to the groom, it is a betrayal," said Lyssarides.

Nicos Koutsou, leader of the minority New Horizons party, said Clerides had "betrayed the people" and described the decision not to bring the missiles as an "unconditional retreat".

DISY deputy Dimitris Syllouris called a news conference in which he described the President’s decision as a "messy retreat", which had made South Cyprus a "laughing stock".

During the debate about the missiles in the Greek Cypriot house of representatives, Marios Matsakis, from the opposition DIKO, screamed, "It is an act of treason by Clerides and Simitis".

The Greek Cypriot newspaper Sunday Mail reported that Matsakis told the paper: "The joint defence dogma has been destroyed along with the morale of the Greek Cypriots". He also said: "The Greek government has done this to us before. They push us along and, when it matters, they leave us out in the cold".

According to Sunday Mail similar statements of disappointment were coming from the public too.

A leading Nicosia businessman said: "Greek governments have a track record of selling Cyprus down the river".

A prominent economist said: "Athens does not want Nicosia to impose a war on it. Geography is destiny and we are far from Greece and close to Turkey".

According to Sunday Mail the economist said that participation by Greek war planes in war games on the island, the construction of an air base in Paphos for the use by the Greek air force and plans for a naval base near Limassol have heightened expectations way beyond that to which Athens was realistically willing to commit itself to. "Greece cannot do much for us. These displays of solidarity replaced reality with myth," said the economist.

Greek prime minister Costas Simitis was also facing accusations of defeat and treachery along with Clerides, from the political opposition in Greece.

The Leader of the main opposition Costas Karamanlis called plans to install the missiles on Crete instead of on Cyprus          "a grave defeat" and a "fiasco". He said: "The consequences of incoherence, lack of credibility and concessions are very serious for the whole of Hellenism. All Greeks cannot be called on to pay each time for the serious mistakes of governments which prove themselves less than able to meet the challenge." He also harshly criticised Simitis for the decision not to deploy the missiles on Cyprus, saying the prime minister had for three years officially supported a policy which, in the end, he effectively undermined.

Greek Cypriot media too joined in the attack on the Greek prime minister and the Greek Cypriot leader accusing the two leaders of treachery.

Nicos Samson’s newspaper Machi said: "With a decision of shame, the Presidential Palace last night wrote the epilogue to the much talked about missile issue and buried Cypriot Hellenism’s dream." Nicos Sampson is the terrorist who was convicted for killing hundreds of British and Turkish Cypriots in the fifties and sixties. Today he is a free man publishing a fanatical newspaper.

Simerini another newspaper joined in the attack saying, "They have buried the   S-300s without getting anything in return."

The disappointment of our neighbours in the south is great. It seems that the Greek Cypriots have not learnt anything from their past experiences. The statements of Marios Matsakis a fanatical supporter of Hellenism shows clearly that the Greek Cypriots know that Greece has been using the Greek Cypriots for her own political ends and leaving them to get out of any mess that she may push them into.

However we do not believe that this disappointment will teach our neighbours anything, they already started to talk about new Russian missiles and tanks. No doubt in the near future they will find their true selves and continue in the same manner as they did for decades.

The only way they will realise that they are not the owners of all Cyprus will come with the international recognition of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

Human Rights Watch reported that Greece has enacted a number of discriminatory measures to force ethnic Turks to migrate to Turkey or to disrupt community life and weaken its cultural basis. The most egregious example was Article 19 of the Citizenship Law, which, until it was abolished in 1998, allowed the state to strip approximately 60,000 non-ethnic Greeks of their citizenship between 1955 and 1998. Human Rights Watch welcomed abolition of the law last year, but noted that it did not apply retroactively, so tens of thousands of ethnic Turks remain wrongfully deprived of their Greek citizenship.

A 1990 law granted the state wide-ranging powers in appointing the mufti, the Turkish community's religious leader who also serves as an Islamic judge in civil matters. In defiance of the law, the Turkish community has continued to elect its religious leaders, who have been prosecuted and imprisoned by Greek authorities. In addition, the repair of mosques is sometimes blocked by state authorities, and those involved in the repair are prosecuted.

Human rights violations in the education field affect the largest number of individuals and have done the most to foster economic underdevelopment among the Turkish minority. Turkish children attend schools that are overcrowded and poorly funded compared to those attended by ethnic Greeks. And the two Turkish-language high schools in Western Thrace can provide only a fraction of the needed places, resulting in a disproportionate drop-out rate.

In addition, Human Rights Watch has received credible complaints from members of the ethnic Turkish minority, alleging police surveillance, discrimination in public employment, and restrictions on freedom of expression. Representatives of Human Rights Watch and the Greek Helsinki Monitor were trailed by police operatives in Thrace while conducting research for the report.

Greece, a member of the EU, has been pursing a racist state policy for decades aimed at ridding the country of its ethnic minorities. Greek officials, continuously persecute the ethnic minorities in line with this policy. The silence of the EU regarding human rights violations  by Greece is unacceptable.

EU politicians use alleged human rights violations in Turkey as an excuse to block Turkey’s admission into the EU but they fail to condemn Greece.

Is it likely that they will take this issue more seriously in the near future? We doubt it very much. We believe that they will carry on with their double standards.

Greek Cypriot Radio has alleged that the US is working on a plan, whereby the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus will be recognised in exchange for land.

Greek Cypriot radio reported that special envoy for Cyprus Richard Holbrooke started to work on this formula during a meeting with Turkish-Turkish Cypriot and Greek-Greek Cypriot businessmen.

Greek Cypriot Radio claimed that the TRNC will be recognised as a separate entity and will have 27% of the land. The radio station further claimed that officials from the US embassy in Nicosia are in consultation with the Greek Cypriot administration concerning this new plan.

The Greek newspaper 'To Vima' reported that in return for territorial concession from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), the TRNC would be recognised by the Greek-Cypriot Administration.

'To Vima', known for its close relations with the Greek government further claimed that Richard Holbrooke's deputy Thomas Miller will work for the recognition of the Turkish state on the island by the Greek-Cypriots, in return for territorial concessions by the Turks.

Assuming that the news about this plan has some truth in it, the land offered to the Turkish Cypriots will be 27% of the total, which means the TRNC will be required to give up 10% of its territory to the Greek Cypriot administration.

This is an absurd suggestion as far as the Turkish Cypriots are concerned because the Turkish Cypriots hold the title deeds for 33% of the land. If one also considers the common land in Cyprus, to which Turkish Cypriot also have legitimate claim, the Turkish Cypriots should have much more land than the 37% that they presently hold. In fairness the Greek Cypriots should hand some of the land that they occupy back to the Turkish Cypriots.

The international community should be reminded that both during and after British colonial rule in Cyprus, lands belonging to the Turkish charity (Wakf) were given to Greek Cypriots illegally. One example for this is the town of Maras, where around 60% of the land belongs to the Wakf.

Soon after Clerides, the leader of the Greek Cypriot community, announced the that the S-300 Russian missiles would not be deployed in south Cyprus, many leaders, UN and the EU lined up to commend Clerides and reward the Greek Cypriots for the decision to cancel the deployment. In reality they are rewarding them for raising the tensions in the region for over two years.

Austria, which held the EU's rotating presidency announced that Cyprus was now fit to join the bloc. Austrian Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schuessel said the decision vindicated the inclusion of Cyprus in the "fast track" membership of the bloc. "Now we see that this vote to confidence was justified," Schuessel said.

Germany, which presently holds the presidency, said that the move would build the EU's trust in Cyprus. German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Erdmann called on Turkey to reduce its military presence on the island.

British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said Britain was committed to supporting the UN effort and that Clerides' decision not to deploy the missiles created the conditions necessary for a just and lasting settlement.

Lee McClenny a US state department spokesman also praised Clerides saying, "We welcome and support the decision... we commend the government of ‘Cyprus’ for taking this important step to ease tensions on the island."
On the other hand the Western media was not as rewarding as their politicians were.

An article issued by the Washington Post, evaluated the recent developments on the S-300 missiles and pointed out that the leader of the Southern Cyprus, Glafkos Clerides, was responsible for bringing the sides to the edge of a war in Cyprus. The article continued: “Clerides himself decided to purchase S-300 missiles from Russia claiming that they were under threat by Turkey and Northern Cyprus.”

During the arguments about the cancellation in the Greek Cypriot house of representatives, a Greek Cypriot deputy, defending Greece for the decision, revealed that over the last few months, Greece has sent tones of modern weapons and many soldiers to south Cyprus. Can we now assume that if they pull out these weapons they will be rewarded again. If so we suggest that Turkey sends another 30,000 soldiers and the heaviest weapons possible to the TRNC and when the arguments start, pull them out and wait for her reward from the EU. We can not help but think this way after reading the Austrian statement announcing that Cyprus was now fit to join the EU.

When it comes to asking for concessions from the Turkish side, The Greek Cypriots should be grateful that their leader decided to cancel the deployment of the missiles. This means that Turkey will no longer have to launch a strike against them. It also means that Cyprus will not suffer, yet again, because of Greek expansionist policies.

The Anadolu News Agency (A.A) reported on 9 January 1999 that Turkey has warned Greece to seriously evaluate the threats directed at Turkish representatives in Athens and take the required security measures.

A.A reported that Foreign Ministry statement said threats are again being directed to officials working in Turkish Consulate offices in Athens by the "November 17" terrorist organisation.

The statement highlighted a newspaper article published in Athens which stated that "Ankara's Agents will be Punished" and pointed out that this articles showed that Turkish Diplomats were now under threat.  The Foreign Ministry statement noted that several prominent people in Greece encouraged the terrorist organisation with the statements that they make from time to time.

The statement recalled that support of Greek officials for the "November 17" terrorist organisation, was confirmed by their own statements adding that "In such an atmosphere, we remind Greek authorities of their responsibilities. We expect Greece to evaluate seriously the threats towards our representations and take required measures to protect our diplomats."

The Greek newspaper STOHOS (Target) has previously published the names, addresses and car registration numbers of Turkish embassy officials, resulting in their murder.   STOHOS is known to have close relations with the Greek secret service. The members of the "17 November" terror organisation are protected by Greek officials, in fact it is an official organisation of Greece.

It is well known that whenever the Greeks feel that a foreign government has done something that undermines Hellenism they punish that country by targeting the interests of that country in Greece. They have done this before and they will continue to do so. The recent Barclays bank bombing in Athens was an example of this, Britain pressurised Greece to cancel the deployment of the Russian missiles on Cyprus.  "17 November" targeted the Barclays bank a symbol of Britain.

An article written in the International Herald Tribune, reporting the recent successes of Turkish foreign policies, said that Turkey, which had been shy in the past has assumed a new role in the world scene.

The article written by Stephan Kinzer, reviewed the internal and foreign policies of Turkey and said that Turkish leaders have used the economic growth of the country in a sensible way in order to achieve political targets, adding "they have been very successful in that."

The article noted that Turkey is soon to have a government under the premiership of Bulent Ecevit, the leader of the Democratic Left Party (DSP), stressing that "the resolved and pretentious foreign policy of Turkey will also continue in this coming period."

Pointing out that Turkey's foreign policy is tougher and stronger today than in the past, the article referred to the Greek Cypriots abandonment of their plan to deploy S-300 missiles on the island, noting that "the recent success of the Turkish foreign policy was realised on the tense island of Cyprus."

Recalling that Turkey warned Syria to expel the leader of the PKK, the article pointed out that "Syria submitted to Turkey and deported the chief of the separatist terrorist organisation."

Pointing out a statement made by Ismail Cem, the Foreign Minister who said that "the capacity of Istanbul Strait is full and Turkey won't give priority to the passage of the oil tankers through the straits," the article added that Turkey has a strong economy, a population of 65 millions, 370,000 soldiers, in contrast the economies of Turkey's regional rivals such as Iraq, Iran and Russia are very weak.

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