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Turkish Invasion and Occupation |
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of Cyprus |
Annans Plan leaves
Cyprus at the Mercy of Turkey (campaign of protest) Say
NO to the Annan Plan which violates the United
Nations Charter, the Resolutions United Nations Security Council and General
Assembly, the European Constitution and the European Convention of Human
Rights |
Help Find a Solution to the Cyprus
Problem over the Internet. Write to your Elected
Representatives and ask for Action. |
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To
fully understand the Cyprus Problem you need to go back to before the Turkish
Invasion occurred. In
the period of British rule the British began to change the demographic
character of Cyprus, which was then exclusively Greek, by bringing in Turkish
workers to work for the British administration. Turks were appointed as
police officers thus creating tension and insecurity among the Cypriots.
Britain's tactic was to create as much ethnic tension as possible between the
Cypriot Christians and the Cypriot & Turkish Muslims in order to
destabilize Cyprus so that the people could not oppose British rule. Britain
furthered its aims by allowing Turkey to interfere more and more in the affairs
of Cyprus. The
very same tactics were used hundreds of years earlier in Ireland when the
British shipped in Protestants from Scotland to settle the newly captured
island, thus manufacturing a claim for Britain over its neighbour. When an
Irish referendum resulted in an overwhelming vote for independence the
British annexed Irelands northern counties. The descendants of the British
settlers became the present Unionist Community of Northern Ireland. Britain's
racist tactics failed to stop rebellion in Cyprus, and the EOKA struggle for
independence started in 1955. The aim was to free Cyprus from British rule
and to create an independent Cyprus free of foreign interference. Many
freedom fighters were hung before Britain finally consented to give Cyprus
its independence, but strings were attached. Cyprus
was blackmailed by Britain into accepting an illegal constitution which was
written by Britain, Greece and Turkey without any consultation of the Cypriot
people, thus violating Article 1 of the United Nations
Charter. The constitution included a Treaty of Guarantee which gave the
three guarantor powers Britain Greece and Turkey the right to interfere in
the internal affairs of Cyprus which put the constitution in violation of
Article 2 paragraph 4 of the UN Charter. Under
this now discredited and racist constitution it was deemed that those who
were Muslim in faith were to be considered as Turkish Cypriots and the rest
of the population mostly Christian, were to be known as Greek Cypriots. This
ignored the fact that the most of the Cypriot Muslims were actually people of
Greek decent who converted to Islam. After
Cyprus became independent on 16th Oct 1960, Turkey started a
campaign of interference and terrorism in Cyprus. Turkey
orchestrated Turkish Cypriot non-cooperation in the government of Cyprus
since under the constitution the then 18% minority Turkish Cypriots were
given the right to veto virtually every important decision that could be made
by the then 82% Greek Cypriot majority. Turkish interference made it
impossible for the government to set a budget and run the country so
President Makarios suggested 13 amendments
to the constitution. Makarios' amendments could have easily been
incorporated into any normal constitution, but Turkey insisted on its right
of veto, technically a violation Article 2 of the UN Charter. When
the Cyprus Government adopted emergency powers to keep the country running in
the face of Turkish interference, what resulted was the Turkish bombing of
Cyprus. The outside world did nothing to stop the murders of innocent
civilians, perpetrated with weapons which they had sold to Turkey. With
Turkish backing Turkish Cypriot Terrorists (TMT) under the leadership of Rauf
Denktash took control of north Nicosia, In
1964 the UN set-up UNFICYP, to maintain the new division of Nicosia, but this
did not stop more Turkish bombings. (see UN Resolution 186 (1964)) Turkeys
ultimate aim was to capture the whole of Cyprus and make it part of
Turkey. In the 50's Turkey had already predetermined the position of the
"Atilla Line", demanding 40% of Cyprus territory. Turkey began to
amass an invasion force and make invasion plans while it waited for an excuse
act. The
excuse came on 15 July 1974 when a Coup de tat
organized by the Greek Junta and backed by the American
CIA, deposed President Makarios. The coup collapsed 8 days later, but by
then it was too late. On
July 20 1974 Turkey invaded a defenceless Cyprus. It was obvious to any
military strategist from the scale of the invasion that it was planned months
and most likely years in advance. Is a series of pre planned manoeuvres
violating cease fire after cease fire Turkey captured 38%
of Cyprus territory. Turkey
was responsible for Genocide or "Ethnic Cleansing" on a scale
unparalleled since Adolf Hitler. Butchery, Mass Rapes and Torture of both
young and old took place. Civilians were Napalmed and children were
bludgeoned to death by the Turkish Barbarians, while the rest of the world
watched on unwilling to take action against an invasion which was deemed
illegal by UN resolution upon UN resolution. On
13 February 1975 Turkey declared North Cyprus a federated Turkish State which
was condemned by UN Security Council Resolution 367(1975).
In 1983 Turkey formed the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus",
condemned in UN Security Council Resolution 541(1983)
The
invasion resulted in 200,000 Greek Cypriots who were made refugees in their
own country. The 12500 Greek-Cypriots who refused to leave their homes in the
Karpassia peninsula in 1974 have in 1996 dwindled to
less than 600, due to relentless persecution by the Turks in violation of the
Third Vienna Agreement which was signed by the Greek and Turkish Cypriot
leaderships in 1975. UN Security Council Resolution 3212
(XXIX) (1974) "Considers that all the refugees should return to
their homes in safety..". None of the displaced persons are allowed to return
to their rightful homes by over 30,000 Turkish troops
estimated to be illegally stationed in north Cyprus. UN General Assembly
resolution 37/253 (1983) states that the General
Assembly "demands the immediate withdrawal of all occupation forces from
the Republic of Cyprus." Turkey will not comply with this nor any other
UN resolution. Since
the invasion nothing has been heard of from 1619 people including children
who went missing. Neither Turkey nor the illegal occupation regime has
attempted to accretion their whereabouts. In 1996 Turkish Terrorist Leader
Rauf Denktash claimed in an interview most of them were killed by Turkish
Militias. On
top of the injustices to the Greek Cypriots mentioned above, the Turks forced
over 30,000 Turkish Cypriots by threat of death to leave their homes in the
south and move into the homes of Greek-Cypriots in the occupied north. Since
1974 the Turkish Cypriots have become a minority in the north with over
80,000 Anatolian Turkish settlers brought in by Turkey to replace the Turkish
Cypriots that have been forced to emigrate. After invading Cyprus in 1974 it has always been Turkeys
intention to eventually capture the rest of Cyprus and "Ethnically
Cleanse" the entire Cypriot population. This is the reason why there has
been no
solution to the Cyprus Problem, because Turkey doesn't want one, and
America does not give a damn about what Turkey does so long as it lets
America keep its air-bases in Turkey. |
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