TRNC News Today 13^th July 2015

Eide: “Transparency is necessary in a shortest time”

UN Secretary General’s Special Adviser to Cyprus Espen Barth Eide said that a decision of privacy was taken during the negotiations by the leaders and he also stated that he should obey this decision. However, Eide stressed that transparency is necessary in terms of informing the public as soon as possible. Greek Cypriot daily Politis gave wide coverage to an interview conducted with Eide. Eide stated that the process is developing independently but with the aim of completing the chapters and there is a process where the goodwill is evaluated.

Furthermore, Eide said that they did not mention the details much, in order to prevent the spreading of aspects out of the subject of the negotiations.

Eide said that there is a principal of “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed” adding that when they reach on enough consensus, they can publish to the public.

Hannay: “It was economically beneficial to forget the past”

UK former Special Representative to Cyprus, Lord David Hannay talked about the Cyprus issue and the negotiation process at an event in the House of Lords.

Hannay has said that as long as people insisted on human rights, a solution in Cyprus would not be possible.

Hannay is believed to have said that it was economically beneficial to forget the past and for any natural gas discovered off the coast of Cyprus in the Exclusive economic zone (EEZ) to be transported to Europe through Turkey as the only viable solution.

Responding on a question that a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation violated Greek Cypriot human rights, Hannay said that if the Greek Cypriot side wanted this then he wished them ‘good luck’ with that.

Kasulidis: “Rotating presidency is not fair”

Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister Yoannis Kasulidis said that rotating presidency was not a fair solution, and he added that there were many parameters that should be taken into consideration before deciding the method of exercising of power of federal state.

Kasulidis who made an exclusive interview to the Greek Cypriot Simerini newspaper, said that they would not accept the solution to become ‘Primary Law’ and he added that rotating presidency was not fair as one state would do it.

Kasulidis, all ethnic minorities who are hosting all states, are supporting the efforts of finding a solution on the basis of bi-zonal, bi-communal federation.

He added that major powers like United States of America and England showed great interest to the solution and this was seen as suspicious by the Greek Cypriots, because the geopolitical interest was not the same as the Greek Cypriot’s national targets and demands.

Reinhardt visited Atalay

Switzerland’s Ambassador to South Cyprus Peter Reinhardt visited the President of Religious Affairs Prof. Dr. Talip Atalay. In his speech during his visit, Ambassador Reinhardt stated Switzerland’s pleasure for ongoing dialogue among religious leaders in Cyprus. Expressing that the mutual relations of religious leaders have seen to contribute to the intimacy and cooperation between the two communities, Reinhardt said that they want to contribute to this process as long as they can.

Expressing that the religious leaders should take a more active role to reach a permanent peace in Cyprus and all over the world, President of Religious Affairs Atalay said that Switzerland has a special place in the world due to its international neutral position and thanked the Ambassador for his visit and support for the peace process.

İnönü Martyrs remembered

İnönü Martyrs have been commemorated with a special remembrance ceremony at the village of İnönü on the 57th anniversary of their death.

Five workers, Ali Hasan, Ali Mustafa Yorgancı, Yusuf Hasan, Ahmet Mehmet and İbrahim Mehmet who were killed by Greek Cypriots on their way to work in 1958 and six missing martyrs were remembered with a special ceremony held at the at the Inonu Martyrs Monument yesterday.

Delivering a speech at the ceremony, the mayor of İnönü Ali Öncü said “martyrs are our honour, source of excitement, pride and our virtue.” He also added that the frontier martyrs were representing the outstanding dignity and esteem of the Turkish Cypriot people.

51st Anniversary of Erenköy Resistance

The applications to attend the ceremony to be held on 8 August in Erenköy for the 51st Anniversary of the Erenköy Resistance, which has a special place in the struggle for existence of Turkish Cypriots, are continuing.

Erenköy Fighters Association made a statement about the ceremony and stated that those who want to go to Erenköy in order to attend the ceremony in memory of Glorious Erenköy Resistance can call 0533 855 09 99.

Approximately 500 Turkish Cypriot university students who were taking education in Turkey and London came to Erenköy by boats to help in resistance against the Greek Cypriot attacks in 1964.

Excavation works for NORATLAS plane to start on 27 July

Excavation works will start on 27 July at the region of Greek post cemetery to find commandos who were on NORATLAS type transport plane which was shot down by the Greek Cypriot National Guard during 20 July Peace Operation due to lack of communication.

NORATLAS type military transport aircraft which was sent by Greece and carrying commandoes crashed from friendly fire (Greek Cypriots) on 22 July 1974 during conflicts at Nicosia Airport and was buried with its aircrew.

Greek Cypriot daily Fileleftheros reported that all of commandoes who were on NORATLAS military transport aircraft have not been found that’s why a new effort has started to identify remains of bones of 15 commandoes.

Furthermore, Fileleftheros reported that excavation works for the NORATLAS plane were carried out at Lakadamia Cemetery a short while ago but remains of bones have not been found.

Were we all bewitched on July 15, 1974?

By George Koumoullis…

JUST AS the Germans cannot rid themselves of the responsibility for the start of World War II and the creation of Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Mauthausen death camps by blaming it all on the paranoid Hitler, so we cannot absolve ourselves for the disaster that struck Cyprus in 1974 by putting the blame exclusively on the Greek Junta and EOKA B.

The July 15 coup was carried out by the Junta with the help of EOKA B, but to pull it off it had to find favourable conditions in Cyprus. Without the eager complicity of the media, the legislature, the teachers and a large section of the Greek Cypriot population the Junta would not have been able to take root in Cyprus and mount the coup which caused the biggest catastrophe for Hellenism since 1922.

Worse still, the thousands of congratulatory telegrams sent to coup president Nicos Sampson, indicate – as hurtful as this is – a popular acceptance of the coup.

In the years that preceded the coup the paranoia that whoever opposed the Junta was an anti-Hellene had been cultivated. In other words, the foreign-driven, criminal Junta was identified with Greece, with the nation. If you dared to criticise the policy of the ‘national government’ (as the Junta was referred to by the CyBC and the newspapers with very few exceptions) you were labelled an extremist or a communist.

It suffices to say that the most ‘serious’ and ‘authoritative’ newspaper of the time, Eleftheria, dismissed the Athens Polytechnic students who rose up against the Junta in 1973 as ‘teddy-boys’. I believe it was this identification of Greece with the Junta that led the majority of Greek Cypriots to applaud the Junta’s invasion.

The leading role in establishing this monstrous identification was played by the House of Representatives. The deputies of Enieon Party and Progressive Front – the nationalists – who were guided by Tassos Papadopoulos always referred to the Junta as the ‘national government’ while they never unequivocally condemned EOKA B before 1974.

Glafcos Clerides also bore a big responsibility because as president of the House he attended the annual celebration every year of the “revolution of April 21” as the colonels used to call their coup which overthrew the elected government in 1967. His presence encouraged respect for the Junta.

A very important part was also played by school headmasters as well as the leaderships of the teaching unions OELMEK and POED.

Our state school teachers became the prey of Junta, the propaganda of which they skilfully channelled into the schools and society – perhaps through blindness, perhaps through callousness, perhaps through servility, perhaps because of financial gain. Whatever the reasons, they betrayed their mission. The damage they did was incalculable as it paved the way for the Greek Cypriot acceptance of the “national salvation” of ’74 by the Junta-led National Guard.

We all know about the resistance to the coup. What we do not know, because nobody has conducted an in-depth study on the matter, is the other side of the coin, the mass public support of the coup as was exemplified by the 15,000 telegrams of support sent to Sampson in the space of a week. These telegrams represented a sizeable proportion of the adult population. Unfortunately, discussion of this matter is a taboo as it is one of the darkest episodes of our history.

Archbishop Makarios acknowledged, with sadness, the existence of these telegrams. In an interview he gave to Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci in the autumn of 1974 he said: “If Sampson stayed in power for another week, even my sister Maria would have sent him a telegram of support.” This admission epitomised our fall in 1974.

We now know that thousands of clubs, organisations and “high-standing individuals” that supported Makarios and had condemned the criminal activities of EOKA B, sent telegrams of support to Sampson. It seems incredible, but it is true. The shining example however was that a minister in Makarios’ government became a Sampson minister.

The Cypriot people demolished their standing and ethics. Admittedly, it is a very difficult event to explain. It seems the witch Kirki passed over Cyprus on July 15, 1974 and as the coup commenced at 8.25am waved her magic wand and transformed Makarios supporters into Junta pigs. The more plausible explanation is the identification of the Junta with Greece, mentioned above. As a result, many Cypriots chose to support the Junta, that is, Greece rather than the anti-Hellene Makarios. They believed the declarations of the coup government that Cyprus would be the promised land and not what it ended up becoming – the land of loss.

The coup was no obstacle to coupists pursuing a political career after 1974. Two ministers in the Sampson government were subsequently elected to parliament as DISY MPs, even though participation in a coup government makes the participant complicit in the coup. The election of these two men makes up the farce that continues to this day – while we described the coup as criminal we allow people that participated in this crime to occupy important public posts.

Aftermath: most probably future historians will conclude that the Cypriots of the second half of the 20th century were schizophrenics. In the 1950s they fought for their freedom, whereas a couple of decades later they embraced and praised the tyranny of fascism. On July 14, 1974 they were, mostly, Makarios followers, while the next day by magic (Kirki’s perhaps) they were transformed into slimy supporters of the Junta mafia.

George Koumoullis is an economist and social scientist
(Sunday Mail, July 12,2015)