Sir Michael Graydon calls for recognition of the TRNC

By Chris Elliott….

Having lived in Northern Cyprus as a temporary resident for the past 16 years I have experienced the difficulties faced by Turkish Cypriots and expatriates living here due to the embargoes placed on the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus by the UN, EU, UK, and world in general but do they know why they are doing it?

Read on and you will discover the TRUTH of why racism is being perpetrated against the Turkish Cypriots especially by the UK but again do they also know why they are doing it?

Through our CyprusScene website and online e-newspaper we have long tried to publish the TRUTH of the CYPRUS issue and show the world why Turkish Cypriots should be treated as equals and be treated with fairness and the opportunity for self determination.

We are delighted to share the following news and video from Embargoed of their interview with Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Graydon, GCB CBE FRAES which makes the case again for a 2 state solution to solve the Cyprus problem.

 Embargoed.org press release 11/11/2021

The victims of right-wing extremism and survivors of ethnic cleansing deserve better.

Time to end the punishment of Turkish Cypriots

 A truly remarkable discussion between Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Graydon, GCB CBE FRAES and Fahri Zihni, chair of Embargoed, went out on YouTube today. Please see the video below:

Having served in Cyprus as a young Royal Air Force officer on his way up to the pinnacle of the RAF, Sir Michael knows the island and Greek and Turkish Cypriots well. He has also remained in close touch with the British ex-patriot community of North Cyprus. Indeed, the Kyrenia branch of the Royal British Legion owes a great deal to Sir Michael’s drive and commitment.

It was Sir Michael who was much involved in efforts for a memorial to the 371 young servicemen and a further 72 other servants of the crown (including Greek and Turkish Cypriots) killed by EOKA, the right-wing terrorist organisation led by General Grivas of Greece and backed by Athens, who demanded ‘Enosis’ (union with Greece). Their murderous campaign against the British was a prominent feature of life on the island in the five years before independence in 1960.

Sir Michael is of the view that continued demands for the “nonsense of Enosis” after independence, right up to Turkey’s intervention in 1974, poisoned the atmosphere and severely affected any prospect of Greeks and Turks living together on the island again.

The former head of the Royal Air Force does not mince his words in the exchanges with Mr Zihni. He lambasts the European Union (EU) for allowing Cyprus to join the EU without a solution to the Cyprus problem, and doing so without the Turkish Cypriots. Sir Michael’s view is that once Brussels made it clear that Cyprus would be accepted for membership, irrespective of the outcome of the referendums in North and South Cyprus, any leverage the international community, and in particular the EU may have had on the Greek Cypriots to compromise was lost. To their credit the Turkish Cypriots voted heavily in favour of the UN (Annan) Plan in 2004 while Greek Cypriots rejected it. This rejection was hardly a surprise given that in joining the EU without Turkish Cypriots they had achieved so much of what they wanted without having to make compromises to the Turkish Cypriots. He terms this a “big mistake” and sees the ensuing EU sanctions on Turkish Cypriots as disproportionate and unjust punishment.

Sir Michael concludes that Turkish Cypriots, “who have endured attempts at ethnic cleansing by Greek Cypriot factions deserve better from the international community, including consideration of an independent state.” Without Turkey’s action in 1974, “There would not be any Turkish Cypriots left in Cyprus.” “Enough is enough, denial of human rights for people who meet all the requirements of democratic statehood and who were the victims of ethnic cleansing for decades, who voted for the UN solution to the Cyprus problem, only to have sanctions imposed on them   for some 37 years, is a disgrace, and it is time to end it”.

In promoting the issue of a separate Turkish Cypriot state, Sir Michael echoes former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw’s proposal for an independent Turkish Cypriot republic as the only equable and just way of resolving the Cyprus conundrum.

#About Embargoed! – www.embargoed.org

Embargoed! is an independent human rights group campaigning for the end to all embargoes against North Cyprus. The group was formed in September 2004 and aims to play an active role in raising awareness about the isolation of North Cyprus, lobbying world leaders and institutions to restore the fundamental political, economic and social rights  of Turkish Cypriots

Is the UK practicing racism against the Turkish Cypriots without knowing it?

 By Chris Elliott

So do the current UK government officials know why Cyprus when part of the British Empire was under military occupation from 1914 to 1925, and a Crown colony from 1925 to 1960 and Cyprus became an independent nation in 1960?

In 1878, Great Britain assumed the provisional administration of Cyprus. In 1914, when the Ottoman Empire entered the First World War as an ally of Germany so Cyprus was unilaterally annexed by Great Britain. Turkey formally recognized this annexation with the signing of the Peace Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.

In November 1963, Cypriot President Makarios advanced a series of constitutional amendments designed to eliminate some of these special provisions of the Cyprus Foundation Agreement. The Turkish Cypriots opposed such changes. The confrontation prompted widespread intercommunal fighting in December 1963, after which the Akritas Plan was put into motion for ethnic cleansing and Turkish Cypriot participation in the central government ceased on December 23, 1963, when all Cypriot Turks from the lowest civil servants to ministers, including the Turkish Vice-President Dr. Fazıl Küçük were out of the government and ever since the Turkish Cypriots have been without a recognized way of presenting their case to the world because of the Greek Cypriot Blame Game..

Clearly, history shows that the British since being involved with Cyprus have favoured the Greek Cypriots and have not given the Turkish Cypriots the same level of consideration and support.

Perhaps the Cyprus Issue started with the British annexing Cyprus from the Ottomans during WW1 and then leading the failed Dardanelles campaign in what is now modern-day Turkey and then the Turkish Cypriots of Cyprus could have been increasingly treated with lack of sympathy.

If you ask any UK politician or MP about the poor treatment of Turkish Cypriots they are quick to reply with varied stock answers as to why they are unable to do anything to change the situation but do they ask why?

In the final act of suspected racism by the British Government, they have now decreed that any citizen or resident of the TRNC who having been vaccinated for COVID-19 on arrival in the UK visitors will have to go into quarantine for 10 days when if these visitors were to go to other countries the TRNC vaccinations would be accepted

So is the UK now placing health embargoes on people living in the TRNC for fear of giving the country recognition which the Greek Cypriots fiercely oppose?