Cyprus News Agency: News in English, 11-05-10

Cyprus News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Cyprus News Agency at <http://www.cyna.org.cy>

CONTENTS

[01] HOUSE PRESIDENT ARMENIAN GENOCIDE TURKEY

[02] UN SG CYPRUS FM - GUL

[03] BRITISH MPs CYPRUS PROBLEM

[04] PRESIDEÍÔ - EU - TRIO MEETING

[01] HOUSE PRESIDENT ARMENIAN GENOCIDE TURKEY

Describing Turkey as an international terrorist, he called upon Ankara to admit its crime and apologize to humanity for it.

If Turkey had been punished for its enormous crime - the Armenian Genocide of 1915 the Turkish invasion against Cyprus may not have taken place, he stressed, addressing Tuesday a school event entitled Armenian Genocide from the past to the present.

Garoyian underlined the responsibilities of the international community, saying that the Armenian Genocide must be condemned and recognized by all and called upon Turkey to admit its crime and apologize to the Armenian people and all humanity.

Unfortunately, he went on to add, the non punishment of Turkey by the international community increases Ankaras intransigence and described Turkey as an international terrorist, who, through military power, attempts to impose its rules on its neighbors and non neighbors.

As long as Turkey remains unpunished, the international community has no right to be proud of todays world order, he stressed, adding the international community should feel as an accomplice as long as the Armenian Genocide and other ethnic cleansing crimes of Turkey, remain unpunished.

He recalled that Cyprus was the first country to raise the issue in the 1960s before the UN General Assembly, asking for an international condemnation of the crime and said that the Cypriot House of Representatives as well as the Greek Parliament were among the first parliaments to have condemned it.

Greek Cypriots have a common historic course with the Armenian people. Both being victims of the Turkish barbarity, they have experienced the policy of ethnic cleansing of Young Turks, he continued.

Garoyian reassured that Greek Cypriots and Armenians will never stop struggling and demanding the restoration of the historic truth and Turkeys punishment.

He also said that in the recent years more and more Parliaments and states recognize and condemn the Armenian Genocide.

Referring to Turkeys stance on the issue, he said that until today, Ankara insists that the massacre of hundreds of thousands of Armenians was nothing else but the result of the First World War.

But the Armenian Genocide was one of the worst crimes of last century since it was the first ethnic cleansing crime of Turkey, a country which has committed the worst ethnic cleansing crimes, the victims of which have been the Pontian Greeks and other Greeks of Minor Asia, the Kurds and in 1974 the Greeks of Cyprus.

Surely Turkey will carry this great moral burden of the Armenian Genocide and its responsibility and guilt will be heavy, despite any efforts to approach Armenia, he concluded.

Turkey invaded Cyprus in the summer of 1974. In a two-phase invasion in July and August, and despite calls by the UN Security Council and the quick restoration of constitutional order on the island, Turkey occupied 36,2 percent of the sovereign territory of the Republic and forcibly expelled about 180.000 Greek Cypriots from their homes. Another 20.000 Greek Cypriots, who remained in the occupied areas, were also forced to eventually abandon their homes and seek refuge in the safety of the government controlled areas. Today, fewer than 500 enclaved Greek Cypriots remain in the occupied areas.

The Republic of Cyprus became a full EU member state in May 2004 and the whole of its territory - including the occupied areas - are considered part of the EU, according to Protocol 10 of the Cyprus - EU Accession Treaty.

In the second half of 2012 the Republic of Cyprus will assume the six-monthly EU rotating Presidency.

[02] UN SG CYPRUS FM - GUL

Their meeting took place in the fringes of the Fourth United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries.

According to a UN SG spokesman Ban Ki-moon said both communities would need to work in a spirit of compromise and with a longer-term vision to reach a mutually acceptable comprehensive solution.

The two men also discussed developments in Syria, Libya and Egypt.

Ban Ki-moon also met with Turkish President Abdullah Gul and exchanged views with him on developments in the Middle East and North Africa, particularly the situation in Libya. The two men also discussed the Cyprus question and the Western Balkans.

[03] BRITISH MPs CYPRUS PROBLEM

Kyprianou, who is currently visiting the UK, met with Conservative MPs David Barrowes and Michael Freer, former Minister for Europe and Labour MP Chris Bryant and General Secretary of the Trade Union Congress Brendan Barber.

The support for the unity of Cyprus is above party divides and this country must act according to its historical responsibilities, said Barrowes during the meeting.

During his meeting with Kyprianou former Minister for Europe and Labour MP Chris Bryant said that we want Turkey to go by its commitments which it made openly in the past in the Ankara Protocol.

It is a disgrace for Europe to have a capital city divided , Bryant said, adding that Britain, whether is conservative or labour government, must play its role so that people in Cyprus will have peace and security.

On his part Brendan Barber noted that we watch with interest the approach to try and resolve the Cyprus problem, adding that Trade Unionists always have a strong interest in trying to find peaceful ways forward .

Certainly, he said, if progress could be made to resolve the Cyprus problem that would have a beneficial effect on the economy too, noting that we watch with great interest the effort that colleagues are making to resolve that issue.

Cyprus was divided when Turkey invaded the island in 1974. UN led negotiations are underway between President of the Republic Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu aiming to reunite the island under a federal roof.

[04] PRESIDEÍÔ - EU - TRIO MEETING

President Christofias also expressed certainty that ``the Trio will be fully prepared to steer the EU for the next eighteen months, in close cooperation with the Presidency, the Commission and the Parliament of the European Union, in a way which would make us proud, but most importantly which would benefit every European citizen.``

In a joint press conference in Warsaw with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Danish Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen, President Christofias said ``we are grateful for Prime Minister Tusk`s initiative to organise this meeting of the next rotating Presidency Trio and his generous hospitality today on this special double anniversary.``

``On 9 May 1945, Europe was freed and peace arrived after a brutal and catastrophic World War II. Five years later, Robert Schumann called for a new integrated Europe, free from the scourge of war. This incremental process of European integration has made it possible for Poland, Denmark and Cyprus to jointly form the next Trio Presidency of the Council of the EU, a challenge we are eager and ready to face,`` he said.

Cyprus News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article