2004 Antiethnikistiki Comment on the Statement by the President of Greek Cypriot Southern Cyprus

Movement Against Nationalism
Comment on the Statement by the President
of Greek Cypriot Southern Cyprus

April 13, 2004

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Press Release

It is our belief that the content of the statement issued by Mr. Papadopoulos, President of the Greek Cypriot area of Cyprus, being in harmony with the statements of both Mr. Lysaridis and the Archbishop of the Cypriot church, is not conducive to the cause of peace in our region.

In respect of the ideological creed of Mr. Papadopoulos, we are beginning to feel that it presents certain similarities with that of Mr. Lysaridis.

Mr. Lysaridis, himself the leader of an illegal paramilitary group, despite having been a doctor, and indeed the very doctor who attended President Makarios, collaborated militarily in 1963 with the armed paramilitary units of Georgatzis and Sampson, attempting to impose on the Cypriot problem the solution of genocide of the Turkish-Cypriot civilian population.

Fortunately for Lysaridis there was at that time no international court; had there been such a court he, together with Georgatzis and Sampson, would have risked being extradited to the Hague to stand trial for his actions.

Although previously Mr. Papadopoulos had declared to the Greek Cypriot people his intention to expound honestly and in full the consequences of a yes or no vote in respect of the Annan proposal, in his latest statement he confined himself to maintaining why the Greek Cypriots should vote against it.

What is most strange is that Mr. Papadopoulos, after an exhaustive enumeration of what he believed to be the negative points of the Annan proposal, cited as the only positive point the fact that it would assist Cyprus to become, on 1 May 2004, a full member of the European Union.

He added that the accession of Cyprus as a full member to the EU would allow it to compel Turkey, just by exercising its veto, to adopt a more accommodating stance towards the Greek Cypriot demands, if Turkey also wishes to become a member of EU.

At the end of his TV appearance the President addressed himself, almost with tears in his eyes, to his Turkish Cypriot compatriots, assuring them that the pressure to be exerted by Cyprus on Turkey, through the EU, would be solely in their interest.

This Shakespearean performance by the President represented the finest expression of his theatrical talent.

With regard to the content of his objections, the President cited as one negative aspect of the Annan proposal the clause which would allow just a small percentage of Greek Cypriot refugees to return to their birthplace. He omitted to mention that, if would be a more auspicious solution of the problem for the Greek Cypriot refugees, whether in that hypothetical case the Turkish Cypriot refugees were to return to the 'enclaves' where they lived for eleven years in isolation and misery, deprived of even the essentials of life.

The unfortunate thing is that in the past the European Union, pursuing its own interests, ignored the human rights of the Turkish Cypriot community and the negative consequences of the prospective unification of the island, approving at Helsinki a decision which stated that Cyprus might become a member of the EU even if the issues between the two communities remained unresolved. Of course it was emphasised in this decision that the resolution of the problem before 1 May 2004 was very much to be desired.

This European philosophy was founded on western rationalism, manifested in the belief that the island's accession to the EU would offer a historic opportunity to resolve the conflict through honourable compromise and mutual respect.

Sadly the reality of the Balkans or the Middle East has taught us to expect the very opposite of this. It is unacceptable that the European Union should condemn the Turkish Cypriot people to the embargo imposed by the nationalist Cypriots of the south.

In the event that the Greek Cypriot people should reject the Annan proposal, which is of course their democratic right, then the proposal put forward by the Greek politician Mr. Manos must be adopted, namely that Turkish northern Cyprus should be recognised as an independent state and member of the European Union, on just the same terms as Greek southern Cyprus.

ΑΝΤΙΕΘΝΙΚΙΣΤΙΚΗ ΚΙΝΗΣΗ
Ταχυδρομική Διεύθυνση: Τ.Θ 13794 10310 Αθήνα
E-mail: Antiethnikistiki@wxs.nl
Ιστοσελίδα: www.sitemaker.gr/antiethnikistik

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