| CYPRUS PROBLEM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
CYPRUS 25 YEARS OF TURKISH OCCUPATION IN CYPRUS. 1999marks 25 years since the brutal Turkish invation.25 years of illegal and violent occupation of 37% of Cypriot soil by the Turkish army. In all these years the Turkish conqueror has kept from their homes and properties the 200,000 refugees (80% of the population of the occupied areas) who had been forcibly driven away, and refuses to give information regarding the fate of the 1629 missing persons. During these 25 years the number of enclaved Greece Cypriots (23,000) living in the occupied North, has been refused to 500 as a result of the continuous violation of all their rights, while efforts for the Turkification of our occupied areas continues to remain fixed in an anachronistic policy against Cyprus, in violation of all laws of justice and morality. The Cyprus government continues its efforts towards a just and permanent solution to the Cyprus problem, which will ensure the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and unity of the island, and will guarantee the protection and respect for the human rights of its people. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 25 YEARS OF TURKISH OCCUPATION IN CYPRUS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean. It is situated at the north-eastern end of the east Mediterranean basin at a distance of 380km north of Egypt, 105km west of Syria and 75km south of Turkey. The Greek mainland is some 800km to the west and the nearest Greek islands are Rhodes and Carpathos 380km to the west. Cyprus' geographical position, the deep-lying bonds which, for two thousand years, have located the island at the very fount of European culture and civilisation, the intensity of the European influence apparent in the values shared by the people of Cyprus and in the conduct of the cultural, political, economic and social life of its citizens, the wealth of its contacts of every kind with the Community, all these confer on Cyprus, beyond all doubt, its European identity and character and confirm its vocation to belong to the Community Since 1974 the 37% of the island has been occupied to the Turks... �On July 20 1974, Turkey invaded Cyprus militarily claiming to the international community that it was undertaking a "peace operation". As its excuse to invade, it used the coup perpetrated by the Greek Junta against Archbishop Makarios. Turkey's action brought about considerable loss of life, great material destruction, atrocities against the civilian population, and the displacement of one third of the population. When the UN Security Council intervened, negotiations on the situation began in Geneva among Turkey, Greece, Cyprus and the UK, Turkey tried to impose its views and to gain time for a second military operation. On 14 August 1974, and while the talks in Geneva were still going on, another advance of Turkish troops occurred which culminated in the occupation of 37% of Cyprus. The occupied area is the richest of the island, representing 70% of it�s resources. � | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| BY LEADER^^
|
Favourite links
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||
|
This page has been visited
|