Situation of Human Rights in Cyprus

Oral Statement by the Society for Threatened Peoples
The prospective accession of the Republic of Cyprus to membership of the European Community has revived controversy over the status of the island state. The Society for Threatened Peoples accuses the government of Turkey, in continuing disregard of a series of United Nations Resolutions, of maintaining the military occupation of one third of the territory of its small European neighbour, of consolidating the ethnic cleansing commenced in 1974, and through the settlement of the area by its own nationals of gradually driving out the Turkish Cypriot population and preventing any possibility of reuniting of the two parts of the island of Cyprus.

In July 1974 the Turkish troops landed in Northern Cyprus after the Greek military junta in Athens had installed a fascist government in Cyprus against the will of the population. Even though democratic rule was re-established within a few days of its landing the Turkish Army continued its offensive, breaking several ceasefires and occupying 36% of the island. Over 3,000 people were killed by Turkish soldiers. 180,000 Greek Cypriots and the small Armenian, Maronite and Latin-Cypriot minorities living among them were expelled to the south. In addition 1,493 Greek Cypriots have been missing since the Turkish offensive.

The Turkish Cypriot population (18%) which for five centuries had lived a settled existence dispersed throughout the island were voluntarily or forcibly concentrated in Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus. Since 1974 Turkish Cypriots have been leaving the northern part of the island under pressure from approximately 30,000 Turkish soldiers and an influx of new settlers from Anatolia. According to Turkish Cypriot opposition estimates half the Turkish Cypriot population has emigrated, to Great Britain and elsewhere.

Several hundred Greek and Maronite Cypriots have remained behind in the Morphou area and the Karpassia region. Their freedom of movement has been very limited and only in exceptional cases have they been able to receive visits from relatives in the South. The Greek and Maronite Cypriots still living in the north of the island have suffered repeated violations of their human rights. Incoming Turkish settlers from Anatolia have already forced more than half the population to leave Northern Cyprus.

The cultural heritage of the former majority Greek Cypriot population has been systematically destroyed along with that of the three Northern Cypriot minorities. Orthodox churches have been destroyed, looted or converted into cowsheds, and valuable statues and icons have been stolen and sold in Europe or in the USA.

The only Armenian monastery of Sourp Magar (St Macarius), a traditional centre of pilgrimage for the Northern Cypriot Armenian minority expelled by Turkish troops, was largely destroyed and comprehensively plundered.

In spite of an agreement concluded between the Cypriot Government and the regime governing Turkish-occupied Cyprus, no serious attempt seems to have been made to clarify the fate of the 1,619 Greek Cypriots who disappeared during the war in Cyprus. Meanwhile the Cypriot authorities have begun to release information about several hundred Turkish Cypriot victims of the intercommunal disturbances of the nineteen-sixties.

Today Northern and Southern Cyprus are sealed off from one another. The Turkish Army and the Denktash regime in control of Northern Cyprus have divided the island in two with walls, barbed wire and military posts. The Turkish side has sought to prevent Turkish Cypriots from visiting the south and Greek Cypriots from visiting the north, with only a few exceptions.

The Society for Threatened Peoples calls upon the international community to ensure that:

 

• freedom of movement is restored for all Cypriot citizens throughout the island;

• further destruction of the cultural heritage of Northern Cyprus is prevented and the reconstruction or restoration of destroyed Greek, Maronite and Armenian churches and monasteries is facilitated;

• the property of residents who fled or were deported from Northern Cyprus is protected;

• island-wide free elections are held, with the right to vote limited to legitimate Cypriot citizens;

• all refugees and deportees are guaranteed the right to return home and anyone who does not wish to do so is able to obtain compensation;

• negotiations for a federal solution to the Cyprus problem are given support;

• the three small minority ethnic groups in Northern Cyprus are also guaranteed protection and the five Maronite communities in the Morphou area are granted autonomous status;

• the Armenian monastery of Sourp Magar (St Macarius) and its surrounding area are immediately placed under the protection of UNESCO and responsibility transferred to the democratically elected government of a united Cyprus once such a government is in place.

• the Turkish government is obliged to respect and to implement all Resolutions of the General Assembly of the United Nations and the European Parliament and rulings of the European Court of Justice in Strasbourg concerning Cyprus.