Greek Cypriots, living in Britain, have condemned the illegal declaration of independence (UDI) by the Turkish Cypriots in the northern Turkish-occupied part of Cyprus.
A picket to condemn the UDI was organized on Sunday by the National Federation of Cypriots in the United Kingdom, outside the Turkish embassy in London.
A delegation of the Federation, led by the President Peter Droussiotis, left at the entrance of the Turkish embassy – since the diplomatic mission of the occupying force refuses to accept any document from Cyprus – a letter addressed to the Ambassador Mehmet Yigit Alpogan, condemning the continuing Turkish military occupation of the island’s northern part.
According to the letter, “26 years after the unilateral declaration of independence by the unrecognised administration created by your country’s government in occupied northern Cyprus, the Turkish state continues to stand obstinately in the way of numerous United Nations resolutions and international law”.
“The Berlin Wall fell twenty years ago, the entire world has moved on but, shamefully, Turkey’s intransigence over Cyprus remains as strong as it has always been”, it notes.
It adds “in more than thirty five years of illegal occupation, not a single practical concession has been made by Turkey in relation to Cyprus, not even during the last year of continuous negotiations between Cyprus President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat which are aimed at bringing the island’s division and the tragedy of all its people to an end”.
Despite the global refusal to recognize the illegal Turkish Cypriot regime, it continues, “Turkey steadfastly breaches international law through its military occupation of Cyprus’s northern part and continues to transfer Turkish mainlanders into the occupied area in order to make impossible the just and lasting settlement that Cypriots and the rest of the world seek”.
“As France’s Europe Minister, Pierre Lellouche, stated, a situation whereby Turkey seeks accession to the European Union but occupies the territory of an EU member state, cannot persist”, the letter points out.
Finally, the Cypriot community in the United Kingdom calls on Turkey to withdraw its troops from the northern part of Cyprus, account for Cypriots who went missing during its military invasion in 1974, cease the desecration of the cultural and religious heritage of the island, stop the exploitation of stolen Cypriot properties, open its ports and air space to Cypriot craft and work for a just and lasting settlement on the island in the interests of all Cypriots, the letter concludes.
President Demetris Christofias and the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community Mehmet Ali Talat began peace talks in September 2008, under UN auspices to find a mutually acceptable solution.
Financial Mirror, November 16, 2009.
