Cypriot House President, Marios Garoyian, has welcomed a European Court of Human Rights ruling which found Turkey guilty of human rights violations in Cyprus.
He was commenting on three Court rulings, two of which said Ankara, whose troops occupy Cyprus northern part, is responsible for the killings of Greek Cypriots Anastasios Isaak and Solomos Solomou in 1996, during an anti-occupation rally. The third ruling said Turkey is guilty of human rights violations in the case of Greek Cypriot teacher Eleni Foka, who was forced to flee her home and school in the occupied areas. The Court decisions valuable and powerful political and legal instruments to the Republic of Cyprus, which it can use to its benefit. Such decisions are of crucial importance for the forthcoming pending cases before the European Court, he said.
Turkey, he pointed out, is responsible for violating human rights and for what is happening in the Cyprus occupied areas, adding that the Court did not accept Ankaras arguments that the illegal Turkish Cypriot regime in occupied Cyprus is accountable for what happens in the occupied part of the country. «Turkey is in the dock because it is responsible for the invasion, the continuing occupation, and the systematic violation of human rights in Cyprus,» he said.
Cyprus News Agency 25-06-08
