ANOTHER BARBARIC INVASION For the sake of my Turkish friends I put on my F page a translation of my recent article in POLITIS. It was translated in a condense form by MariChristophides in OMFALOS THS GHS Economics teacher, George Koumoullis, writing in Politis, says that the media keep on using the adjective ‘barbaric’ whenever they talk about the Turkish invasion. They’ve been overdoing it, these days, it being its fortieth anniversary. But the truth is, all wars are barbaric, after all you never hear of a velvet invasion. However, we are guilty of another barbararic invasion in Cyprus which we have tried to cover up and are still doing so. I’m talking of an invasion in the broad sense of the word, as in an invasion into the Turkish area in the Famagusta district, which was made up of the villages of Salandari, Maratha and Aloa. Perhaps some would prefer the word incursion, rather than invasion, but the essence is the same. The majority of the Cypriot population does not know about the crimes that were committed in these three villages in August 1974. Very briefly, “unknown Greek Cypriot fighters” invaded the villages, raped young girls and killed 126 women, children and elderly, throwing their bodies into the rubbish. Unfortunately all our governments to date have been concerned with collecting as many votes as they could so refused to carry out any investigations into this hideous crime. I hasten to add that there are also Turkish Cypriots who are equally guilty of barbaric crimes against us, but that doesn’t excuse this heinous crime one bit. Two issues arise. First, is the complete inaction of the police. How come the perpetrators are well known to the inhabitants of the surrounding villages, yet ‘unknown’ to the police? Who can believe the police’s excuse that there is no incriminating evidence for any of the 126 murders? Of course, one can argue that those were chaotic days and the law could not be implemented. But how come in the 40 years that ensued no criminal procedure was enacted? That too much time has passed is not an excuse. In Europe they are still chasing World War II criminals. Now that the Republic of Cyprus has matured, why aren’t the guilty pursued? The second issue is a question of our double standards. On the one hand we (correctly) accuse Turkey of war crimes, while on the other we turn a blind eye to our own. Some may argue that this crime was carried out by irregulars so cannot be considered a war crime. But when the state tolerates such crimes, it automatically becomes complicit. No one has gone to jail. No one has been arrested. No one was questioned. Undoubtedly, tolerance equals guilt. President Anastasiades claims to be president of all Cypriots. He should prove it with actions not just words. He cannot be present at memorials of Greek Cypriots who died in 74 and ignore our murdered Turkish Cypriot compatriots. Our leadership should in fact apologise to the Turkish Cypriots for the crimes perpetrated in 74 and at the same time the leadership of the Turkish Cypriots should apologise to us. We should set a date when we can all commemmorate all murdered Cypriots. There cannot be a stronger confidence-building measure, one that would expose all the chauvinists on both sides of the divide.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 07:50:20 +0000
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