by Rauf R.DENKTAS
“Peace is not merely the absence of war, but presence of the rule
of law, justice democracy and human rights” is the view of Mr. Andreas
S.Kakouris who is accepted by the US Government as “the ambassador
of the Republic of Cyprus to the United States”, and he laments “all of
these elements are missing because of the continuing Turkish occupation
of nearly 37 percent of the territory of the Republic of Cyprus and
massive violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, the direct
result of an armed illegal invasion by Turkey in 1974;”(!)
Since, Mr. Kakouris is championing “the rule of law, justice,
democracy and human rights” it becomes relevant to query his
credentials as “the ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus to the United
Nations”. I am sure both Kakouris himself and the US authorities who
have accepted him as “the ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus to the
United states” know too well, that this appointment is flawed from a
legal point of view because the consent and signature of the Turkish
Cypriot Vice-President of the Republic of Cyprus, whose existence was
denied by Archbishop Makarios back in 1963 when he declared that he
no longer recognized a vice-president because all aspects of the 1960
constitution which had established a partnership Republic between the
Turkish and Greek Cypriots had been changed was rejected by the Greek
Cypriot Administration (the usurpers of the title of the Republic since
1963) as from that date. Turkish Cypriot partner community was offered
minority status: They could only come back to the “Cypriot fold” if only
they accepted minority rights in a Greek Cypriot Cyprus.
In other words the usurpers of power in the island had put
themselves in a position which could not be defended constitutionally,
legally or morally. In fact the onslaught on Turkish Cypriots was for
uniting the island with Greece the prohibition of which was the essence
of the 1960 Agreements! In other words, long before Turkey came to
Cyprus as a guarantor, in order to prevent the declaration of Enosis and
the destruction of the Turkish Cypriot partner, it is the Greek Cypriot
leaders and their government who defied the rule of law, justice,
democracy and human rights, by destroying the partnership Republic in
the name of Enosis.
The fact that in this era of big-power politics, the rule of law and
constitutionality of appointments can be easily and lamentably ignored,
does not absolve Mr. Kakouris from his obligation to be truthful while
projecting the Cyprus problem to the world.
The title of his article to CNN on July 9, 2010 is “Cyprus is not at
peace with Turkey” and naturally his story begins with the arrival of
guarantor Turkey in July 1974. Forgetting that Turkey intervened in
order to prevent Enosis and protect Turkish Cypriot partner from further
atrocities. The amnesia of the ambassador “to the events between
December 1963 and July 1974” is a national disease but even this does
not give the ambassador a free license to lie to the world at large. This is
not a wild accusation-anyone who conveniently forgets the beginning of
a true story and tells his own version of it may be a good story-teller but
his lies will soon be discovered by truly interested, independent
observers. A cursory look at the Genocide Files by Gibbons, a four
hundred plus page book and a look at the Akritas Plan will suffice to put
Mr. Kakouris on the top-list of story-tellers in the world. But, after all,
that is what he is paid for by his masters back at home, called “the
Republic of Cyprus” which in fact is what is left of this partnership
Republic after Greek Cypriot side destroyed it in the name of Enosis.
The Turkish intervention in 1974 did not only prevent the
declaration of Enosis, by the arch-murderer Nicos Sampson, but it also
saved thousands of AKEL members from summary execution while it put
an end to the colonel’s rule in Athens; that, 20th July 1974 was, in fact,
the day Turkish Cypriots were saved from mass graves or from forced
migration as in the case of the island of Crete in 1900’s is an undeniable
fact in the light of Makarios’ statement that “if Turkey comes to save the
Turkish Cypriots, Turkey will find no Turkish Cypriot to save”.
By the time Turkish soldiers moved to the Famagusta area the
unarmed civilians of Muratağa, Sandallar and Aloa, were killed and
buried in mass graves, without sparing 16 day old babies, one to
fourteen year old children and grand parents in their eighties or nineties.
Until saved by Turkey, 40,000 of Turkish Cypriots, the inhabitants
of 103 villages, who had fled to safer areas were forced to live in 3% of
the area of Cyprus, denied all their constitutional and human rights from
1963 to 1975. How can Mr. Kakouris talk about denial of Justice to his
people, just because Turkey, acting under the Treaties of 1960 saved
Turkish Cypriots from this fate and prevented the handing over of the
island to Greece?
“Peace is not merely the absence of war”, true! But in the case of
Cyprus peace between the two ex-partners requires absolute honesty
about the causes of the conflict and not story tellers trying to convince
the world that a Greek Cyprus has been occupied by Turkey. What is
needed is a permanent settlement, therefore putting an end to these lies
and allowing the two ex-partners to live in security in their respective
states while agreeing to cooperate on matters of mutual interest is the
way to a permanent settlement. Good neighbourliness is the ultimate
answer!