Category: Greece

CYPRUS: WHAT PEACE?

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!

July 28, 2010

Europeans Love Turkish Tourists

Monday, 19 July 2010

Turkish tourists, who spend four times more than the average far eastern, Arabic or American tourists, have become the target of European tour operators.

Speaking to the AA on Monday, spokesperson for the Tour Operators Platform, Cem Polatoglu, said that “in the past few years, the number of Turks going overseas for holidays has increased sharply”.

Turkish tourists, in general, have a tendency to travel to Europe for holidays. European countries realized the importance of Turkish tourists, who spend four times more than far eastern, Arabic or American tourists, during the global economic crisis, Polatoglu said.

Turkish tourists spend around 2,500 euros in weekly tours and around 1,200 euros during three-day tours, Polatoglu noted.

In the past, Turkish tourists had to go through “torture” due to visa and related documents requirements. Those European countries which in the past did not want Turkish tourists are now chasing them. Every single day, tour operators from Spain, France, Germany, Italy and Greece are now coming at our door for Turkish tourists. I have been working in the tourism sector for the past 35 years and have not seen such excellent days during my career, Polatoglu stressed.

According to Polatoglu, 1,750,000 Turks went to Europe for holidays during 2009.

We expect a rise of 15 percent in the number of Turks going to Europe in 2010, Polatoglu said.

Turkish tourists are Europe’s most favorite tourists, Polatoglu also said.

A.A

July 19, 2010

Greece claims Turkey’s intangible ‘Karagِz’ as its own ‘Karagiozis’

ATHENS: Greece will press its claim to a shadow puppet theater that UNESCO has deemed to be part of Turkey’s cultural heritage, the Foreign Ministry in Athens said on Wednesday.

The puppet theater features Karagz (“black-eyed” in Turkish), a hunchbacked trickster who tries to make a living by hoodwinking Turkish officials and generally avoids all manner of honest work.

The setting is loosely placed during the Ottoman rule of Greece, from the mid-15th to the early 19th century. The Greek version of the puppet theater features Karagiozis (Greek for Karagz).

Infused with a cast of Ottoman-era social cliches – including a Turkish enforcer, a Zante dandy, a Jew and a rough-hewn Greek shepherd – it was a popular form of folk entertainment in Greece until a few decades ago.

“The UNESCO convention on intangible cultural heritage enables neighboring countries to also access the same commodity,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Grigoris Delavekouras told a news briefing. “Greece has tabled a statement that the same practice exists in our country and a discussion … regarding this issue will take place in Nairobi in October.”

He added that the Karagiozis shadow theater is an “inseparable” part of Greek culture.

UNESCO last year placed Karagz on its list of intangible cultural elements, associating it with Turkey where the character was originally born.

In Greece, however, the character remains a powerful icon of resistance to authority even though Karagiozis performances are now only practiced by a few enthusiasts. Karagiozis is also a common byword for “fool” in Greek.

The origins of Turkish Karagz theater and its hide-crafted puppets are lost to history, though it is assumed that it was introduced to Turkey from Egypt.

Shadow theater is believed to have first surfaced in India over 2,000 years ago. –AFP, with The Daily Star

July 18, 2010
“Discover the real Greece. Come to Turkey”

In the article, “and Moreover” penned by Matthew Parris and published in the 12 August 1991 issue of The Times the author accuses Greece of pirating Turkish culture and tourism and he says that Turkish culture and tourism is far superior to Greek. The complete article is given below:

Haluk Demirbag

Turkish Forum Great Britain

“……..and Moreover”

by Matthew Parris

Although I couldn’t be happier on holiday here, there is a problem

about Turkey. For the turist, it lacks what the PR people would call

“a corporate identity”. Japan is cherry blossoms and Mount Fuji, isn’t

it? Australia is Kangaroos and Sydney Opera House, Beirut is bombs. So

what is Turkey?

This matters. Countries, like cigarettes, are sold on broad

recognition. For mass-marketing, a nation needs an image. A tourist

concept is at best a fraction of the truth and at worst a complete lie,

but it is an important lie. Scotland has been sold for generations on a

powerful myth involving kilts, bagpipes and haggis, Israel is currently

running an embarassing campaign depicting the place as a sort of

all-inclusive pizza of New Testament holiness, happy Arabs and

skindiving off Eilat. I’m sure it sells.

Spain, starting with Carmen, offers us the marketing man’s model:

bullfights, cascanets… scant justice to the great spread of peoples

and landscapes that is realy Spain, but potent. The United States shows

that neither the country nor the image need be primitive for promotion

under the banner of a clear corporate identity.

And that is Turkey’s tragedy. There was a perfectly marketable and

attractive image available-and the Greeks nicked it. A small, relatively

unimportant country on the fringes of big, central, crucial Turkey has

grapped our attention and elbowed its giant neighbour to the margins.

It is one of the best sleights of hand in marketing history.

The whole thing has been done on the backs of ancient Greeks and their

ruddy Parthenon. But the modern Greeks have little connection with their

ancient ones and occupy a different territory, which does happen to

include Athens. Most of the best Greek ruins, let alone Roman ones, are

in Turkey.

So the classy handle to the Greek tourist package is fake. Now open

the package. Ouzo, figs and bouzouki music? Much more of all three in

Turkey, under different names, Idyllic Mediterranean coast, coves

and beaches? Infinitely more of both, and better, in Turkey. Sun-kissed

islands? Turkey has these too: and do you know where the Greek ones,

which are largely barren, get the produce they sell to tourists as

Greek food? White-washed houses with blue doors? Yoghurt? Kebabs?

Goat’s milk cheese? All Turkish. Turkish food is similar to, but nicer

than, the “Greek” food we love to eat in London, but find disappointing

in Greece. I could go on. The scale of the larcency by which Greece has

corralled for itself the tourist heritage of a whole section of the

Mediterranean is breathtaking. And they complain about the Elgin Marbles!

This is far worse: pirating of cultural copyright. And this, though

it dwarfs modern Greece, is only the the bottom-left-hand corner of

Turkey we are disscussing. I haven’t touched the Black sea or the regions

of central and eastern Turkey, about which we know next to nothing in

Britain.

I blame Mrs. Thatcher. There are to many marginal north London

constituencies with to many Greek Cypriot voters for Turkey to get

so much as a friendly mention in Parliament. There seems to be no

Turkish lobby in Britain. And now they are calling it “Greek” coffee!

It’ll be Greek Delight next, mark my words, before the Greeks go on

to claim little red fezzes and decorated slippers as theirs… oops

sorry, a friend tells me the slippers are already sold to tourists on

the Greek islands.

You probably think I’ve been got at by the Turkish Tourist Board.

Not so. I have simply been poked in the chest in too many barbers and

fish and chip shops by the sons and doughters of the Greek Cypriots

who shot at us through the Fifties before settling down to moan that

Britain and the world should protect them from the Turks.

The last straw came when, on finding that the best way to get here

was to fly to a neighbouring Greek island and take the ferry to the

Turkish mainland, where there is no airport, I was informed that

the Greeks would confiscate my air ticket if I tried to return the same

way. Are they afraid that tourists who visit Turkey will rumble the

Greek Tourist Board conspiracy?

If you have time to go to a Greek prison, you might try a test case

with the European Court. Meanwhile, here is a suggested slogan for the

Turkish Tourist Board: “Discover the real Greece. Come to Turkey.”

July 18, 2010
UN condemns Israel’s deadly raid on blockade-busting aid convoy as British relatives face anxious wait for news

United Nations calls for impartial investigation

One Briton injured – 28 believed to be on flotilla

Israel: This was not a successful operation

Turkey accuses Israel of ‘state terrorism’

The United Nations Security Council today condemned Israel’s bloody commando raid on the Gaza flotilla and which left up to 19 dead and called for an impartial investigation into the incident.

In a statement released after a marathon 12-hour session, the body attacked ‘those acts’ which resulted in the loss of life.

But it stopped short of naming Israel outright, a move designed to placate the country’s closest ally the United States.

The statement, which called for ‘a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation, is unlikely to assuage Turkey.

Ankara had used some of the harshest language against the Jewish state for launching the raid against the flotilla, which included a Turkish ferry on which the pro-Palestinian activists were killed.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, whose country drafted the initial presidential statement, called the Israeli raid ‘banditry and piracy’ on the high seas and ‘murder conducted by a state’.

The United Nations Security Council today condemned Israel’s bloody commando raid on the Gaza flotilla and which left up to 19 dead and called for an impartial investigation into the incident.

In a statement released after a marathon 12-hour session, the body attacked ‘those acts’ which resulted in the loss of life.

But it stopped short of naming Israel outright, a move designed to placate the country’s closest ally the United States.

The statement, which called for ‘a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation, is unlikely to assuage Turkey.

Ankara had used some of the harshest language against the Jewish state for launching the raid against the flotilla, which included a Turkish ferry on which the pro-Palestinian activists were killed.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, whose country drafted the initial presidential statement, called the Israeli raid ‘banditry and piracy’ on the high seas and ‘murder conducted by a state’.

The United Nations Security Council today condemned Israel’s bloody commando raid on the Gaza flotilla and which left up to 19 dead and called for an impartial investigation into the incident.

In a statement released after a marathon 12-hour session, the body attacked ‘those acts’ which resulted in the loss of life.

But it stopped short of naming Israel outright, a move designed to placate the country’s closest ally the United States.

The statement, which called for ‘a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation, is unlikely to assuage Turkey.

Ankara had used some of the harshest language against the Jewish state for launching the raid against the flotilla, which included a Turkish ferry on which the pro-Palestinian activists were killed.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, whose country drafted the initial presidential statement, called the Israeli raid ‘banditry and piracy’ on the high seas and ‘murder conducted by a state’.

The incident happened in international waters and worldwide condemnation of Israel was swift.

Former British ambassador to the UN Sir Jeremy Greenstock said there had been ‘immediate international rage’ following the ‘unnecessary loss of life’.

He said that Israel had to make sure weapons were not getting into Gaza ‘so some kind of defence is necessary but this was clearly not very well handled’.

Sir Jeremy added: ‘It’s past time by some years for serious international action to end the blockade and the virtual starvation of Gaza.

‘This is not going to work as a way of dealing with the Palestinian territories over the long term.

‘It’s not going to work, frankly, for a democratic and law-abiding nation such as Israel – it’s changing the character of Israel to be responsible for this kind of occupation for so long.

‘And to my mind, this situation is just not necessary as it stands at the moment.’

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Conflict Issues said the flotilla raid had caused ‘indescribable pain” to the families of those killed and “provoked anger around the world’.

The three MPs co-chairing the group – Liberal Democrat Simon Hughes, Labour’s John McDonnell, and Conservative Gary Streeter – released a statement urging all sides to renounce violence.

They said: ‘As long as this long-running dispute remains unresolved, we fear that many more lives will be lost on all sides, resulting in even more pain and further deepening the hatred and distrust between all those involved.

‘Conflict resolution has been successfully used to end conflict in other parts of the world – now it’s time for the Israel-Palestine conflict to be resolved, for good.’

Turkey, from where most of the dead are said to come, accused Israel of ‘state terrorism’ and withdrew its ambassador to Tel Aviv.

Tens of thousands marched through Istanbul and attempted to storm the Israeli consulate, chanting: ‘ Murderous Israel, you will drown in the blood you shed.’

Deputy prime minister Bulent Arinc called Israel’s actions ‘piracy’ and cancelled three planned joint military exercises.

Foreign Secretary William Hague ‘deplored the loss of life’ and asked for access to the British involved, while David Cameron branded the attack ‘unacceptable’.

The deadly clash sparked a wave of furious condemnation of Israel – with 2,000 demonstrators outside the gates of Downing Street and thousands more outside the Israeli Embassy in West London.

In Paris, hundreds clashed with police near the Israeli Embassy. Police responded by firing tear gas.

The White House, which has close ties with both Israel and Turkey, expressed ‘deep regret at the loss of life in today’s incident, and concern for the wounded’.

Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu cancelled a trip to Washington planned for today to head home as the crisis erupted.

He expressed his ‘full backing’ for the military action.

Earlier, the UN said it was ‘shocked’ by the violence. Following a 90-minute open meeting, the Security Council went into closed-door consultations. Diplomats said envoys were haggling over the text of a proposed statement by the council, a task that dragged on into the evening.

Many council members criticized the Israeli action with varying degrees of vehemence, and said it was time for Israel’s three-year-old blockade of Hamas-controlled Gaza to be lifted.

‘This is tantamount to banditry and piracy,’ Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the council. ‘It is murder conducted by a state.’

The Jewish state argues that the blockade, which began in 2007, is necessary to prevent arms reaching the Hamas-controlled enclave.

The high-profile aid mission – unofficially supported by Turkey – set off from Cyprus on Sunday, led by the Turkish passenger ferry the Mavi Marmara, with 500 people aboard and 10,000 tons of food, medicines and building materials.

There were two other passenger ships – one Irish and one Swedish – and three cargo ships thought to be all Turkish. After warnings from Israel to turn back, they were intercepted before dawn yesterday by three warships about 40 miles from Gaza, still within international waters.

Commandos launched their raid on the Marmara by helicopter, slipping down a rope to the top deck. Greta Berlin, a founder of the Free Gaza Movement and one of the organisers of the flotilla, claimed the marines fired indiscriminately at unarmed civilians.

‘We are all civilians,’ she said. ‘Every one of us is a civilian who is trying to break Israel’s blockade of one and a half million Palestinians.’

Audrey Bomse, another spokesman for the movement, told the BBC: ‘We were not going to pose any violent resistance.’

However the Israeli Defence Force posted a video on the internet site YouTube of footage taken from the helicopter which it claimed showed its soldiers being attacked as they landed.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak said the commandos had orders to use ‘minimum force’ to commandeer the vessels, and met only token resistance on the other five ships.

But he said the forces were ‘ambushed’ on the Mavi Marmara by protesters using ‘extreme violence’ with weapons including two pistols, knives and iron bars.

The commandeered ships were brought several hours later into the port of Ashdod, where passengers were given the option of being voluntarily deported or arrested and taken to Israeli prisons.

There was a communications blackout, with the surviving protesters’ satellite phones being confiscated, making it impossible to hear their version of events.

The Daily Mail

June 1, 2010
ISRAELI BUTCHERY AT SEA BY GILAD ATZMON

As I write this piece the scale of the Israeli lethal slaughter at sea is yet to be clear. However we already know that at around 4am Gaza time, hundreds of IDF commandos stormed the Free Gaza international humanitarian fleet. We learn from the Arab press that at least 16 peace activists have been murdered and more than 50 were injured.  Once again it is devastatingly obvious that Israel is not trying to hide its true nature: an inhuman murderous collective  fuelled by a psychosis and driven by paranoia.

For days the Israeli government  prepared the Israeli society for the massacre at sea. It said that the Flotilla carried weapons, it had ‘terrorists’ on board. Only yesterday evening it occurred to me that this Israeli malicious media spin was there to prepare the Israeli public for a full scale Israeli deadly military operation in international waters.  Make no mistake. If I knew exactly where Israel was heading and the possible consequences, the Israeli cabinet and military elite were fully aware of it all the way along. What happened yesterday wasn’t just a pirate terrorist  attack. It was actually murder in broad day light even though it happened in the dark.

Yesterday at 10 pm I contacted Free Gaza and shared with them everything I knew. I obviously grasped that hundreds of peace activists most of them elders, had very little chance against the Israeli killing machine. I was praying all night for our brothers and sisters.  At 5am GMT the news broke to the world. In international waters Israel raided an innocent international convoy of boats carrying cement, paper and medical aid to the besieged Gazans. The Israelis were using live ammunition murdering and injuring everything around them.

Today we will see demonstrations around the world, we will see many events mourning our dead.  We may even see some of Israel’s friends ‘posturing’ against the slaughter. Clearly this is not enough.

The massacre that took place yesterday was a premeditated Israeli operation. Israel wanted blood because it believes that its ‘power of deterrence’  expands with the more dead it leaves behind. The Israeli decision to use hundreds of commando soldiers against civilians was taken by the Israeli cabinet together with the Israeli top military commanders. What we saw yesterday wasn’t just a failure on the ground. It was actually an institutional failure of a morbid society that a long time ago lost touch with humanity.

It is no secret that Palestinians are living in a siege for years. But it is now down to the nations to move on and mount the ultimate pressure on Israel and its citizens. Since the massacre yesterday was committed by a popular army that followed instructions given by a ‘democratically elected’ government, from now on, every Israeli  should be considered as a  suspicious war criminal unless proved different.

Considering the fact that Israel stormed naval vessels sailing under Irish, Turkish and Greek flags. Both NATO  members and EU countries must immediately cease their  relationships with  Israel  and close their airspace to Israeli airplanes.

Considering yesterday’s news about Israeli nuclear submarines being stationed in the Gulf, the world must react quickly and severely. Israel is now officially mad and deadly. The Jewish State is not just careless about human life,  as we have been following  the Israeli press campaign leading to the slaughter,  Israel actually  seeks pleasure in inflicting pain and devastation on others.

, MAY 31, 2010

June 1, 2010