{"id":14081,"date":"2009-08-08T10:18:06","date_gmt":"2009-08-08T08:18:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishforum.com.tr\/en\/content\/?p=14081"},"modified":"2013-10-12T23:42:13","modified_gmt":"2013-10-12T20:42:13","slug":"turkish-cypriots-complain-about-greek-harassment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2009\/08\/08\/turkish-cypriots-complain-about-greek-harassment\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkish Cypriots complain about Greek harassment"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"Wednesday, August 5, 2009<\/div>\n

REETA PAAKKINEN<\/p>\n

KYRENIA – H\u00fcrriyet Daily News<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The Turkish Cypriot tourism sector is considering starting legal proceedings against Greek Cyprus for what they see as harassment of their business partners abroad. The issue reached the Italian parliament in June, when a local MP called the letters from Greek Cypriot representation an ‘intimidation campaign.’<\/div>\n
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For harassment of their overseas business partners, the Turkish Cypriot Tourism and Travel Agencies Association, or KITSAB, and the Turkish Cypriot Hoteliers’ Association, or KITOB, are considering starting legal proceedings against the Greek Cypriot government.<\/p>\n

Presenting several letters from Greek Cypriot embassies in European Union countries and Lebanon to local travel companies marketing holidays in northern Cyprus, KITSAB and KITOB presidents said the Greek Cypriot approach contradicts the U.N.-mediated peace talks.<\/p>\n

In late June, the issue reached the Italian parliament. Marco Perduca of the Radical Party said the letter the Greek Cypriot Embassy in Rome sent to Italian tour operators amounted to an \u201cintimidation campaign\u201d in which the Italian government should support Italian entrepreneurs who bring tourists to northern Cyprus.<\/p>\n

Undermining tourism<\/p>\n

\u201cThis time we have had enough of the Greek Cypriot campaign to stop tourism to Turkish Cyprus. Germany, the U.K., Lebanon, Romania, Sweden. \u2026 Wherever we go, the Greek Cypriot government follows and calls for our business partners not to cooperate with us,\u201d \u00d6zbek Dedekorkut, president of KITSAB, told the H\u00fcrriyet Daily News & Economic Review.<\/p>\n

A letter from the Greek Cypriot Embassy in Rome to Italian tour operators, seen by the Daily News, conveyed the image that a holiday from Italy to northern Cyprus could lead one into legal trouble by stating, in Italian: \u201cWe remind that Tymbou [Ercan] Airport is in the occupied area. In addition, it is operating outside the IATA authority in a way that is outside the law. Arriving in Cyprus through that entry point can lead to fines according to the laws of Republic of Cyprus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another letter seen by the Daily News was from the Greek Cypriot Embassy in Beirut to a local tour operator in Jounieh, Lebanon, dated June 5. The letter presented the local travel agency the possibility of legal charges in case his company brings tourists to northern Cyprus.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has come to the attention of this Embassy that your travel agency \u2026 is currently in the process of establishing a tourist holiday package involving destinations in the Turkish-occupied areas of the Republic of Cyprus. As a consequence we hereby wish to inform you that some of your actions are violating both the legislation of the Republic of Cyprus \u2013 a member state of the European Union \u2013 and international law in such a way that it may be cause for taking legal action against you and your company. \u2026 We also advise you to refrain from launching a sea line with a destination in the occupied areas of the Republic of Cyprus.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter had an official reference number and was signed by Charge d\u2019Affaires Kyriacos P. Kouros, who could not be reached when the Daily News contacted him about the authenticity of the letter.<\/p>\n

Harming Turkish business<\/p>\n

Although there is no legal basis for stopping people from traveling to northern Cyprus, travel companies abroad become unnecessarily concerned, he said. \u201cGreek Cypriot representatives are trying to scare local businesses abroad, and this harms us. They do not have the right to threaten our business partners like this,\u201d Dedekorkut said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Greek Cypriot campaign is affecting our marketing, especially in Europe,\u201d said Mehmet Dolmac\u0131, president of KITOB. \u201cGreek Cypriots are making it clear they don\u2019t want to cooperate or share tourism income here. Cyprus is not solely a Greek island \u2013 Turkish Cypriots also have the right to live here. Whatever we try to do, they try to stop it. This seems to be their biggest job \u2013 not to find a solution but to try to pressure us to leave Cyprus for better income elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contradictory<\/p>\n

Maintaining isolation is contradictory to peace talks, according to Maurizio Turco, a member of the Italian Parliament and a colleague of Marco Perduca in the Italian Radical Party. Turco said attempts to hamper the growth of tourism in northern Cyprus are in dire contrast with the ongoing talks. \u201cThe Greek Cypriot side is talking with Turkish Cypriots about a comprehensive settlement, yet at the same time their representations are trying to stop tourism to northern Cyprus. This is just not right,\u201d Turco told the Daily News in late July in Kyrenia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should bring the issue to the world\u2019s attention. [Turkish Cypriot president] Mehmet Ali Talat should also point this out to [Greek Cypriot president] Dimitris Christofias and make it clear this is not right,\u201d Turco added.<\/p>\n

According to Turco, the letters the Greek Cypriot Embassy in Rome sent have been noted in the Italian parliament. \u201cThis issue should really be discussed on the EU level,\u201d he said. \u201cMember states should come together to discuss the isolation of northern Cyprus. But because of the veto Greek Cyprus has, this is difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a mistake to accept Greek Cyprus in the EU after it turned down the Kofi Annan Peace proposal, said Turco, who earlier served in the European Parliament. \u201cThere should have been first a peace deal, and only then entry for the whole island into the EU.\u201d<\/p>\n

H\u00fcrriyet <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wednesday, August 5, 2009 REETA PAAKKINEN KYRENIA – H\u00fcrriyet Daily News The Turkish Cypriot tourism sector is considering starting legal proceedings against Greek Cyprus for what they see as harassment of their business partners abroad. The issue reached the Italian parliament in June, when a local MP called the letters from Greek Cypriot representation an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":54926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[211,679,1094],"tags":[2024,2020,2017,2021,2022,2019,2023,2018,2016],"class_list":["post-14081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyprus-trnc","category-italy-eu-members-european-countries-english","category-tourism","tag-dimitris-christofias","tag-greek","tag-greek-harassment","tag-intimidation-campaign","tag-italian-parliament","tag-legal-proceedings","tag-mehmet-ali-talat","tag-tourism-sector","tag-turkish-cypriots"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}