Cyprus marks anniversary of second wave of Turkish invasion 1974

1974 Illegal Invasion of Cyprus -- Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bt-3-Yhow0&NR=1

We are all prisoners of knowledge. To know how Cyprus was betrayed, and to have studied the record of that betrayal, is to make oneself unhappy and to spoil, perhaps for ever, one's pleasure for visiting one of the world's most enchanting islands. Nothing will ever restore the looted treasures, the bereaved families, the plundered villages, the groves and hillsides scalded with napalm. Nor will anything mitigate the record of the callous, and crude politicians who regarded Cyprus as something on which to scribble their inane and conceited designs. But fatalism would be the worst betrayal of all. The acceptance, the legitimization of what was done - those things must be repudiated. Such a refusal has a value beyond Cyprus in showing that acquiescence in injustice is not 'realism'. Once the injustice has been set down and described, and called by its right name, acquiescence in it becomes impossible. That is why one writes about Cyprus in sorrow but more - much more - in anger."

-Christopher Hitchens

1974 Illegal Invasion of Cyprus -- Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQqnyF-jhi0&feature=related

In 1974, a coup d'etat by the Greek Army Officers, which were located in Cyprus, tried to overthrow Makarios, who was the president of Cyprus. This created enough problems, which facilitated the invasion of Cyprus by the Turkish military. The first invasion took place on July 20, 1974. A second invasion took place less than a month later, on August 14, 1974. To this day the Turks still remain in Cyprus even though they are in violation of the UN charter. During the invasions more than 200,000 Greek Cypriots were displaced and became refugees in their own country. Thousands were killed and almost 2,000 people reported missing are still unaccounted for.

36 years later Turkish Troops still occupy the 37% of the island which they occupied in 1974

From the Cyprus Mail 14th August 2010

THE 36TH ANNIVERSARY of Turkey’s second offensive against Cyprus was condemned across the  local political spectrum yesterday.

On August 14, 1974, Turkish troops expanded their occupation to include the tourist resort of Famagusta in the east and the rich citrus-growing area of Morphou in the west. In total, almost 37 per cent of the island ended up under Turkish occupation.

Turkish troops first invaded Cyprus on July 20, 1974, five days after the legal government of the late Archbishop Makarios III was toppled by a military coup engineered by the military junta then ruling Greece.

Two unproductive conferences in Geneva followed; the first between Britain, Greece and Turkey and the second with the additional attendance of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot representatives.

On August 13 the Turkish Foreign Minister called for the respective enclaves to be divided into cantons, and demanded an immediate response.

Greece, Britain and America all saw this as unreasonable. The next day the Turkish army mounted a second full-scale offensive, three weeks after a ceasefire was declared on July 22, and despite the fact that talks were still being held and agreement seemed about to be reached.

Cyprus President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat began a fresh round of UN-led talks in September 2008. A new Turkish Cypriot leader  Dervis Eroglu was elected in April  this year and has picked up the talks where Christofias and Talat left off.

What the item by the Cyprus Mail does not convey is the reason for having choosen to insert the two videos clips above, which communicate somewhat more effectively what those words  actually meant for some of the people who experienced the brutality of what Turkey still has the gall to call its 'peace operation' in Cyprus.


Items below are recordings of events in the UK, spoken in English, to mark the 36th Anniversary of Turkey's invasion of Cyprus

turkish_troops_out_of_cyprus on livestream.com

Unfortunately neither US Policy, or British Policy, give expression to the words "Turkish Troops out of Cyprus" as judged by the Obama visit, or the more recent Cameron visit to Turkey - so THAT is the root of a problem which needs to be resolved, if the Cyprus problem is to be 'solved'.


Please support us by adding your name to the petition at:


http://www.turkishinvasioncyprus.com

Cyprus Colloquium - Open Email to Organisers

Hello all,

This message is to thank you for all the hard work which you (and others) have put into making the Cyprus Colloquium a reality and also for your wonderful hospitality to us all, which made it feel more like a family gathering than a conference.

It is quite a time-consuming task to produce computer files of ALL the day's event, but that has now been completed, as also the editing and uploading of a first video from the Cyprus Colloquium. A new page has been created on my own website to "embed" this one video (which also shows others that this video material could also be made available from the pages of other websites by that embedding process).

So we begin with the Plenary Session first, with video of other sessions to be added later subject to confirmation that people do indeed wish their work made available in this manner.

The location of the MAIN Cyprus Colloquium page is:
http://aspects.duckdns.org/cyprus/090508_Colloquium/info.htm

The location of the video for the PLENARY SESSION is:
http://aspects.duckdns.org/cyprus/090508_Colloquium/video_session_4_plenary.htm

I would like to take this opportunity to say that my own 'active' involvement with Cypriot-related activities stretches back to the mid 1980's when I was an active participant at Theatro Technis, where I operated the video workshop (among other tasks). My motivation has at all times, then and subsequently, been to contribute to the creation of Cyprus-related video material IN ENGLISH (primarily) about the Cyprus Problem -- in order to combat the scarce coverage of 'our issues' by the mainstream press and media.

FYI: There is no longer a family connection with it, but the Cyprus Weekly (English language newspaper in Cyprus) was created (with others) by my uncle Alex Efty, and he remained an active contributor to it in his many years of effort to enlighten the 'outside' world about the Cyprus problem (also including 50+ years as an Associated Press Correspondent for the Middle East, until his retirement a couple of years ago).

With his retirement, I feel it has fallen to me to continue a family tradition of 'activism' on matters Cypriot.

My own perspective has always been a Cypriot-related one (and while I recognise and respect the existence of the Greek/Hellenic and Turkish perspectives) I have always defined myself, and still do, as a CYPRIOT first, and a (something else) second (though I was born and grew up in Kyrenia in Cyprus before leaving to study in the UK, I happen to be three quarter Russian, and one quarter Greek).

I will remind us all of the comments by Kyriacos Tsioupras during the Plenary Session of the Cyprus Colloquium about the importance of "The Media" in efforts to 'break the Cyprus deadlock' and point out that my own efforts are made as my own (relatively small) contribution in that sphere of activities.

Such activities as I AM able to undertake are intended as a catalyst to encourage OTHERS (and particularly academics in educational institutions who have the resources) to make their OWN material AVAILABLE and ACCESSIBLE.

Should participants wish to follow up on the suggestions made regarding a "web-presence" for the Cyprus Colloquium (Facebook, a web-log, and Flickr were among the possibilities mentioned) then I would suggest that an excellent networking activity is available via http://www.ning.com and I would be pleased to set up a Cyprus Colloquium site there which would provide group email facilities, and an activity which everyone can contribute to, offering ability to make comments, add photos, add videos and add many other 'widget' features which are the 'new thing' in Web 2.0 development. People would have to create themselves an "Identity" at Ning dot com in order to contribute, and the facility can be made available to 'members only' (in order to remain a closed group of immediately active participants), or can be left visible to the whole world.

Individual responses by email regarding whether we should release additional video material of other contributions to the Colloquium (as with the Plenary Video) are awaited, as also on whether participants would wish a facility created (at Ning.com).

PS: For those who do have a Facebook, I can be added to your own contact list by searching for me with this email address, and anyone who does not already have a Facebook -- I will be happy to send them an invite to join if they request this by email to me, though as explained above, I would rather recommend Ning dot com than Facebook.