Footage of Turks punching UN peacekeepers in Cyprus buffer zone

Türkiye issues Travel alert for United States of America

 Travel Alert has just been issued for the USA from Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs...

Turk President Erdogan today threatened Greece.....AGAIN

Speaking at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in the Swiss resort of Davos on Thursday, the PM of Greece, M. Mitsotakis argued there was no possibility of war between Türkiye and Greece.  “We will not go to war with Türkiye though we witnessed a lot of tension in the last three years,” Mitsotakis said.

Well.....it's campaign season in Türkiye and Mr Erdogan had this to say today....

(What a difference a day makes.  I am sure it will win him a few more of the "crazy Turks" votes.)

Turkey's commitment to European values questioned

Editor's note: Theo Sommer is a German newspaper editor and intellectual. He has been at Die Zeit since 1958, rising to Editor-in-Chief and Publisher. He is considered one of Germany's foremost authorities on international relations and strategic issues.  The opinions expressed in this commentary below are solely his.

There is No Place in the European Union for This Turkey

HAMBURG - For 10 years, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan built his reputation as a moderate, successful, even exemplary levelheaded Islamist democrat. During his leadership the economy flourished, domestic political stability settled in after a period of shaky coalitions, and the army was put on a leash. When the Arab Spring uprisings began, Turkey's democracy seemed like a shining beacon for the people taking to the streets in the Arab world's crisis crescent.

Those days are over. The economy is stuck in a deep crisis. Share prices and the Turkish lira have slumped. And the AKP, Erdogan's party, has been caught up in a serious corruption scandal. The accused include the sons of three AKP ministers and Erdogan's own son Bilal. Investigators have uncovered millions of dollars stuffed into shoe boxes, money transfers to Iran and construction permits in return for large bribes.

As the crisis has unfolded, Erdogan himself has become more and more autocratic, trying to sweep aside everything standing in his way. Last summer, his security forces launched a bloody crackdown on the protests in and around Gezi Park. Since mid-December, he has ruthlessly pursued all those who would drain the swamp of corruption. Hundreds of police officers, dozens of prosecutors and judges have been fired or transferred because they refused to halt their probes, which had reached the prime minister's inner circle. To put an end to corruption rumors circulating online, Erdogan's government recently blocked access to Twitter and YouTube in Turkey.

Meanwhile, a bitter feud between Erdogan and his ally-turned-rival Fethullah Gülen, has shaken Turkey's political scene. The prime minister rails against the imam, who lives in U.S. exile. He sees enemies and conspirators everywhere.

Turkey's municipal elections held in late March were ultimately about whether the country's awakening civil society or conservatism would prevail. The outcome -- 45 percent for the AKP, 38 percent for the opposition -- demonstrates that Erdogan's power base has not crumbled. Now it's completely up to him whether to run for the presidency in the summer or to disregard the term limits he himself instigated and seek a fourth term as premier.

For 30 years, I have advocated accepting Turkey into the European Union, once the country has fulfilled the Copenhagen Criteria: institutional stability as a guarantee of democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights and minority rights, a functioning market economy, and finally the pledge to embrace the goals of the political, economic and monetary union.

If Erdogan continues as he has over the past two years, he will not fulfill these criteria. There is no place in the European Union for this Turkey.

The conduct of Turkey -- a NATO member -- in the Syria crisis is also worrying. A leaked audio recording that has gone viral online reveals Turkey's foreign minister, intelligence chief and deputy chief of staff discussing intervening militarily in Syria after staging a fake attack made to look as if it had been committed by Syrians.

The leaders in Ankara need to be clear that Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty requires NATO-wide action only if a member state is actually attacked. If the Turkish government feels like playing with fire on the sidelines of the Syrian civil war, it can do so without expecting NATO assistance. And Germany should promptly withdraw its Patriot missile batteries that are guarding Turkey's frontier with Syria.

This article appeared in The German Weekly on April 4, 2014.

Turks figured out that they invaded wrong geographic region of Cyprus

No hegemonic peace in Cyprus by Marios L. Evriviades

If NATO today trots out the principle of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty to condemn Russia, how come it doesn't condemn Turkey when it comes to the territorial integrity and sovereignty that Cyprus is equally entitled to? Professor Marios L. Evriviades revisits the Turkish plan and analyzes where it went wrong.

Almost forty years to the date, the Turks finally figured out that they had invaded the wrong geographic region of Cyprus. Cyprus’s power wealth, its hydrocarbons, have been found to be located in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) off its southern shores and not in its northern ones, where the NATO-trained and US-supplied Turkish army attacked massively in 1974. Since then and for decades the Turks persistently and stubbornly insisted that whatever the Cyprus problem, it was permanently solved in 1974. These days they are not so sure. And they have turned peace advocates. Or so it seems.

The double irony is that if one were to believe Ankara’s 1974 propaganda, namely that they were not “invading” but that they were merely launching a “peacekeeping operation” to secure the safety of their coreligionists, who were allegedly under threat of instant massacre by their blood thirsty compatriots, then it was the southern part that they should have attacked in the first place! For it was in the southern districts of Limassol and Paphos that the vast majority of the allegedly threatened 100,000 or so Turkish Cypriots lived. They did not live in the Kyrenia district and the Karpass or Morphou regions, that were the targets of the 1974 attack by Turkey.

In fact the autochthonous Greek Cypriot population in the presently Turkish-army occupied part of Cyprus numbered close to 200,000 souls. This is a figure that is twice as large as the total number of Turkish Cypriots who, prior the 1974 invasion, were intermingled with the Greek Cypriots throughout the island but, significantly, constituting nowhere a regional majority (except in a very few villages) . And in July 1974, when the Athens junta- organised coup occurred against the legitimate government of the Republic, they were hardly under any threat, lest one of massacre (“genocide” is Ankara’s favorite term).

read more »

SECRET/EYES ONLY

The recent release of official State Department documents on Cyprus has sent the Cypriot media a-buzz with none stop talk of Kissinger’s role in the Invasion. I bet the release of these State Department documents barely made coverage in the US media; but here, the topic of discussion on TV, in the press and at the dinner table is the talk of the United States and its backing of the Turkish Invasion. The video clips below are this weeks MEGA documentary on Kissinger's role in the Cyprus invasion. I may, in the near future, update the videos below to include English subtitles; but before I can do this, I need to first familiarize my self with video editing software.

MEGA Documentary Part One


MEGA Documentary Part Two


MEGA Documentary Part Three

US gave full backing to Turkish invasion of Cyprus

I truly enjoy visiting the States as each trip brings new sights and experiences. If you ever planned a trip to the Southern part of the States, then you are familiar with Southern hospitality and the generally friendly people who love to “small talk.” 

Southerners love to talk, you will always find at least one person (at the mall, the café or even when you are at a table enjoying the Southern cuisine) that comes up to you and offers that cheerful hello.

I recall a brief conversation with one particular lady who wanted to know why there was such a high level of hostility to the US. “The people there don’t like us” she said.

“That’s not true,” I said. “You shouldn’t believe everything you read in the press.”

Who was I kidding? As much as I hate to admit it, there is strong resentment against the US here in Cyprus. 

Where is this resentment born from in the first place?

The resentment stems from the perceived support of the Greek junta and for the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.

Are these perceptions accurate? Well, take a look below at what the press has recently reported and decide for yourselves.

The United States gave full blessing to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, even assuring Turkey that it would "get them a solution involving one third of the island.''

This cynical US involvement is revealed in the latest batch of secret official State Department documents released for publication under the 30-year rule.

The American stand has long been known, but this is the first time that it has been confirmed so completely by an official State Department document.

This is clarified in the very first paragraph of the document which is stamped ``SECRET/EYES ONLY.''

It declares that the only conceivable settlement of the Cyprus problem "will have to rest on a de facto division of the island, whatever the form."

While admitting that the United States ``has the clout'' to prevent the invasion, the document nevertheless advises against doing so "before the fighting stops."

The document is dated August 14, 1974, the exact date of the second massive wave of the Turkish invasion of the island. It is headed: ``Memorandum for the Secretary - Cyprus Actions'' from Helmut Sonnenfeldt, one of the top State Department officials dealing with Greco-Turkish affairs.

The document even includes a map detailing the plan of action of the Turkish invasion force. This is headed ``Map done by the Bureau of Intelligence and Research projecting Turkish moves on Cyprus, August 13, 1974.''

It is worth noting that this plan was the one followed exactly by the Turkish troops, a further proof of the close American involvement in the Turkish invasion planning.

Here is the full text of the document:

THE COUNSELOR 
DEPARTMENT OF STATE 
WASHINGTON 
August 14, 1974 
SECRET/EYES ONLY 
MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY 
FROM: Helmut Sonnenfeldt 
SUBJECT: Cyprus Actions

You wanted some brief ideas on what we do next.

Nothing I can think of will stop the Turks now from trying to secure by force what they demanded in their ultimata. In fact, as has always been true, the only conceivable modus vivendi will have to rest on a de facto division of the island, whatever the form.

If the Turks move fast and can then be gotten to stand down, it may pre-empt Greek counteraction and then give us a chance to try for a deal. (It may also save Karamanlis).

While the Soviets can serve as a bogey, we must keep them at arms length. They cannot become the arbiter between US allies. Their interests differ drastically from ours: we want a modus vivendi between Greece and Turkey, they want a non-aligned Cyprus, preferably with Greece or Turkey or both disaffected from NATO.

Thus, we should

urgently try to contain Greek reaction; 24 hours at a time;
bluntly tell the Turks they must stop, today, tomorrow at the latest;
warn the Turks that Greece is rapidly moving leftward;
send high-level US man to Athens to exert continuing direct influence on Karamanlis;
assuming the Turks quickly take Famagusta, privately assure Turks we will get them a solution involving one third of the island, within some kind of federal arrangement;
assure Greeks we will contain Turk demands and allow no additional enclaves, etc.
You should not get involved directly till the fighting stops; then you must since there is no alternative and only we have the clout.

I do not think Brussels/NATO is the place to use when the time comes. The Greeks are probably too sore at NATO and the vehicle of a ministerial meeting is awkward. Anyway, you need Ecevit and Karamanlis.

London may be unacceptable to the Turks because of Callaghan’s blast at them. 
You should not shuttle.”

This may mean Geneva. Washington, at the President’s initiative, would be all right but hard to get the parties to come to. 

Also provocative of the Russians. New York would make it difficult to keep the Russians away.

You could also try Rome.

Obliterated ... Why?

With the flight of the Greek population, Turkey succeeded in her first target: the region ceased to live and breathe to the tune to which it had done for almost three millennia of its history. Here is a recent article from Chiesa (Italiana) that talks about Cyprus and the pillaging and destruction that occurred after the Turkish invasion. Article in its entirety:

Cyprus: Portrait of a Christianity Obliterated
In the northern part of the island, occupied by Turkey, the churches have become stables or mosques. The diary of a trip beyond the wall

by Sandro Magister

ROMA, March 9 2006 – The island of Cyprus was the first destination of the “special mission” that the Holy Spirit entrusted to Paul and Barnabas, according to what is written in the Acts of the Apostles, in chapter 13.

On the island they found a Roman governor, Sergius Paulus, “an intelligent man who wanted to hear the word of God and believed, deeply shaken by the teaching of the Lord.”

But if Paul and Barnabas were to return to Cyprus today, to the northern part of the island, they would find not the Romans as governors, but the Turks.

And instead of a Christianity being born, they would find a dying Christianity, with the churches and monasteries in ruin, or else transformed into stables, hotels, and mosques.

This is documented in a startling report from Luigi Geninazzi, who was sent to Cyprus by “Avvenire,” the newspaper of the Italian bishops’ conference.

Cyprus became part of the European Union on May 1, 2004. But this was true only for the southern part of the island, which is Greek and Christian.

The northern part was occupied by Turkey in 1974, with 40,000 soldiers. The Turkish occupation caused death, destruction, and a forced relocation of populations. About 200,000 Greek Cypriots of the Christian Orthodox faith who lived in the north of the island fled to the south. And likewise, the Turkish Cypriots of the south, Muslims, moved to the north.

In 1983 Turkey consolidated the occupation by creating a Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is internationally recognized only by the government of Ankara: 180,000 persons live there, 100,000 of whom are colonists originally from Anatolia.

A wall guarded by the blue helmets of the United Nations divides the two parts of the island and cuts through the capital, Nicosia. In April of 2004, the UN placed before a referendum a plan of confederation between the two states, but this was rejected by the Greek Cypriots of the south, who are four times as numerous as the Turkish Cypriots of the north.

The Islamization of the north of the island has been concretized in the destruction of all that was Christian. Yannis Eliades, director of the Byzantine Museum of Nicosia, calculates that 25,000 icons have disappeared from the churches in the zone occupied by the Turks.

For a Turkey that aspires to enter the European Union, its actions in the north of Cyprus give a terrible impression of itself.

And what it has done in destroying the Christian presence begun by Paul and Barnabas is described in the report that follows, published in “Avvenire” on Sunday, February 26:


"They did not even spare the stone altar..."

by Luigi Geninazzi

Europe ends here, in the most beautiful island of the Mediterranean, torn by a wall that splits it in two. Europe ends abruptly along a barrier of barbed wire, cement, and military turrets that splits Cyprus along its entire width and divides Nicosia, a capital wounded in its ancient heart.

For the UN, which guards over it with its blue helmets, it is the “green line.” But here the people continue to call it the “Attila line,” from the name that the Turks gave to the invasion.

The scourge has left its marks. It has struck Cyprus, the site of the most ancient Christian community on European soil, in its artistic, cultural, and religious treasury: stupendous Byzantine and Romanesque churches, imposing monasteries, mosaics and frescoes of inestimable value. It is a heritage that in the northern part of the island, under Turkish occupation, has been sacked, violated, and destroyed.

To realize this it is enough to cross the “Attila line” at the checkpoint of Nicosia, and there you are in the so-called Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which greets the visitor with a large banner on which is written a topsy-turvy welcome: “How happy I am to be a Turk!” (a famous phrase of Kemal Ataturk). The nationalist pride of the descendents of the Ottoman empire has also modified the natural countryside, carving the crescent moon and the red star on the side of the Pentadattilos mountains, which dominate the wide plains.

The Turkish flag billows on the façade of the church of Agia Paraskevi, in the once Greek Orthodox village of Angastina. A sign says that work is underway to transform it into a mosque. The bell tower, which no longer bears a cross, is a strange minaret with the loudspeaker of the muezzin fixed upon an archway.

Christodoulos, the young archeologist accompanying me, is visibly shaken: “I was baptized here,” he says in a voice hoarse with emotion. He is one of the 200,000 Greek Cypriot refugees who, thirty years ago, lived in the north of the island and were chased out of their homes.

Christodoulos kneels on the spot where he was once baptized and lights a candle. The Turkish construction workers, squatting in front of the apse for their lunch break, look at him curiously: “Every time I come back to this area, it’s always worse,” he sighs.

We stop at Trachoni, where a jewel of the Renaissance once stood, the church of the Panagia, Our Lady. Now only the walls are left; the interior bears the signs of vandalism that has not spared even the stone altar, the pieces of which have ended up in a hole dug recently to search for who knows what treasure.

Ours is a sad pilgrimage that at every stop adds to one’s outrage and disbelief, a via dolorosa that retraces the places of Christian memory at risk of disappearing. At the village of Peristerona, on the road to Famagosta, the medieval monastery of Saint Anastasia (see photo) is being used as a stable, with the cows chewing their cud amid what remains of the ancient cells. The tombs of the cemetery have been profaned, and the gravestones broken.

We leave the countryside behind and go to the coast. Here many of the churches have been turned into restaurants, bars, and nightclubs, for the enjoyment of the tourists. At the top of the rock of Lapethos, which juts out over the sea, the church and convent of Agia Anastasia have become a sumptuous hotel with a swimming pool dug into the cloister, and a casino under the bell tower.

Almost the entire artistic patrimony of the Orthodox Church in the territory occupied by the Turks – 520 buildings between churches, chapels, and monasteries – has been sacked, demolished, or disfigured. Only three churches and one monastery, the monastery of Saint Barnabas, which has been turned into a museum, are in a more or less dignified state.

“The ruin is before our eyes, but the European Union prefers to look the other way,” the Cypriot foreign minister, George Iacovou, bitterly tells us. “The only hope is that, in the course of negotiations for Turkey’s adhesion to the EU, someone might pull out the dossier of shame.”

The Byzantine Academy of Nicosia has gathered detailed and meticulous documentation on the occupied churches in Cyprus. And for two years an attempt has been made at religious dialogue, with the support of the Orthodox bishop Nikiforos of the historic monastery of Kykko: “We have met with the Muslim leaders headed by Lefka, and I told them that respect for our places of worship is the basis for cooperation.” Nikiforos is moderately optimistic: “I encountered a lot of understanding. Errors have been made on both sides; we must overcome the divisions of the past and walk together.”

But the last word belongs to the politicians. Huseyn Ozel, a government spokesman for the so-called Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, displays great cordiality with the foreign journalist. The destroyed and sacked churches? “There was a war, and bad things happened on both sides,” he explains.

I point out to him that most of the mosques in Greek Cypriot territory have been restored, while his government has authorized the transformation of churches into restaurants and hotels, an insult to the sentiment of believers. “They did this to keep the buildings from falling into ruin, and anyway, these are decisions made by the preceding government, which I do not share,” Ozel counters.

I insist: what do you have to say about the churches that, still today, are being turned into mosques? The Turkish Cypriot functionary spreads his arms wide: “It is an Ottoman custom...”

It as a tradition that, unfortunately, continues. An unsettling calling card for a Turkey that aspires to enter the European club.

__________

The Greek Orthodox bishop: "Europe, intervene!"

An interview with Chrisostomos Englistriota

In Cyprus, the head of the Church has always been an ethnarch, too, a leader of the people. This directly political role was exercised by the famous archbishop Makarios, the charismatic leader of the rebellion against the English domination during the 1950’s, and the first president of the independent republic of Cyprus.

“Our Church doesn’t practice politics anymore, but its authority has not diminished,” recalls the bishop of Paphos, Chrisostomos Englistriota. Since His Beatitude Chrisostomos I was struck by a grave illness, the bishop of Paphos has carried out his functions as leader of the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church on the island.

Q: Your Excellency, Cyprus remains divided. Can the Greek Orthodox Church foster dialogue between the parties?

A: “It is a situation that saddens us deeply, the result of a completely illegal military occupation. A true dialogue is impossible, because the Turkish Cypriots do not enjoy any autonomy, the last word belongs to the government of Ankara.”

Q: Are there contacts among the religious exponents?

A: “Some of our bishops have met with the leaders of the Turkish Cypriot Islamic community. It’s important to us to have good relations with them, but then when it comes time to discuss concrete matters, like the problem of the sacking and profanation of our churches, they don’t know what to say, they refer everything to the political authorities.”

Q: Have you tried to raise the question in international circles?

A: “Yes, of course. We have repeatedly turned to the European Union to ask for their intervention. The last time was in the autumn of 2004, after Cyprus entered the EU.”

Q: The results?

A: “Nothing so far. My personal conviction is that the European governments should exert pressure on Turkey, above all in this phase of the opening of negotiations for the entry of Ankara into the Union. But they don’t want to take advantage of this opportunity. And so the more time passes, the more our sacred places in the northern part of Cyprus are falling into ruin. The Turks want to destroy every trace of Hellenism and of Christianity. Only strong international pressure can stop them.”

 Interesting reading, right?  Just search the word "destruction" on this site to get an idea of the ongoing cultural obliteration.

So, a great article from Chiesa.  Truly amazing and i say this because it is very rare to read such an accurate depiction of Turkey's occupation from the western press as to not upset a key NATO ally. Obviously there are some exceptions.  Below are some foreign publications and what they had to say in the past about this so called special "peace operation".

The Times

"It is important to distinguish between random damage that might have been caused by drunks after a night out, and the demolition of crosses, tombstones and heavy marble slabs which weigh several hundredwieht and would need men with sledgehammers to destroy them. We found nothing to fit the first category. In fact, at Dhavlos, on the north coast, now occupied by mainland Turks, even the graveyard wall was partly demolished. Not a single tombstone remained standing...

..the process of obliterating everything Greek has been carried out methodically. The churches and graveyards have suffered severely."

"The Times", 5.27.1976

"The little treasure house of Antiphonitis Monastery, in the mountains north of Lefkoniko, had sustained the most comprehensive looting and damage....the 11th, 12th, and 15th century icons..all had vanished or had been destroyed. The nineteenth and twentieth century icons were smashed, the furniture broken. In the corner were bags of cement and the remains of a fire. Furniture had been lugged outside onto the grass, and the whole place was a strewn with bottles and filth. Somebody was clearly proud of this work, for the wrecked iconostasis the date was chalked March 6, 1975."

"The Times", 5.27.1976

The report (August 9)from the Cyprus Director of Antiquities on the recent looting or desecration of the mosaics in the church of Panayia Kanakaria in the Turkish occupied north of Cyprus has reopened the debate on the fate of churches, monasteries and mosques on that unhappy island.

As a journalist I have travelled widely and freely on both sides of the partition line. In Turkish Cyprus there was large scale damage to churches in the immediate aftermath of the 1974 intervention. That was perhaps understandahle. More recently, historic churches have been seized, stripped and whitewashed and converted into mosques. One example is on the fringes of Nicosia, another outside Famagusta. Others have been desecrated.

Less than a year ago, travelling in the company of Mr. Mustapha Adiloglou, press official in London of the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus we came across a desecrated church in the centre of a busy village between Famagusta and Nicosia. Fresh excrement and urine lay on the smashed altar and the floor. The church Bible had been used as toilet paper and the wall paintings gashed and disfigured. The icons had vanished. From the state of the place it was clear that this was not a single act of violation. The place obviously had been a public convenience for months.

In fairness one should add that some churches (particularly tourist conscious Kyrenia) have been restored by the rurkish authorities and are either open for prayer or tourism or securely locked.

"The Times", 19.8.80

Yenidyzen

"The Turkish Cypriot Arts Society leader, Ali Atakan, in a statement issued on May 20 revealed yet more antique smuggling. According to this revelation, a valuable Byzantine mosaic has been stolen from a Byzantine Church in the village of Lythrangomi. There are two inter-connected churches in the village and the mosaic was stolen from the apse of the older church which dates back to the 8th century..."

Turkish Cypriot "Yenidyzen", 6.1.1982

"You will see chambers cut out of the rocks, lighthouses, the remains of baths, layouts and the military camps set up on the ruins both before and after 1974... Today Lambousa is a military zone closed to tourists. Here are many important churches and the mythological Akhiropietos Monastery. Now you cannot see it because it is being used as a military warehouse. The icons stolen from Lambousa were retrieved while being smuggled out of Ankara airport."

Le Monde

"The antiques are illegaly exported from the northern part of the island, especially rich in archaeological sites'

"Le Monde", 12.27.1978

Bozkurt

"The Cyprus Arts Society in the occupied areas issued a press release saying that the antique smuggling in the occupied areas has reached enourmous dimensions and that measures should be taken to protect the destruction of the antiques."

Turkish Cypriot "Bozkurt", 7.4.1982

The Guardian

"We visited 26 former Greek villages. We found not a single undesecrated cemetery..."

"...The vandalism and desecration are so methodical and so widespread that they amount to institutionalised obliteration of everything sacred to a Greek ... In some instances, an entire graveyard of 50 or more tombs had been reduced to pieces or rubble no larger than a matchbox...we found the chapel of Ayios Demetrios at Ardhana empty but for the remains of the altar plinth, and that was fouled with human excrement... At Syngrasis ... the broken crucifix was drenched in urine.. At Lefkoniko ...the interior of Gaidhouras church... was overlooked by an armless Christ on a smashed crucifix... Tombs gaped open wherever we went...crosses bearing the pictures of those burried beneath ... had been flattened and destroyed.

"The Guardian", 'The Rape of northern Cyprus', 5.6.1976

Ortam

"The trial of the director sic of Kyrenia Museum, Mehmet Rasih, has ended with the case being referred to the "criminal court". The trial is connected with the 3 chests of antiques discovered in Turkey on their way to Germany, on 16.3.1981... The number of the missing icons or substituted icons were 225 ...later it was found that large icons had been sawn down to smaller sizes and thus entered in the books."

Turkish Cypriot "Ortam", 5.6.1982

Bozkurt

"Two icons estimated to cost arounf TL 1 million were stolen from Kyrenia "Court". The icons stolen from the village church of Karmi 5 months ago were found in the Famagusta district and 4 persons were arrested in connection with the incident. The icons were locked away in Kyrenia "Court-House" to be stolen again."

Turkish Cypriot "Bozkurt", 3.9.1979

The Times

"Confidential United Nations military documents, circulated to officers in the United Nations peace - keeping force in Cyprus, disclose that looting is being systematically carried out on a massive scale by the Turkish and Turkish Cypriot authorities in the north of the island"

"The Times", 12.13.1976

"...historic churches have been seized, stripped and whitewashed and converted into mosques ... Others have been desecrated. ... we came across a desecrated church in the center of a busy village between Famagusta and Nicosia. Fresh excrement and urine lay on the smashed altar and the floor. The church Bible had been used as toilet paper and the wall paintings gashed and disfigured. The icons had vanished. From the state of the place it was clear that this was not a single act of violation. The place obviously had been a public convenience for months. ... On the Greek side all the mosques I have seen are securely locked and protected."

"The Times", 8.19.80

The Sunday Times

"Scotland Yard and Customs Officials are uncovering a highly organized smuggling network behind the trail of antiques looted in Cyprus"

"The Sunday Times", 4.25.1976

OPEN GRAVES, BROKEN CROSSES...

The Times

The above testimony, by a British journalist, member of the crew of a British TV network which visited the occupied part of Cyprus, proved that the places of rest of the dead became targets of the most intense destruction mania. According to this and other testimonies, the crosses on graves were cut away and broken to pieces. Tombstones were also overturned and crushed to bits, while the invaders violated the graves.

"We managed to check 26 villages in all. Some other villages, such as Marathovouno and Pyrga, were sealed by the Army and access to the church itself was not possible. Since graveyards are usually some way out of the village, these were checkable and, in every instance, we found deliberate and usually comprehensive damage. In no village we visited was the graveyard intact"

"The Times", 5.27.1976

The Guardian

"We visited 26 former Greek villages. We found not a single undesecrated cemetery..."

"The Guardian", 5.6.1976

"The next village had been -until the events of 1974- Greek. Now it is deserted but for Turkish refugee squatters. There are two churches in the village. One has been stripped and converted into a mosque. A few Turkish Cypriots kneel, praying, inside it. The other church has been vandalised. The exterior walls are covered with illegible graffiti. Inside, the destruction is complete. The body of the church is bare of pews or chairs. The alter screen, composed of six-inch timbers, has been wrenched out, the icons have been looted. Among the filth on the floor lies the torn remains of an antique bible. ...The altar ... has been smashed. On the remains of the altar are broken bottles, excrement, and what smells like urine. When asked about the desecrated Greek church and the massacre villages, Rauf Denktash, "president of Turkish Cypriots"...ads that it all shows that Greeks and Turks can no longer live side by side on the island".

"The Guardian", 11.30.1979

OLAY

"Illegal digs are being made in all districts. For example, in Kyrenia, in Ayios Epiktitos, in Nicosia, and in the hills beyond Krini. But, Famagusta is the most suitable for illegal digs. Illegal digs virtually cover the whole district. In this district the first settlements were established and since ancient times they had maintained their historical importance.

Illegal digs in the Karpass start from the cliff in the east, from the small islets in the sea, and from the caves of Galinoporni, and extend to the north-west of the Karpass, to Eptakomi, Ovogoros, Galatia and Ardhana".

Turkish Cypriot, "Olay", 1 7.5. 1982.

The Observer

"Vandals have desecrated scores of British graves in Turkish occupied northern Cyprus, some of them dedicated to First World War soldiers ... The wrecking of British gravestones pales beside the destruction in Christian Greek Orthodox cemeteries ... Every cross has been destroyed and the tombs gape open to the elements, the lizards and the robbers, spurred on by the superstition that the Greeks have valuables buried with them"

"The Observer", 3.29.87

OLAY, April 1982.

"Haven't you heard that the 2000 year old Christian church in Cyprus, St Barnabas' Church, has been robbed? Haven't you heard that 35 icons were stolen, that 11 of them were found in Kythrea, that 11 were retrieved at Ankara airport while being smuggled out, and that the rest are lost? Haven't you heard what's happening in Varosha (Famagusta)? Haven't you heard that figurines belonging to the Catholic period and kept in the Archaelogical Museum have been stolen and smuggled to London? What about the icons in the other churches; the mosaics, the private collections, the illegal digs? Why have they stopped the digs started before 1974 at the city of Gastria, which belongs to the geometric age? Do you know what happened since then? The government has issued permits to certain businessmen from Turkey to set up a gypsum factory there. The tombs were destroyed and plundered."

Mehmet Yasin, "Perishing Cyprus" in the Turkish Cypriot Review "Olay", April 1982.