Marios Matsakis on Turkish Troops (Video)

A brief speech by Cypriot Member of the European Parliament Marios Matsakis on the role of NATO in the security architecture of the EU (transcript below):

Marios Matsakis: Madam President, NATO is the backbone of European defence, and we do rely on NATO forces for the security of our Union. But NATO forces in Cyprus – Turkish NATO forces – are not a force of freedom, but one of occupation: occupation of EU territory. These Turkish forces not only have they caused death and destruction to the island when Turkey invaded in 1974, but they today continue to keep an EU Member State divided, causing fear and oppression to both Greek and Turkish Cypriots and obstructing the current negotiations between the two Community leaders on the island.

So, in discussing NATO’s important role in European defence, it is fair to remember that the EU has not yet put the necessary pressure on Turkey to get its NATO invasion army out of Cyprus unconditionally and immediately. Don't you agree with me, Mr Solana? Perhaps he is not listening. Don't you agree that the Turkish army should leave Cyprus immediately, Mr Solana? Thank you.

Mean Machine

(Click image to enlarge)

Photo of Petter Solberg from Norway and his co-driver Philip Mills driving their Citroen Xsara during the Cyprus rally WRC. The Rally of Cyprus has just finished with Loeb coming in first, driving a Citroen C4, finishing 27.2 seconds clear of second-place finisher Mikko Hirvonen of Finland in a Ford Focus with Petter Solberg of Norway in third-place finish.

Stolen Harvest

A group of Turkish settlers accompanied by Turkish troops trespassed into a Greek Cypriot farm today and stole harvested wheat.

The violation of it all eats at you:

Bodies Found in a Mass Grave

The eight coffins with remains of Ioannis, 77, Christina, 68, Michalis Michael, 42, Margarita, 48, with her daughters Eleni, 25, Cristina, 23, and Iliada, 18, and the two year old Loukas, are seen in a Greek Orthodox church during a funeral service in Nicosia, Cyprus, Sunday, March 8, 2009. The remains of Liassis and Michael family were discovered in a mass grave near the village of Palekythro where they, according to eyewitness accounts, were killed during the 1974 Turkish invasion.