War crimes 'were committed in Cyprus'

(CNA) - War crimes were committed during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, Roger Gale, Conservative Member of the British Parliament has said in an interview with London Greek Radio.

Gale spoke about the remains of five Greek Cypriot prisoners of war, identified 35 years after they were killed, and thrown down a well, and stressed: “I think that the news that has come through confirms simply what most of us have always believed, which is that in the course of the Turkish invasion of Northern Cyprus war crimes were committed. That is a fact that needs to be fully and properly investigated by the appropriate authorities and the appropriate action taken. I would be saddened however if any such investigation were to delay the process of the retrieval of remains that can be identified because the most important thing I think is that families who have been waiting for news, have the news and are able to obtain at least some kind of closure”, he noted.

Asked what Britain can do to help solve this problem, Gale said he does not think “this is particularly a problem that Britain can involve itself in other way than as one of the guarantor powers. The process is one that is probably going to be hastened, if at all by the United Nations and the International Red Cross”, he added.

Cyprus soldier buried 35 years on

(BBC) - The funeral has taken place in Cyprus of one of five Greek Cypriot prisoners of war killed during the Turkish invasion of the island in 1974.

Ioannis Papayiannis was one of five soldiers photographed surrendering to Turkish forces during the invasion.

The soldiers' bodies were identified this week, 35 years after they were killed and thrown down a well.

The remains were recovered from a well in Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus in 2006 along with 14 other bodies.

Greece and Cyprus have called on Turkey to clear up all the cases of people who went missing during the invasion.

Limited remains

Draped in a Cypriot flag, the coffin of Ioannis Papayiannis was escorted into church by a military guard of honour, reports the BBC's Tabitha Morgan from Cyprus.

The coffin itself was very small, suggesting that forensic anthropologists had been able to retrieve only limited skeletal remains, says our correspondent.

At the front of the church members of the Papayiannis family stood to receive respects from the hundreds of mourners present.

Nicos Theodosiou, head of the Committee for the Relatives of Missing Persons, said he had has been to many funerals like this.

"I observed the parents going through pain of losing a son like the person died in a car accident the day before," he said.

"It doesn't make any difference that you were waiting and hoping and you knew at the back of your mind that maybe he's dead.

"It's a whole different thing to be given the remains and told these are the remains of your son - it's like he died yesterday."

For some families services such as this will enable them to move on, says our correspondent.

Others feel that while forensic science may provide answers to how their relatives died, they still want to see the killers brought to justice.

Execution of Greek Cypriot POWs

The truth is still missing

(Cyprus Weekly) - Revelations about the summary execution of five Greek Cypriot POWs by the Turks in 1974 have shocked public opinion and rekindled painful memories.

For their families, it is ironic that they should be expected to find solace in news that their loved ones were shot in the head in cold blood and thrown down a well, despite international conventions safeguarding the lives of captured soldiers.

News that a Greek Cypriot family, including two invalid and bedridden children, was murdered by Turkish soldiers in their home in Lapithos that same tragic summer has only added to the fury.

Yet, despite the justified rage within the Greek Cypriot community, it is important for everyone to look beyond.

Relatives of the missing argue that the plight of their loved ones is a humanitarian matter that should not be used to score political points. Their focus, quite justifiably, has been to keep the issue away from politics so as to get to the truth.

But they have also made clear that this does not mean that those responsible should not be held to account for their actions.

Cynics may shrug their shoulders and argue that atrocities are inevitable in any armed conflict. In so doing, they are unwittingly perhaps, coming dangerously close to condoning a crime. Once they do, they are already half way down a slippery slope that negates a whole system of rules and conventions hammered together by the international community in the hope of ensuring a basic minimum of humanity – even in times of war.

That these rules have been blatantly broken too many times all over the world does not make it right.

The day will hopefully come when a Cyprus settlement is reached, and Turkey and Cyprus no longer see themselves as enemies. A full investigation that will bring those responsible of human rights violations during the 1974 invasion to trial will bring that day closer.

NYU Excavations Point to Temple Site on Island Off Cyprus

New York University Digs in Cyprus Show Worship of God Apollo

By Paul Tugwell

Aug. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Archaeologists in Cyprus found evidence that an island off the Mediterranean country’s south- west coast was the site of a temple for worshiping Apollo, the ancient Greek god of light, prophecy, music and healing.

Excavations led by New York University on Geronisos unearthed fragments of pithoi, or storage vessels probably used to hold olive oil, that could be repaired to stand to a height of 1.20 meters, among the largest storage containers ever found on Cyprus, according to a statement today on the Web site of the Cypriot Interior Ministry’s Public Information Office.

The vessel fragments, which date from the 1st century B.C., were found in what appears to be a storeroom or pantry facility, probably servicing a complex of previously found dining rooms, the statement said.

The digs also unearthed a sculptured lion’s head that “would have been plastered and painted as a fitting adornment for a monumental structure, possibly a temple,” according to the statement.

Previous digs on the island showed that Geronisos was an ancient religious tourist center for worshiping Apollo, son of the king of the Greek gods, Zeus, and the nymph, Leto.

“The discovery of this storage facility represents an important breakthrough in our understanding of the experience of ancient pilgrims on Geronisos,” the Cyprus Department of Antiquities said in the statement, “and the ritual dining that seems to have taken place within the complex of rooms in the central south sector of the island.”