UPDATED Cypriot Permanent Representative to UN denounced Turkey’s violations in Cyprus

NICOSIA - Cypriot Permanent Representative to the United Nations Nicos Emiliou denounced Turkey’s continuing violations in Cyprus that have been taking place ever since the 1974 Turkish invasion of the island.

"In the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus, basic human rights were brutally violated, together with the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of my country. Thirty-nine years later, the occupation of more than one third of Cyprus continues, and massive violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms persist," he said addressing the United Nations General Assembly’s 68th Session of the Third Committee.
He referred to the continued identification process of the remains of missing persons 39 years after the invasion.

"In Cyprus, the past is very much the present," he said, adding that today, Cyprus remains the country with the highest proportion of Internally Displaced Persons as a percentage of its population in the world.

Emilou noted Turkey’s decision to allow the Committee of Missing Persons access to a fenced zone in the occupied areas this year but called on the Turkish Government to fully address this humanitarian issue with urgency, by launching an effective investigation, both on the cases of people whose remains have been identified, as well as those whose fate is still unknown.

He also called Ankara to allow unrestricted access to all relevant information in its archives, as well as to all relevant areas, including military areas, in Cyprus and in Turkey itself.

The Cypriot Representative also referred the living conditions of enclaved persons in the occupied part of Cyprus. "Despite some improvements in recent years, which we recognise and welcome, Greek and Maronite Cypriots living in the occupied areas are still subjected to harassment, restrictions to their movement, denial of access to adequate medical care and curtailment of their freedom of worship, adding that "we are especially alarmed by continuing violations of their property rights, as safeguarded by Article 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including the right to bequeath property to their descendants."

Emiliou furthermore denounced the systematic violations of the right to education of enclaved students, as well as the widespread destruction and looting of religious and cultural heritage in the occupied part of Cyprus is not only a crime against Cyprus, but one against humanity.
"The desecration of religious and historical sites, which began as soon as Turkish troops landed in Cyprus in July 1974, continues today. Around 550 churches and Christian monuments, along with numerous cemeteries, have been desecrated, pillaged, destroyed, converted into mosques, army barracks or worse, or even demolished," he went on to say.

Emilou however, noted that not all is bleak welcoming two recent positive developments in the broader field of religious freedom.

He referred to a senior Muslim cleric who held a service at Hala Sultan Mosque near the city of Larnaca while at the same time, Bishop Christoforos of Karpasia, who had been prevented for the past 18 months from visiting his diocese in the occupied part, was allowed to visit his enclaved flock and the monastery of Apostolos Andreas in north-eastern Cyprus.

Emiliou announced that a restoration project through the bi-communal Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage will begin in the coming months for Monastery of Apostolos Andreas, one of the most important religious sites on the island, which has been left to decay since the Turkish invasion of 1974.

"Such developments, small as they may be, are proof of the powerful yearn of the Cypriot people for peaceful coexistence and give all Cypriots, hope for a reunited future," Emiliou went on to say.

At the backdrop of renewed efforts to launch a new UN-led initiative for the solution of the Cyprus problem, Emiliou underlined that for the effort to reunify Cyprus to succeed, these violations must cease at once.

"We call on Turkey to end the occupation, recall its troops and apply and respect the resolutions and recommendations of all relevant UN and other international bodies, thus restoring peace and security and the human rights and dignity of all the people of Cyprus. This is of vital importance, not just for Cyprus, but also for the credibility and moral standing of this Organisation," he concluded.

The icon of the Presentation of Christ

The icon of the Presentation of Christ, which was most probably stolen after the Turkish invasion from the Turkish occupied monastery of Saint Panteleimon in the village of Myrtou, will be repatriated very soon.

According to a press release, the icon was found by the Representation of the Church of Cyprus in Brussels being auctioned at Kaupp in Salzburg, Germany. The Church discretely managed to repossess the icon on October 5.

The icon was painted in 1787 and is attributed to hagiographer Leontios of the school of hagiography of the monastery of Saint Heracledios in the village of Politico.

Bishop of Neapolis, Porphyrios, who is the Church`s Represetantive in Brussels, has already received the icon, which will be repatriated in December and presented to Metropolitan Bishop of Kyrenia, Chrysostomos, in whose province the monastery of Saint Panteleimon belongs. 

MEPs set to dig deeper into Troika's Cyprus deal

Pressure to reveal how the Cyprus financial plans were hatched would continue, the chair of Parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee, said on Tuesday when she closed a debate with Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem that left various MEPs less than fully satisfied on the quality of the answers provided.

Responding to critical questioning, Mr Dijsselbloem defended the plan as the "best possible outcome" and said a rethink of Eurogroup decision-making was not realistically on the cards.

Mr Dijsselbloem and the Eurogroup as a whole came in for criticism from all political groups. The centre-right MEP Jean-Paul Gauzès (FR) said that the Eurogroup was responsible for having caused huge collateral damage to the trust in the EU as a result of its poor communication.

Sven Giegold (Greens, DE) slammed Mr Dijsselbloem's responses as being "unacceptable" since they did not provide the details needed to understand how the "bad outcome was reached". He also asked for a full written explanation to be provided. Udo Bullman (S&D, DE) said that the Eurogroup needed more parliamentary control at European level since it had come "very close to causing a bank run with the first plan for Cyprus".

Mr Dijsselbloem defended the intergovernmental structure of the Eurogroup saying that this was what the current political context would realistically allow. He also contested the view of many MEPs that the plan for Cyprus was a bad outcome. 

He assured MEPs that lessons had been learnt and that the EU was in a better position to face new challenges now that it had new instruments and a stronger Commission to enforce discipline.

Reacting to Mr Dijsselbloem's replies, Sylvie Goulard (ALDE, FR) said that he was "the most optimistic undertaker". She asked him to deliver an agenda to avoid another Cyprus situation and to end the nationalistic decision-making of the Eurogroup.

Asked by Jurgen Klute (GUE/NGL, DE) whether Cyprus should not be compensated because part of its crisis was a result of the write downs of Greek debt, Mr Dijsselbloem said that there was no case for this since Cypriot banks had chosen to invest in Greek banks and when they did this it was already a risky strategy. 

Committee chair Sharon Bowles (ALDE, UK) said it was not fair to place all the blame on the island's banks since they were acting on promises that there would be no write downs and also at the instigation of various European political actors.

On a more general level, Mr Dijsselbloem refused to enter into the debate on whether austerity had run its course when asked this by Dirk Jan eppink (ECR, BE). He simply replied that everyone should take responsibility for what was agreed and deliver on their promises.

The hearing, organised to shed more light on the processes which led to the financial plan for Cyprus, will continue on Wednesday morning when committee MEPs will hear testimony from Commissioner Olli Rehn and ECB Executive Board member Jorg Asmussen.

(European Parliament / Economic and monetary affairs / 07-05-2013 / 18:16)

REF. : 20130507IPR08062

Full Interview with Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides - BBC HARDtalk

Cyprus is enduring the agonies of a financial and economic meltdown. But here's the really bad news for the Cypriot people - according to international economists their darkest days have yet to come. The island's economy is about to shrink dramatically, overseas investors are fleeing and the current Government is struggling to come up with a survival strategy. Who and what will save Cyprus?

ABOUT IOANNIS KASOULIDES 

Ioannis Kasoulides (Greek: Ιωάννης Κασουλίδης; born 10 August 1948 in Nicosia, Cyprus) is the Foreign Minister of Cyprus.  He studied medicine at the University of Lyon in France.  He is a member of the Conservative Democratic Rally (DISY) party in Cyprus.  Ioannis Kasoulides ran for President in the Cypriot presidential election of 2008. He won the first round, but lost in the second to Dimitris Christofias.