Newsgroups: bit.listserv.hellas
Date:         Tue, 6 Oct 1992 11:25:41 +0100
Reply-To:     C.A.Constantinides@CITY.AC.UK
From:         C.A.Constantinides@CITY.AC.UK
Subject:      CREATING REFUGEES
Comments: To: hellas@uga.cc.uga.edu, macedonia@husc.harvard.edu,
              nea@athena.mit.edu

                             * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
                             * DISPLACEMENT OF PERSONS *
                             *  ( CREATING REFUGEES )  *
                             * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Relevant Article of the European Convention on Human Rights:
               " Everyone has the right to respect for his private  and
                 family life and his home..."               <Article 8>

Charge laid against Turkey: The Turkish Army  displaced  200,000  Greek
                 Cypriots (more than one third of the population)  from
                 their homes. This was effected partly by physical exp-
                 ulsion and partly  by a systematic campaign of terror,
                 causing Greek Cypriots to flee in the face of Turkey's
                 advancing armed forces.Refugees and expellees were not
                 permitted by the Turkish Army to return to their homes
                 in the Turkish occupied area.

Turkish defense: No answer was given to these charges. Turkey boycotted
                 the Commission's proceedings  once  her jurisdictional
                 objection was rejected.
Commission's Verdict:
                  " Displacement of persons:
                  1. The Commission concludes by thirteen votes against
                     one that,by the refusal to allow the return of mo-
                     re than  170,000  Greek Cypriot  refugees to their
                     homes in the north of Cyprus, Turkey violated, and
                     was continuing to violate Art. 8 of the Convention
                     in all these cases.
                     [ When hostilities ended  some Greek Cypriots were
                       able to return to their homes near the cease-fi-
                       re lines in areas under UN or Government control
                       thus reducing the number of refugees to 170,000]
                  2. The Commission  concludes  by twelve votes against
                     one that,  by the eviction  of Greek Cypriots from
                     houses, including their homes,by their transporta-
                     tion to other places within the north of Cyprus,or
                     by their  deportation across the demarcation line,
                     Turkey has equally violated Art. 8 of the Convent-
                     ion.
                  3. The Commission concludes by thirteen votes against
                     one that by the  refusal  to allow the  return  to
                     their  homes  in the  north  of Cyprus  of several
                     thousand  Greek Cypriots  who had been transferred
                     to the south under inter-communal agreements, Tur-
                     key violated, and was continuing to violate Art. 8
                     of the Convention in all these cases.
                  4. The Commission concludes by fourteen votes against
                     one with one abstention that, by the separation of
                     Greek Cypriot  families  brought about by measures
                     of displacement in a  substantial number of cases,
                     Turkey has again violated Art.8 of the Convention."
                                                       <Report, p.163>
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU