Organization: University at Buffalo
X-VMS-To: IN%"hellas@uga.cc.uga.edu"
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.hellas
Date:         Sat, 19 Dec 1992 15:10:56 -0500
Reply-To:     "Varnavas A. Lambrou" <V999SAUM@UBVMS.CC.BUFFALO.EDU>
From:         "Varnavas A. Lambrou" <V999SAUM@UBVMS.CC.BUFFALO.EDU>
Subject:      PROS OLOUS TOUS ELLHNES, KUPRIOUS H' ELLADITES
Comments: To: hellas@uga.cc.uga.edu

THE ATTROCITIES OF THE TURKISH ARMY


The attrocities of July, 1974 and new ones in the course of the second offensive
in August were effective in terrorizing the population of the occupied area.
Almost the whole of the Greek Cypriot population of the occupied area fled to
the free areas of Cyprus.

Those who accuse Turkey are not only the victims. Prominent jurists have
compiled a record showing that Turkey employed deliberate means of terror and
indiscriminate cruelty. When one reads the report, adopted on 10 July, 1976,
after months of investigation by the European Commission of Human Rights, one
understands why thousands of Greek Cypriots fled their homes at the approach
of the Turkish army.


KILLING

"Relevant Article of Human Rights Convention: Everyone's right to life shall
be protected by law".

Charge made by Greek Cypriots:
        The Turkish army embarked on a systematic course of mass killings of
        civilians unconnected with any war activity.
Turkish Defence:
        None offered, but jurisdiction challenged. By letter dated November 27,
        1975, Turkey told the Commission it refused to accept the Greek-Cypriot
        administration's right to go to the Commission...
Commission's verdict:
        By 14 votes to one, the commission considered there were "very strong
        indications" of violation of Article 2 and killings "committed on a
        substantial scale."


RAPE
"Relevant aricle: No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment."

Charge by Greek Cypriots:
        Turkish Troops were responsible for wholesale and repeated rapes of
        women of all ages from 12 to 71, sometimes to such an extenet that the
        victims suffered haemorrhages or became mental wrecks. In some areas,
        enforced prostitution was practised, all women and girls of a village
        being collected and put into separate rooms in empty houses where they
        were repeatedly raped.
        In certain cases members of the same family were repeatedly raped,
        some of them in front of their own children. In other cases women were
        brutally raped in public.
        Rapes were on many occasions accompanied by brutalities such as violent
        biting of the victims causing severe wounding, banging their heads on
        the floor and wringing their throats almost to the point of suffocation.
        In some cases attempts to rape were followed by the stabbing or killing
        of the victims; victims included pregnant and mentally-retarded women.
Commission's verdict:
        By 12 votes to one the commission found "that the incidents of rape
        described in the cases referred to and regarded as established
        constitute inhuman treatment and thus violations of Article 3 for which
        Turkey is responsible under the convention."


TORTURE
"Relevat article: see above under rape".

Charge of Greek-Cypriots:
        Hundreds of people, including children, women and pensioners, were
        victims of systematic torture and savage and humiliating treatment
        during their detention by the Turkish army. They were beaten, according
        to the allegations, sometimes to the extent of being incapacitated. Many
        were subjected to whipping, breaking their teeth, knocking their heads
        against the walls, beating with electrified clubs, stubbing of
        cigarettes on their skin, jumping on their chests and hands, pouring
        dirty liquids on them, piercing them with bayonets, etc.
        Many, it was said, were ill-treated to such an extent that they became
        mental and physical wrecks. The brutalities complained of reached their
        climax after the ceasefire agreements; in fact, most of the acts
        described were committed at a time when Turkish armed forces were not
        engaged in any war activities.
Verdict by commission:
        By 12 votes to one, the commission concluded that prisoners were in a
        number of cases physically ill-treated by Turkish soldiers. "These acts
        of ill-treatment caused considerable injuries and in at least one case,
        the death of the victim. By their severity they constitute inhuman
        treatment in the senseof Article 3, for which Turkey is responsible
        under the convention."


LOOTING
"Relevant aricle: Every natural or legal person is entitled to the peaceful
enjoyment of his possessions".

Charge by the Greek Cypriots:
        In all Turkish-occupied areas, the Turkish army systematically looted
        houses and business premises of Greek Cypriots.
Verdict of Commission:
        The commission accepted that looting and robbery on an extensive scale,
        by Turkish troops and Turkish Cypriots, had taken place. By 12 votes to
        one, it established that there had been deprivation of possessions of
        Greek Cypriots on a large scale.


OTHER CHARGES

On four counts, the commission concluded that Turkey had also violated an
Article of the Convention asserting the right to respect for private and family
life, home and correspondence. The commission also decided that Turkey was
continuing to violate the Article by refusing to allow the return of more than
170000 Greek Cypriot refugees to their homes in the north.
On three counts, the commission said Turkey had breached an Article laying down
the right to liberty and security of person by confining more than 2000 Greek
Cypriots in schools and churches.
Finally, the commission said Turkey had violated two more articles that specify
that the rights and freedoms in the Convention shall be secured without
discrimination on any ground, and that anyone whose rights are violated
"shall have an effective remedy before a national authority."



THE SUNDAY TIMES
Turket and Cyprus

"ON PAGE TEN of today's issue, we publish some of the details from a report
about alleged Turkish attrocities in Cyprus. The report is the work of the Human
Rights Commission of the Council of Europe. It is a horrendous indictment
against Turkey and its soldiers and civilians sent from the mainland to the
Turkish areas of Cyprus... The first thing to be clear about is that these wrong
doings are the work of the Turks from the mainland."
        "The Sunday Times" 23 January, 1977


THE SUNDAY TIMES
"The terrible secrets of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus"
(Extracts from a Sunday Times Article on 23 January, 1977)

"The plight of Cyprus, with 40 per cent of the island still occupied by Turkish
troops who invaded in the summer of 1974, is well known. But never before has
the full story been told of what happened during and after the invasion. This
article is based on the secret (*) report of the European Commission of Human
Rights. For obvious reasons, INSIGHT has withheld the names of witnesses who
gave evidence to the Commission."

(*) The report has since been made public.



FACTS

        ** 1619 people are missing since the invasion.

        ** The dimensions of the Cyprus refugee problem:
           The 200,000 Cyprus refugees caused by the 1974 Turkish invasion would
           correspond to:

        120,000,000 in the former USSR
        110,000,000 in the USA
         30,000,000 in Germany
         23,000,000 in the UK
         22,000,000 in France
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU