Submitted by Ianus (Poland), Jul 27, 2010 at 16:21
Kaan writes :
" if you are going to mix up many different decades and historical events, we are not going to face any progress."
So according to your methodology terror, atrocities and extermination of 1mln Greeks and the ensuing expulsion of 1,5 mln by Ghazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha aka Ataturk between 1919-1923 have nothing in common with terror, pogroms and atrocities committed against of the remaining Greeks in Constantinople in 1955 which again are fully unrelated to terror , atrocities and expulsion of 200 000 Greeks from Northern Cyprus by Ataturk's faithful disciples in 1974. All of that events are totally unconnected and happened in a historical vacuum where chaos and solipsism prevail and when one mentions them to suggest a broader background , historical continuity , consistency and logic in them one "mixes up many different decades and historical events" , doesn't one ?
If so, it is the most bewildering , irrational and opportunistic methodology of history I have ever heard of. You can never blame anyone for anybody, you can forget about docuemnts , logic, thinking itself becomes useless as you will not udnerstand anything anyway !
And if you adhere to this irrational and inverted methodology denying the obvious and logical connections of events and interrelations between ideas, traditions and behaviours, then definitely there is no progress to be made within your worldview whatsoever.
> I would not underestimate the inhuman incidents during the period of 1960 to 1974, many human beings, primarily the Turkish population, have experienced a different story, a very sad story.<
Instead of expressing now my personal view on the above now I'll rather quote a few passages from a report of th European Commission for Humn Rights which Turkey ignored and as I am sure you will ignore it as well to live on happily in your Turkish Wonderland of "Ne mutlu turkum diyene".
" In the course of the military operations and occupation, Turkish armed forces have, by way of systematic conduct adopted a practice of 'ethnic cleansing, caused deprivation of life, including indiscriminate killings of civilians, by bombing of civilian targets and hospitals and cold blooded murders. They have subjected persons of both sexes and all ages to torture, inhuman degrading treatment or punishment, including commission of rapes, they have detained arbitrarily and with no lawful authority hundreds of persons in Cyprus and in Turkey, subjecting the said persons to forced labour. They have forcibly displaced thousands of persons from their homes and they have refused to allow them to return thereto; they have caused separation of families and other interferences with private life; they have caused destruction of property and obstruction of free enjoyment of property. All the above acts have been directed exclusively against Greek Cypriots because of their national origin, race and religion.
- In the course of the continuing military occupation of 37 percent of the territory of the Republic of Cyprus, the Turkish army, under the actual and exclusive authority and control of the government of Turkey, committed and continues to commit the following atrocities and crimes:
- Murders in cold blood of civilians, including women and old men as well as children between 6 months and eleven years. Hundreds of killings of Greek Cypriots by Turkish forces have been reported.
- 1,619 persons who disappeared are still missing. These persons, 993 soldiers and 626 civilians, amongst them 112 women and 26 children under the age of 16, have been missing since the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 and as a direct consequence of it. Most of these persons were arrested by Turkish soldiers and were known to be alive in the occupied area or in detention in Turkey long after the cessation of hostilities. Despite the adoption of a number of United Nations resolutions and the establishment of a Committee on Missing Persons in 1981, the fate of the 1,619 missing persons has not yet been ascertained because of obstacles put forward by the Turkish side and because of lack of any cooperation on its part.
- Wholesale and repeated rapes.
- Forcible eviction and diplacement of persons from their homes and land. The nearly 200,000 Greek Cypriots who were forcibly expelled from their homes by the Turkish invading forces in 1974, are still being prevented by the Turkish occupation army of returning to their homes in the occupied area and are destitute refugees in their own country. It should be recalled that all relevant United Nations resolutions call for the instituting of urgent measures for the voluntary return of the refugees to their homes in safety.
- Expulsion of the enclaved. Out of the 20,000 Greek Cypriots, who remained enclaved in the occupied area after the invasion only a few hundred remain now in the Karpass peninsula, at the Eastern corner of Cyprus. This is the result of a sustained campaign of harassment, discrimination and oppression by the occupation forces which led to outright expulsion and gradual deterioration of the living conditions of the enclaved. Inhuman methods used to force the remaining Greek Cypriots to leave the occupied area included: killings, looting, restrictions on movement, religion, education and work, threats, violence, intimidation, harassment, forced labour e.t.c. Under international pressure, the Turkish Cypriot side agreed in Vienna, in August 1975, that Greek Cypriots in the occupied area would be free to stay and that their families would be free to join them. The agreement known as the Vienna III agreement, also stipulated that the enclaved 'be given help to lead a normal life including facilities for education and for the practice of their religion, as well as medical care by doctors of their own community. Despite the agreement reached, the regime in the occupied area has applied racist and inhuman policies against the Greek Cypriot enclaved in order to force them to leave their lands and make room for imported settlers from Turkey.
- Looting of houses and business premises belonging to Greek Cypriots.
- Seizure, appropriation, exploitation and distribution of land, houses, enterprises and industries belonging to Greek Cypriots.
- Thousands of Greek Cypriot civilians of all ages and both sexes were arbitrarily detained by the Turkish military authorities in the occupied areas under inhuman conditions. Concentration camps were established. Greek Cypriot detainees and inhabitants of the Turkish occupied area fell victims of systematic torture and of other inhuman or degrading treatment.
- Forced labour. A great number of detainees, were made during their detention, to perform forced and compulsory labour. Even today the few Greek Cypriot men residing in the Karpass peninsula in the occupied area, are forced to clean every Friday the 'Police station' of the village of Rizokarpasso.
- Separation of families. Many families are still separated as a result of some of the crimes described above, such as detention and forcible eviction. It should be mentioned in this respect that due to the refusal of the Turkish occupation authorities to allow the operation of Secondary Schools for the Greek Cypriot enclaved children, the latter, when they reach the age of 12 and wish to pursue secondary school studies, they have no choice but to go to the government controlled area to attend school there. These children are not allowed by the Turkish occupation regime to visit their parents in the occupied area, except at Christmas, Easter and during summer vacations. When boys reach the age of 16 and girls the age of 18 they are not allowed to return to the occupied area even to visit their parents during holidays. Relatives of enclaved living in the government controlled area are not allowed to visit them in the occupied area, even in case of deaths and funerals of relatives. The separation of families under such inhuman policies, is a method of 'ethnic cleansing used to force the few remaining in the occupied area Greek Cypriots to leave their homes and flee to the government controlled area to join their relatives.
- The occupying forces continue to plunder and systematically destroy the Cypriot cultural heritage in the occupied part of the island.
etc. etc . "
Well , after all of those findings you have the cheek to come here and announce that "primarily the Turkish population, have experienced a different story, a very sad story" ! I'll spare you the other comments that came to my mind immediately when I compared the report and your sickening lies which are intended to replace the reality with a Turkish caricature of it and so hide all the scale and monstrosity of Turkish barbarity and crimes.
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