This tribe is dedicated to the TRUTH about the 1974 invasion of Cyprus by Turkey, and the ensuing 30 years of illegal occupation and the perpetration of the indignities inherent in the ethnic cleansing and the numerous destructions of the human rights of both the Greek-Cypriots and the Turkish-Cypriots as practiced by the occupying body, The Turkish Republic of Nothern Cyprus. Since the TRNC captured 38% of Northern Cyprus, they have created over 200,000 Greek cypriot refugees, over 1600 people have gone missing, disappearing into the twilight ether that is the Turkish prisoner of war system, and countless Turkish Cypriots have been driven from their homes as well. Although Turkey invaded to ostensibly protect the 18% Turkish Cypriot population on the island (due to a failed coup of the Cy. gov. by the Greek Junta at the time),they did not keep their promise. Instead they systematically ran them out of the country, re-populating with mainland usurpers in order to skew the island's demographics. Although much Turkish propaganda has been put out stating that the two communities cannot get along, and therefore the island should remain divided, this assertion is false. In fact, Greek and Turkish natives of the island have been incredibly vocal about wanting to be re-united and allowed to live peacefully together once again. It is the recently immigrated mainland Turks who oppose this. The original Turkish Cypriots have agitated against the Rauf Denktash Regime in favor of re-unification. Yet their cries fall on deaf ears. There is the matter of the E.U. and Cyprus's accession to it. Turkey also wants membership, and thus a push by the EU for Turkey to resolve its Cyprus problem must be reached if it is to be allowed E.U. membership. The way this political drama plays out in the next couple of months will in the end determine the fate of Cyprus. Although both the Greeks and Turks of Cyprus want re-unification, Rauf Denktash remains as stubborn as ever, refusing to let go of the land that is not his (estimated value of land lost by Greek refugees alone is 40 billion dollars), while simultaneously continuing to bring in new mainland Turkish settlers and simultaneously driving out the original Turkish Cypriots. Both the Greek and Turkish Cypriots must join in whatever means possible to exchange information in order to further the cause of a re-unified and peaceful Cyprus in which one is free to roam at will. Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, is today the only city in the world that is divided by such hostilities and the line of demarcation between North and South is a tangle of barbed wire manned by fully armed soldiers on either side.
We of course must not forget, that like all world affairs, the u.s. and more specifically Kissinger had a hand in the events of 1974. Despite the explicit warning by the rest of the international community against invasion, Kissinger's support and correspondence with particular individuals to implicitely allow and support the invasion must be examined. Additionally, we must look into the devastating nightmare suffered by the Greek Cypriot enclaved. The Enclaved are the handfull of Greeks who managed to hold on to their villages and lands in the face of the invasion. In a peace treaty, Turkey agreed to provide these isolated Greeks in the newly occupied north access to education, medical care and other basic human needs. None of these have been met. They have had to endure three decades of isolation, for they are not allowed to leave their villages, and if they do, they forfeit their right to return. But because they could not survive without medical care, education and other essentials, this was the loophole the TRNC used to systematically dwindle the enclaved population over the years. Those who did manage to hang on, were not allowed to worship their religion or speak their language, or teach Greek History; another form of ethnic cleansing. They live in fear at night, unable to sleep, for the raids of their houses usually come at night, and beating, rape and murder are not uncommon occurrences. The Turkish Cypriots have suffered such treatmeant at the hands of their "saviours" as well. Today, the Turkish Cypriot population is 3/4ths less what it was 3 decades ago; thus the full Mainland Turkification of the island progresses unhindered by the helpless few. Additionally, the millenia old antiquities of Northern Cyprus have been systematically defaced, destroyed, and plundered. Place names have been defaced and changed. All of this is a brutal attempt to erase the island's Greek origins and re-write its history as fully Turkish. This destruction of history is not only another form of ethnic cleansing, but also constitutes a major break in the continuity of Cypriot history which includes elements of many cultures over the millenia and reflects the absorption of those elements into the dominant Greek culture. Turkey therefore has perpetrated a major break in the evolution of CYPRIOT history.
What happens in the next couple of months as the day of Cyprus's EU accession draws nigh remains to be seen. I hope I can keep the members of this forum sufficiently informed with articles past and present. Please feel free to contribute.
DEN XEHNO -- I DO NOT FORGET

http://DENXEHNO.tribe.net