Athens News Agency: News in English, 09-08-09

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Greek Cypriot POWs' remains identified in mass grave in occupied village

[01] Greek Cypriot POWs' remains identified in mass grave in occupied village

The news drew reactions from Greek political parties on Sunday.

The five POWs, who were serving in the National Guard's 398th Infantry Battalion, were photographed by a Turkish journalist at the time they were taken prisoners and are photographed kneeling with their hands behind their heads, circled by Turkish soldiers.

The photograph, taken on August 1974, the day they were taken prisoner, has appeared many times in the Cypriot and international press. The Turkish photographer was arrested by the National Guard two days later, and the photographic material was found in his possession. The photographer afterwards published the photographs in the Turkish daily Milliyet.

Xenophon Kallis, assistant to the Greek Cypriot member of the CMP, said that the remains of 14 more persons were found in the same mass grave, but have not yet been identified.

The president of the Pan-Cyprian Committee of Relatives of Undeclared POWs and Missing Persons, Nikos Theodosiou, said that "now it has been proved that the Turks were executing prisoners of war".

Reactions

Main opposition PASOK officer on foreign affairs Andreas Loverdos said that this was a "blood-curdling confirmation of what we feared and validly supposed had happened".

"It is a hair-raising confirmation of the aspect of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, an aspect which Turkey not only does not leave in the past to be forgotten, but on which it is founding its future as well. With the assistance of the forces that are opposing Europe's political unification and are using Turkey as a pivot for this," Loverdos added.

Coalition of the Left, Movements and Ecology (SYN) officer for foreign policy Panos Trigazis said that "this is horrendous news that brings to the forefront one of the darkest sides of the Turkish invasion, and the need to verify the fate of all the missing persons of the Cyprus tragedy of 1974".

"This major human, ethical and political issue underlines the need for intensification of the efforts for peace in Cyprus, the implementation of international legality in the Cyprus issue and a just solution of the problem in accordance with the UN resolutions," Trigazis added.

Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS) spokesman Costas Aivaliotis said that the supporters of Turkey in the political system "received the answer of reality, with the tragic finds in Cyprus".

"Turkey's behavior, through the ages, remains the same: witness to this is borne by its history, its actions, its crimes. Moments such as these bring back to mind the genocide of the Pontian (Black Sea) Greeks, the Armenians, the Asia Minor Greeks, as well as the cowardly killings by Attila (code-name of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus)," Aivaliotis said, adding that "on the other hand, we must bring Turkey into the EU, as desired by Ms. (foreign minister Dora) Bakoyannis and Mr. (prime minister Costas) Karamanlis.

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article