When the cease-fire
line was drawn on 18 August at the end of the
Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, about
20,000 people - mostly Greek Cypriots and a few
hundred Maronites - were enclaved in the part
of the island occupied by Turkey.
Most were
inhabitants of the Karpass peninsula, who were
trapped in this north-eastern part of Cyprus
known as the panhandle, as a result of the
Turkish army's hasty push south to split the
island.
By December 1974
some 12,000 people had chosen to remain in
their homes and not to move to the
government-controlled part of Cyprus. Over the
years, however, these people have been the
victims of a policy of ethnic cleansing by the
occupying forces, long before the term was
coined. Harassed and intimidated, the vast
majority eventually left for the free
areas.
The denial of
their human rights, their harsh living
conditions and the constant harassment they
were made to endure, has forced many of the
enclaved to abandon their homes and properties
in the occupied area and cross to the
government-controlled area as refugees. Now
just 421 Greek Cypriots and 155 Maronites,
mostly elderly people, remain in this area
which was once populated only by Greek
Cypriots.
Under mounting
international pressure the Turkish Cypriot side
signed in Vienna in August 1975, in the
presence of Mr Kurt Waldheim the UN
Secretary-General at the time, a humanitarian
agreement stipulating that Greek Cypriots in
the occupied area would be free to stay and
that their families could join them.
The agreement,
known as the Vienna III agreement, (http://www.pio.gov.cy/docs/un/agreement.htm) also stipulated that
the enclaved be given "every 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". The United Nations would have free
and normal access to Greek Cypriot villages and
habitations in the north.
The Turkish
side, however, did not implement any of the
measures. The enclaved persons are denied
access even to their own doctors. No secondary
schools are allowed to operate and in the two
existing primary schools the textbooks are
severely censored. The enclaved, moreover, are
not allowed freedom of movement. They are
restricted to their villages and immediate
surroundings and members of families living in
the government-controlled area, who are over
18-year-old, are not allowed to visit
them.
The UN
Secretary-General has repeatedly noted in
reports to the Security Council that the Greek
Cypriots and Maronites in the northern part of
the island are far from leading the normal life
they were promised under the agreement reached
between the two sides at Vienna on 2 August
1975.
Moreover, a
humanitarian review undertaken by the UN
Peace-Keeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) in 1995
(S/1995/1020), documents in detail the
situation. It observes: "The Greek Cypriots of
Karpass are now a small minority in a part of
Cyprus, which was once almost totally Greek
Cypriot, and they are subjected to a system
whose long-term aim appears to be directed
towards the eventual extinction of the Greek
Cypriot community in Karpass".
The European
Court of Human Rights has repeatedly found
Turkey guilty of human rights violations during
and after the invasion and occupation of part
of Cyprus. In its latest judgement in the case
of Cyprus V. Turkey ( application no.25781/94 )
on May 10, 2001 found, by sixteen votes to one,
the Turkish vote, that Turkey committed 14
violations of the European Convention on Human
Rights. Out of these, seven violations concern
the living conditions of the enclaved people in
the Turkish occupied area of Cyprus. More
specifically, the Court held that Turkey
committed the following violations :
- a violation of
Article 9 (freedom of thought, conscience and
religion) in respect of Greek Cypriots living
in northern Cyprus, concerning the effects of
restrictions on freedom of movement which
limited access to places of worship and
participation in other aspects of religious
life.
- a violation of
Article 10 (freedom of expression) in respect
of Greek Cypriots living in northern Cyprus in
so far as school-books destined for use in
their primary school were subject to excessive
measures of censorship.
- a continuing
violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 in
respect of Greek Cypriots living in northern
Cyprus in that their right to the peaceful
enjoyment of their possessions was not secured
in case of their permanent departure from that
territory and in that, in case of death,
inheritance rights of relatives living in
southern Cyprus were not recognised.
- a violation of
Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 (right to
education) in respect of Greek Cypriots living
in northern Cyprus in so far as no appropriate
secondary-school facilities were available to
them.
- a violation of
Article 3 in that the Greek Cypriots living in
the Karpas area of northern Cyprus had been
subjected to discrimination amounting to
degrading treatment.
- a violation of
Article 8 concerning the right of Greek
Cypriots living in northern Cyprus to respect
for their private and family life and to
respect for their home;
- a violation of
Article 13 by reason of the absence, as a
matter of practice, of remedies in respect of
interferences by the authorities with the
rights of Greek Cypriots living in northern
Cyprus under Articles 3, 8, 9 and 10 of the
Convention and Articles 1 and 2 of Protocol No.
1.
The basic human
rights of this group of people, whose only sin
is to be ethnically Greek or Maronite, should
be protected, as should the right of return of
all the refugees.
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