Damien McElroy's contradictions on Cyprus - What does Telegraph say about it?

Here is a letter by Mr. Phoebus Sparos, exposing the contradictions of Damien McElroy. We ask, what does Telegraph say about this? You can ask the Telegraph and Mr. McElroy himself the same questions. Please make sure you send your copy, undersigned with your name, telephone number and address (they will remain confidential), to dtletters@telegraph.co.uk and telegrapheditorial@telegraph.co.uk. Remember to be polite and respectful.

 

Dear Sir,

In response to your report of 23 July 2010 titled “Northern Cyprus plans to become Mediterranean 'Las Vegas'” by Damien McElroy I would like to comment as follows:

Dear Mr. McElroy

Thank you for not using Girne for Kyrenia but I am afraid the rest of your article is a disgrace to journalism. It reminded me of another article you wrote back on 29 Dec 2009 (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/cyprus/6901089/Cyprus-peace-talks-Greek-and-Turkish-leaders-turn-to-kitchen-table-diplomacy.html).

Then you wrote:

“Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when the Turkish army invaded after a Greek-backed coup.”

Now you write:

“In 1974, the Turkish army drove all Greeks from towns and villages across the northern half of the island in a sudden strike precipitated by pogroms against the local Turks.”

So, what caused the Turkish invasion? The coup or the “pogroms”? Or are you going to say both? Of course the biggest worry is that in both cases, no matter what you say you present Turkey’s invasion as a more or less justified act. If you want to know about real facts read “Bloody Truth”; you can download it from http://www.freedomjustice.com.cy/. It is based on declassified documents of your very majesty’s government.

“Even if there was not a single Muslim Turk there [i.e. Cyprus], Turkey ought to maintain a Cyprus Issue. No country can remain indifferent to such an island which is situated in the heart of her vital space.” (“Strategic Depth, A. Davutoglu, Greek Translation p.279). 

In case you do not remember, Davutoglu is now the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey and the theoretician of the Neo-Ottomans.

Pogroms against the local Turks?

WHEN THE Cypriot Turk teacher Sevim Uflet found herself face to face with Denktash, in the full of dead and wounded, clinic of Dalbatoglu in 1958 (she was herself mourning her brother Ulus Uflet, who had just unwillingly blasted himself in Kaimakli with the bomb he was making and intending against the Greeks), she said to Denktash: 

 

“For God' s sake, give an order to finally stop all these killings”. He answered: “These dead are useful. With these we will make our voice heard in the world.” (A.H. Tachsin: “Denktash' rise to the top” pub. Diaphaneia, p.51).

“A tense standoff between the Parachute Regiment and Turkish tanks on one of Britain's sovereign bases is still the closest two Nato nations have been to war” you say. Are you trying to tell us that it is your “Parachute Regiment” that stops the Turkish tanks? I am afraid that your country, your various governments rather, has done a lot more than that but all in the opposite direction, i.e. making sure that Turkey gets what she wants. It is a cliché but is true “divide and rule”, applied masterfully by your majesty’s many governments.

I stop here, respecting the availability of space in your paper and my time. Otherwise, I could right several pages exposing your “inaccuracies”, which I believe are expressly designed to push a certain point of view. Just, please avoid expressions like “southern part” when you know it is the free or unoccupied part. As you should also know, there is but one Cyprus part of which is occupied, i.e. what you referred to as “Northern Cyprus”.

Phoebus Sparos

Reply to the Telegraph's Damien McElroy's lies about "pogroms against Turkish-Cypriots"

We copy here the letter sent to the British newspaper 'Telegraph' and journalist Damien Mc Elroy by the Efylakas.com Editorial Team. As you will read yourselves, McElroy's blatant lies are just to much to swallow. 

Nevermind him referring to the military occupied part of Cyprus as if it is a legal entity, forgetting completely about the ethnocide of the Greek-Cypriots, he even makes the false assertion (without providing ANY evidence whatsoever) that the Greek-Cypriots have carried out "pogroms" against Turkish-Cypriots, when in fact the opposite happenned! Mr McElroy, with 200,000 Greek-Cypriot refugees until this day, 37% of the land occupied and people still missing and unaccounted for, its not the Greek-Cypriots who carried the pogroms, its the Turkish state!

 The Efylakas article can serve as an excellent template for you to add your own arguments. 

Please make sure you send your copy, undersigned with your name,  telephone number and address (they will remain confidential), to dtletters@telegraph.co.uk and telegrapheditorial@telegraph.co.uk. Remember to be polite and respectful. 

P.S. - Mr. Damien McElroy seems to be writing from and based "in Keryneia". With what legal status exactly is this gentleman writing from an illegally occupied EU territory? What is this British citizen (?) doing by working and writing from an area that the government of the UK does not recognize?

For publication - "Right of Reply"The Editor: 'The Daily Telegraph' and Mr. Damien McElroy 

July 24, 2010

Dear Sir,

Our news site (efylakas.com) is being read by hundreds of Greeks and Greek-Cypriots everyday. In those readers there there are also members of the enormous Hellenic Diaspora in Britain, where Greeks and Greek-Cypriots live assimmilated and in peace and contribute economically, spiritually, socially and culturally, with respect their host country and British ethics and traditions. With this letter, we believe that we represent the views of a large majority of those readers.

We outreach to you as people who take great pride and have tremendous passion in human rights, dignity, and respect to justice and the common European values of democracy and the rule of law, and as such we respectfully request that you take into consideration our objectios regading an article of yours on Cyprus, and therefore publishing our letter.

We refer to your report of 20th July 2010 (anniversary of the illegal Turkish invasion)  titled “Northern Cyprus plans to become Mediterranean 'Las Vegas'” by Damien McElroy and wish to comment as follows:

1. There is no “Turkish enclave” in Cyprus, but part of the Republic of Cyprus under Turkish illegal military invasion and occupation since 1974. The Republic of Cyprus is the only recognized legal entity on the island of Cyprus.

2. The “Cratos Hotel” you are referring to has been illegally built on stolen land in the occupied village of Kazafani in the Kyrenia district. The land rightfully belongs to the Church of Cyprus, and has been taken away by violence in the summer of 1974.

3. A UN embargo forbidding recognition of the occupied regime is confirmed by Security Council Resolutions 541 (1983) and 550 (1984) because it is the outcome of a brutal and illegal invasion and continued occupation and there is no question of it being recognised. It is sustained by the presence of approximately 45,000 mainland Turkish military forces, and there has been at least 160,000 illegal Turkish settlers (brought in mainly by the Anatolian regon of mainland Turkey), which constitutes a war crime, as confirmed by International Law and European court decisions.

4. There is no hope of so called independent future for the occupied area. The area under question is stolen from the 200,000 Greek Cypriot refugees forced by the Turkish invading army to abandon their properties at gunpoint back in 1974, and to this day not allowed to return and use their property.

5. You cannot call “sharing” the abandonment of your stolen property and half of your country. Stolen land and properties have to be returned to their rightful and legal title deed owners. What the Turks are asking the Greek-Cypriots in an unprecedented audacity is to hand them over their stolen properties! Mr McElroy, we ask you: Would you give your house's title deed away to the first thief that forces you out of it?

6. This is an enormous lie that can't possibly be corroborated by any evidence. There were no pogroms against the Turkish Cypriots in 1974. In fact, the British Labour government of Harold Wilson and Turkish PM Bulent Ecevit literally conspired (and declassified Foreign Office documents prove this) to let Turkey invade the island and fulfill a long awaited Turkish-British plan to divide the island. That was finally agreed during their meeting in London on 17th July 1974. Furthermore, the  British High Commissioner in Cyprus,  Sir Olver and the then Turkish Ambassador in Nicosia confirmed in writing (British Foreign Office released documents refer) that NOT A SINGLE TURK was harmed by the Greek short lived coup which ONLY affected the Greeks and not the Turks. The only "evidence" of attacks against Turkish-Cypriots happenned at the villages of Aloa and Santalari which happenned by terrorists of EOKA-B' which was against the Makarios government, and even that happenned during the invasion, while Turkey was ethnically cleansing the north of Cyprus by 200,000 Greek-Cypriots, and not before the invasion happenned as Mr. McElroy falsily says! We demand that Mr McElroy produces any evidence he has that the Greek-Cypriots conducted organized "pogroms" against Turkish-Cypriots, or else he will prove that he is not a very objective journalist.

7. The 5,000 Britons who have bought properties in the occupied that belong to Greek-Cypriot refugees have done wrong and violated human rights and international law in dealing with stolen properties and will have to bear the consequences.

8. As for Mr. Day, former Conservative MP, living in the occupied area of Cyprus he has no right whatsoever to speak on the matter, the colonial jurisdiction over Cyprus has ended many years ago. Britain, the government of which is currently run by a Conservative-Liberal coalition, does not recognized the Turkish-occupied part of Cyprus as a "state". What is, therefore, Mr. Day really doing out there, and does he represent British interests and the sacred British values of rule of law and democracy in this way?

Thank you.

With all due respect,

Editorial Team / efylakas.com
Telephone number: +442034114439

Original article follows: