The following letter is in response to the March 7 article on Cyprus. According to the article, the United Nations now say that its “now or never” for Cyprus. The fact of the matter is that Cyprus is the victim of an illegal and immoral invasion, occupation, and colonization by the Turkish military. There is not, the article says a “breakaway” part of Cyprus in the north. The international community has failed to refer to Turkey as the aggressor state that is in violation of the 1959 Treaties that established the Republic of Cyprus.

The Turkish government and the leader of the occupation in the north remain intransigent. In response, the United Nations, the Americans, and the Europeans have done nothing to impose sanctions or penalties on Turkey. As Turkey is responsible for both refusing to withdraw its forces from Cyprus and for continuing to colonize the occupied territories, Ankara should have faced serious international penalties including sanctions for refusing to comply with both the Treaties that established Cyprus as an independent Republic, and the dozens of United Nations resolutions demanding a Turkish withdrawal from Cyprus. 

If the United Nations showed some backbone and sought to pressure Turkey, then there might be reasons for optimism. Other conflicts have come and gone over the decades while Cyprus remains under occupation and the Greek Cypriot inhabitants who were driven from their homelands remain exiled. It is the lack of will on the part of the United Nations and the United States to hold Turkey responsible for the present situation. All that is missing is for the international community to put into practice all their rhetoric about democracy, international law, and human rights. 

Theodore Karakostas, ΙΗΑ member.
Boston, MA 
USA

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Τα άρθρα που δημοσιεύονται στην ιστοσελίδα του ΙΗΑ εκφράζουν αποκλειστικά τους συγγραφείς – μέλη του ΙΗΑ. Η ιστοσελίδα του ΙΗΑ δεν λογοκρίνει, ούτε επεμβαίνει σε άρθρα – κείμενα των μελών του ΙΗΑ

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International Hellenic Association