Press Releases

UK Turks Hit Out at Cyprus Bias and Smear Campaign - 10 July 2007

Joint press release from the British Council for Turkish Cypriot Associations, Embargoed! and the Federation of Turkish Associations UK

10 July 2007: Three of the UK Turkish speaking community’s largest groups have criticised the National Federation of [Greek] Cypriots and their British MP support base for their one-sided seminar on ‘Cyprus, Turkey and the EU’, hosted recently at the House of Commons. The British Council for Turkish Cypriot Associations (CTCA), Embargoed! and the Federation of Turkish Associations UK (FTA UK) have also hit out at the Greek media’s efforts to smear Turks seeking entry into the seminar as “extremists”.

Greek Cypriot weekly newspaper Eleftheria and London Greek News are among media who have misrepresented events that took place at last week’s incident-packed seminar. In their news reports, they mistakenly claim the event had been organised for families of missing Greek Cypriots to lobby MPs – seminar adverts in Parikiaki clearly state otherwise. Eleftheria also described the handful of Turks/Turkish Cypriots seeking entry as “extremists” seeking to “sabotage” the meeting and accuses them of being members of an ultra nationalist group that allegedly murdered two Greek Cypriots.

Active Embargoed! member Ata Cholak, one of only four Turkish Cypriots initially allowed into the seminar room of over 70 attendees, described the accusations in the Greek Cypriot media as, "Sheer paranoia and totally groundless. The comments are a smokescreen to divert attention from the racist gathering that evening.” He continued, “The National Federation claims to represent all Cypriots, yet it barred Turkish Cypriots from attending.”

A total of fifteen MPs were invited to take the stand at the seminar on 3 July. These were (in speaking order): Joan Ryan, Roger Gale, David Burrowes, Andy Love, Stephen Pound, Theresa Villiers, David Lepper, Mike Gapes, Michael Connarty, Andrew Dismore, Bill Etherington, Fabian Hamilton, Edward O'Hara, Rudi Vis and Alan Meale.

Servet Hassan, Vice-President of the FTA UK and also present at the meeting, explained that, “A few MPs attempted to portray a balanced view on Cyprus, but late arrivals – probably unaware there were Turks in the room – went on a major Turkey-bashing mission. Rudi Vis' anti-Turkish comments in particular were deeply offensive. It felt like we were in a BNP meeting instead of the balanced and informed debate you would expect in the home of British democracy.”

CTCA Chair Akmen Sitki stated, “It was clear to every Turkish Cypriot in the room that when it comes to Cyprus’ recent tragic history, only Greek Cypriot suffering matters. Every one of the 15 MPs spoke about missing Greek Cypriots, yet only one also reflected on missing Turkish Cypriots. The other 14 MPs should be ashamed of themselves – as long as they show this level of bias, they can be no friend of Cyprus.”

CTCA, Embargoed! and the FTA UK called on the attending MPs to become better informed about the past and present suffering of both Cypriot communities and to stop working with Greek Cypriot groups who refuse dialogue with Turkish Cypriots. The groups praised the positive intervention of Edmonton MP Andy Love, who secured the admission of four Turkish Cypriots into the seminar, and also Lord Maginnis, who asked to speak at the end of the seminar to put across the Turkish Cypriot viewpoint.
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