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Obama: missile from eastern Ukraine controlled by separatists hit plane

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US President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference on the situation in Ukraine, at the White House in Washington DC, USA, 18 July 2014

By Jeff Mason and Steve Holland

President Barack Obama said on Friday that a surface-to-air missile fired from territory controlled by Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine was responsible for shooting down a Malaysian passenger plane on Thursday.

Obama said Russian President Vladimir Putin had the most power to reduce the violence in Ukraine and had not chosen to do so. He said Ukraine separatists had received a steady flow of support from Russia, including anti-aircraft weapons.

Obama’s comments were the strongest public assertions yet from the United States that pro-Russian separatists likely brought down the plane and that Moscow bears some responsibility by allowing sophisticated Russian arms to flow into eastern Ukraine.

If Putin made the decision that to stop the flow of armaments and fighters into Ukraine, it would stop, Obama said.

Obama called the incident an “outrage” of unspeakable proportions. So far, officials had determined that only one U.S. citizen had been on board the plane.

“This was a global tragedy,” Obama said, calling for a credible international investigation into what happened.

He said Russia, pro-Russia separatists and Ukraine must adhere to an immediate ceasefire.

“It’s important for us to recognize that this outrageous event underscores that it is time for peace and security to be restored in Ukraine,” he said.

Most of Obama’s remarks were focused on Russia. Time and again, he said, Moscow had refused to take the necessary steps to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine.

“If Mr. Putin makes a decision that we are not going to allow heavy armaments and the flow of fighters into Ukraine … then it will stop,” Obama said. “And if it stops, then the separatists will still have the capacity to enter into negotiations and try to arrive at the sort of political accommodations that Mr. Putin himself says he wants to see.”

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Hooligan bill back in House next week

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footbal hooligans

By Constantinos Psillides

A BILL aimed at tackling football violence will be put to a plenum vote on Wednesday, said House Legal Affairs Committee chairman and DISY MP Soteris Sampson, after the majority of the parties settled on the hot issue of the fan card.

During Friday’s session of the House Legal Affairs committee, parties decided to go through with the fan card but allow for a transition period. The fan card will be mandatory for the purchase of tickets for sports events as of January 1, 2015, instead of September, as had originally been suggested.

“A transitional period was deemed necessary, so that people would have time to adjust to the idea of a fan card. Those who wish to have their fan cards issued before January can do so. After January the fan card will be mandatory,” said Sampson.

The amendment was proposed jointly by MPs from EDEK and DIKO. DISY agreed to the transition period but main opposition party AKEL still refused to consent, insisting that forcing fans to register constitutes a human rights violation.

AKEL also disagreed on the provision stating that football teams should be billed by police for supervising the matches. DISY stands alone on this matter, as EDEK and DIKO also have reservations.

AKEL MP Aristos Damianou told the Cyprus Mail that the party still hasn’t decided whether it will vote against the bill.

“We made significant progress. A number of our proposals were adopted but we still have strong disagreements over the fan card and billing the teams for policing. The fan card was implemented in Britain in the Thatcher days but it has since been abandoned,” said Damianou, adding that AKEL will decide on the matter on Wednesday morning before the plenum vote.

The state pays around €1m a year for police to be present at football matches, according to a 52-page report that Auditor General Odysseas Michaelides sent to the Finance ministry last May. Michaelides had suggested that teams should increase ticket prices by one euro to cover half the cost of policing. Michaelides reminded in his report that Cyprus Football Association (CFA) and the teams agreed to cover half the cost but failed to honour that agreement.

According to committee chairman Sampson, a provision making it a criminal offence to stand up in the stands or move around during the game to another seat was also dropped.

A provision making it a criminal offence to enter the grounds intoxicated or to cover one’s face in and around the stadium was agreed upon unanimously.

Also removed from the bill was the provision that if a fan was banned from entering the grounds due to repeated offence, he had to stay at home and wear an ankle monitor.

“All the parties agreed on a lot of the issues raised and also that football violence must be tackled with”, Sampson told the press after the committee session.

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Consumers urge boycott of profiteers

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consumers watter bottle

By Evie Andreou

THE Consumers Association (KSK) is calling for a general boycott of businesses with high prices and criticised the Cyprus Tourism Organisation’s (CTO) laid-back attitude toward profiteering.

Despite the CTO releasing a pricelist comparing seaside establishments to force them to cut prices and be more competitive, the consumers’ association is not satisfied.

KSK said in an announcement that it received many complaints from consumers for cases of profiteering and that even though Cyprus is a free market, pricing must be based on rationality and ethics toward the consumer.

KSK said water was a point in question.

“Most [businesses] sell a small bottle of water, which costs less than €0.20, for €2 and in some cases in clubs €3 or more. This difference in price and profit margin, which may be more than 800 per cent, is not justifiable,” it said.

The association argued that some businessmen refuse to offer a glass of water to customers so that they can force them to buy bottled water which they charge from €1.50 to €3.00.

“It is insulting, to say the least, for a consumer who buys a burger for more than €10, to be denied a glass of water, so that businesses can have more profit,” the announcement said, adding that in some places they don’t even have local bottled water and they sell imported for up to €5.

“The Cypriot consumer continues to be one of the most important contributors to coastal establishments during the summer months and this exploitation should not continue, especially now that the economic crisis has affected a large number of people.”

KSK urged consumers to be prepared and well stocked before they leave home so that they can boycott businesses with high prices if they have to.

“If we have with us the necessary items and we don’t buy from those who see us as victims and if we leave their shelves full, only then will they understand the power of the consumer and why they should be respected,” the announcement said.

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Pedestrian hit by car in Strovolos

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police tape 6

A YOUNG woman is in hospital with a skull fracture after she was hit by car in Strovolos on Thursday night. Her condition is out of danger.

According to the police, the 19-year-old was crossing the street when she was hit by car driven by a 25-year-old woman.

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€8,000 stolen in Ayia Napa

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news-briefs-rect42

CASH and items worth €8,000 were reported stolen on Thursday night from three apartments with nine British tourists staying in them.

The tourists reported that their apartments had been broken into while they were at the beach.

Police said the thefts were possibly by the same perpetrators since in all three cases, the methodology was similar.

Ayia Napa police station is investigating the case.

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Arrest for drugs, crackers and smoke bombs

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news briefs (rect)

A 24-year-old man has been detained in Limassol for possession of drugs, fire-crackers and smoke-bombs.

The man was arrested on Thursday when police found three grams of cannabis, 14 smoke-bombs, 30 fire-crackers and 12 flares in his house.

The Limassol drug law enforcement unit and Ayios Ioannis police station are investigating the case.

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Coke on the rocks

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Paphos General Hospital

A 50-year old Polish man was arrested on Thursday night, after police found that he tried to smuggle a kilo of cocaine, packed in small bags that he had swallowed.

According to a police report, the man arrived at Paphos airport at around midnight. Acting on an anonymous tip, Drug squad officers stopped the man and checked his bags. The officers found nothing so the man was taken to Paphos General hospital for an x-ray.

Police said that the x-ray showed foreign objects in the man’s stomach. After treatment, the Polish man has passed 78 small nylon bags containing cocaine, police said.

The man is under medical observation and is expected to appear before the Paphos District court on Saturday.

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Timeline of a crisis

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40th anniversary of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974

Backdrop to coup and invasion

BY 1974 much of the island’s Turkish Cypriot population was living in enclaves. The enclaves started forming after 1963 – three years after independence – when bloody clashes broke out between the two communities.

The main clashes started in December 1963 although there had been violent incidents between the two communities even before the British gave up control of the island.

The violence started after Archbishop Makarios proposed 13 amendments to the constitution, ostensibly to make it more functional following a deadlock in parliament caused by the vetoes of Turkish Cypriot legislators.

There was disagreement and the Turkish Cypriots left their posts – they say they were forced out – in parliament and the government.

Coup, July 15

THE National Guard – mainly led by Greek officers – and the EOKA B paramilitary organisation launched a coup, engineered by Greece’s military junta, to overthrow President Makarios. Makarios escaped and managed to flee overseas with the help of the British military bases.

Nicos Sampson, newspaper publisher and member of the Greek Cypriot paramilitary forces was installed as president.

Invasion, July 20

Turkish forces landed on the Kyrenia coast early in the morning of Saturday, July 20 while planes dropped paratroopers inland in what was dubbed the first invasion.

Ankara said it had a right to do so under the Treaty of Guarantee, co-signed by Britain, Greece, and Turkey. Turkey had been poised to invade twice before in the 1960s but they were stopped by the Americans.

Article II of the Treaty states “Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom likewise undertake to prohibit, as far as lies within their power, all activity having the object of promoting directly or indirectly either the union of the Republic of Cyprus with any other State, or the partition of the Island.”

Article IV further stipulates that “In so far as common or concerted action may prove impossible, each of the three guaranteeing Powers reserves the right to take action with the sole aim of re-establishing the state of affairs established by the present Treaty.”

A ceasefire was declared a couple of days later but was not really observed. Turkish troops expanded their foothold and advanced further during this time.

On July 23, the Greek junta collapsed under the weight of developments in Cyprus. Sampson was removed and Glafkos Clerides took over.

Talks were held in Geneva between July 25 and July 30 and a second round between August 8 and 14.

The second round of talks broke down when Clerides asked for 36 hours to consider Turkey’s proposal for a federation to give Turkish Cypriots autonomy. Turkey refused and a couple of hours later it launched its second offensive.

It more or less took over the territory – 37 per cent – it holds today, as was the initial plan, and declared a ceasefire on August 16.

Beyond the loss of life, well over 200,000 people from both communities lost their homes and properties as a result of the invasion.

In the weeks and months that followed virtually all Greek Cypriots living in the north were forced south, while the Turkish Cypriots in the south moved north.

On February 13, 1975, Turkey declared the occupied northern part as Turkish federated state of Cyprus. Eight years later, on November 15, 1983, the Turkish Cypriots unilaterally declared independence.

The breakaway state is only recognised by Turkey.

Compiled by George Psyllides

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Have we finally unpacked the suitcases?

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feature constantinos - main picture - Pantelis

By Constantinos Psillides

IN THE YEARS immediately following the invasion, it was common to hear stories of those families who, terrified of a repeat of 1974, kept a suitcase containing vital family papers and valuables all packed up and ready in case the Turks decided to advance, and they had to flee at a moment’s notice.

For decades, the beautiful buildings of Nicosia’s old city were left empty and crumbling. Its proximity to the green line and Turkish troops meant it was perceived as a dangerous place to live. Few doubted that the Turks might one day decide to seize more territory.

Forty years, countless rounds of negotiations and one referendum later, the packed suitcases have long since disappeared and the old city is thriving. So has the passage of time lessened the fears over Turkey’s military intentions?

Have such significant events such as the opening of the checkpoints in April 2003 created an acceptance of the status quo? Could Greek Cypriots live with what they have – partition in practice if not in law?

Petros, 73, a sandwich shop owner in Nicosia’s old town since 1963 doesn’t beat around the bush. “Safe? Of course I don’t feel safe.

We have to understand that as long as there are Turkish troops around we will never be safe,” he said. “Turkey’s plan is to get rid of the Greek Cypriots from the island. The sooner our politicians get that, the better.”

Miltos, 60, one of the patrons in Petros’ store, agreed. “I don’t feel safe knowing that there are Turkish troops a stone’s throw away. And when it comes to help from Greece, I wouldn’t hold my breath,” he said.

Miltos said opening the checkpoints was the best idea the Turkish Cypriot leadership had – for the Turkish Cypriots. “It was a brilliant move.

It opened their economy to us and we drowned them in money,” he said. “My opinion is that maintaining the status quo works against us. We need a permanent solution. Right now everything works for the Turkish Cypriots.”

Eighty-four-year-old Panayiotis speaks fondly of the time when as a young boy he would often socialise with Turkish Cypriots. “Oh, we used to go out together, have fun, join their festivities, have them join ours, play ball in the fields, we always had a good relationship with Turkish Cypriots,” he recalled.

The candle-stick maker said he had never feared Turkey’s military intentions simply because there was no point. “Fear won’t change anything. They could come down on us one night and we wouldn’t even have time to get out of our beds,” he said.

But the checkpoints were another matter. The position of the Greek Cypriots had weakened since they opened, he said.

“The Turkish Cypriots were struggling, and now they are kings. They don’t want a solution, why would they want one? The status quo only hurts us,” he said. “It doesn’t trouble them one single bit.”

Angelos, a 63-year-old mechanic who also works in Nicosia old city, said there was no escape from the constant fear of Turkey, even all these years after the invasion and questioned the whole point of the National Guard in protecting Cyprus.

“The National Guard should be dissolved. I’m for full demilitarisation on both sides,” he said. “Everybody knows that the National Guard and especially reservists’ training exercises are a complete and utter waste of time. It only keeps people away from work in exchange of a night in the fields playing cards and eating souvlakia.”

Angelos said he had opposed the opening of the checkpoints simply because it had increased the acceptance of the status quo and aided partition.

“It allowed for the status quo to be cemented because people now had no reason to go after a solution,” he said. “It also led to Greek Cypriots feeling that they are in disadvantage. Turkish Cypriots can roam freely, have been granted IDs and passports. What did the Greek Cypriots get? The right to be a tourist in their own country!”

Among the younger generation, there are signs of a real weariness which is leading to a hardening of opinion.

Sipping coffee in a Nicosia café, 28-year-old Yiannos said that 40 years after the invasion the solution was now quite simple: partition.

“In all my years in school I was taught to hate the Turks. Two years in the army I was told to hate the Turks. What right does anyone now have to come up to me and suggest that I should like them? No, I’m done. Best thing to happen now is complete partition. We stay on this side, they stay on their side. It’s better for everyone,” he said.

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Late night tip-off led to TV news scoop of 74 invasion

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40th anniversary of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974

By Nathan Morley

In a career spanning five decades, journalist Michael Nicholson made his reputation covering wars from Vietnam to Rwanda, but few scoops were as bittersweet as the one he clinched on this day 40 years ago.

His report is ubiquitous. We’ve all seen it. Nicholson, standing on the dusty plains outside Nicosia points to the sky and announces “It’s 4 minutes past 6 and the first of the Turkish troops have landed in Cyprus. About five of these aircraft passed over in the last five minutes, they were guided in by jet fighters and the very first paratroopers are now hitting Cyprus soil.”

The footage, filmed on the morning of July 20, 1974 remains the most famous visual document of the moment the invasion was launched.
In an interview with the Sunday Mail, Nicholson recalled six defining days which saw a reckless coup, a strongman installed as puppet president and the Turkish invasion.

His story begins on Friday July 12, 1974, when he arrived in Nicosia to interview Archbishop Makarios about a reported build-up of Greek National Guard on the island.

“I’d met him a couple of times before, as you know he was a very laconic man, he spoke very slowly and very carefully. He gave no impression at all that there was anything about to happen to him,” Nicholson recalled.

“I interviewed him on the Friday, and during that interview I said, ‘Do you think I should stay the weekend? In case anything happens?’ And he said, ‘Nothing’s going to happen, I’m perfectly safe here. I would advise you to go home’.

“There was no nervousness about him. All the nervousness was in the people around him.”

Military vehicles in the aftermath of the invasion

Military vehicles in the aftermath of the invasion

With that presidential assurance, Nicholson returned to London on the Saturday, only to receive a phone call early Monday from a foreign editor at ITN.

“I hope you’re sitting down”, he said, “Because we’ve just heard that President Makarios has been killed.”

The editor was citing early wire reports claiming that Makarios had died during the coup on July 15, but soon after the United Nations confirmed that he was still alive.

Within hours, Nicholson and distinguished cameramen Alan Downes were on a plane to Tel Aviv, but with chaos on the ground in Cyprus, it took three days before they were finally given permission to land in Nicosia.

“Eventually, on the Wednesday, we were allowed to land and by that time Nicos Sampson was in power. I interviewed him and we thought that was the end of the story,” said Nicholson.

At this point – three days after the coup – there was a deceptive air of tranquillity. Sampson had promised elections within a year and religious freedom for Cyprus.

Even with the situation apparently cooling, the Ledra Palace hotel remained jam packed with frustrated reporters looking for any new angle on the story, as their editors dropped Cyprus out of the headlines.

For Nicholson his job was done. He packed his bags again and was set to return to London – but an unexpected phone call to his room at 3am on July 20 1974 changed his plans.

“I was feeling pretty grotty after too much booze, when the phone rang and Peter Snow, who was our diplomatic correspondent said to me in very hushed tones, obviously not wanting to be heard by people around him, he said, ‘They,’ and he repeated ‘they’, ‘are coming in from the North at dawn.’

I couldn’t make head or tail of what he was getting at. But then something must have rung in my mind and I thought, wait, who are they? Wow, it must be the Turks; maybe they are coming to invade the island. Where would they be coming from?”

Armed with the new information, Nicholson and Downes slipped away from the hotel – careful to avoid waking rival journalists.

They silently pushed their car out of the hotel forecourt and set off for their scoop. But then fate played a strange

Michael Nicholson

Michael Nicholson

hand, as in a small village ten miles outside the capital near the Kyrenia Range their car ran out of petrol.

“That happened because I thought I was going home the following day, so I hadn’t bothered to fill it up, and there we were stranded. But, as we started to walk back from that small village, Alan and I suddenly heard a very familiar sound. And Alan and I had worked in Vietnam for a very long time, and so we knew the sound of C130s. And we looked up and sure enough they were coming from Turkey.”

What happened next provided the incredible climax of a week, which was about to get far more complicated.

“Suddenly we saw these ‘pop poppoppoppop’s’ and all the parachutes started coming out. We rushed towards them, got as close as we could, but not close enough. Then one of those astonishing things happened, when I tell it people don’t believe me, but it’s absolutely true, suddenly somebody in the village opened his window in his pajamas and said, ‘Ah, News at Ten,’ because we had our logo on the side of our film camera.

He said ‘Do you want to go over there?’”

With the invasion unfolding before their eyes, the man in pajamas offered Nicholson and Downes a lift to the newly emerging enemy front lines.

“He came down, opened up his garage and there was a Volkswagen inside and we jumped into it and off we went, thinking we are going to be the only people filming the invasion. Well, when we stopped at the very first Turkish army roadblock, they pointed their rifles at us and said, ‘No you can’t go on, you come with us’.”

Desperate to get his story and avoid being detained by Turks, memories of an old Hollywood film gave Nicholson the idea for his next steps.
“I think it was Alan Ladd or Robert Mitchum, I forget now, but the film was about Nazi Germany. And the same thing happened there. They were on their way to a story, they were stopped by the Germans who said, ‘You follow us,’ and off we went following this Turkish lorry with the guys pointing their rifles at us.

“Remembering this film I said to our driver, ‘Let them get slightly ahead, and when we get through the village and the bend stop, we’ll jump out, you carry on, they won’t see there’s nobody in the back seats.’ So that’s what we did. We jumped out, he carried on, and the story was ours. I went into the parachute forest as they came down. And I remember the first guy landing close to me, he must have thought I was mad, I rushed up to him and I said, ‘I’m Michael Nicholson of ITN, and welcome to Cyprus’.”

Over the years the footage shot by Alan Downes and the reporting of Michael Nicholson have become a crucial part of countless documentaries and have been burned onto the national consciousness, remaining a haunting reminder of events 40 years ago today.

A small clip of the famous footage can be viewed at

http://www.itnsource.com/en/specials/compilation/S11030801/

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Turning the Cyprus problem industry on its head

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ΤΟΥΡΚΙΚΗ ΕΙΣΒΟΥΛΗ 1974

By Stefanos Evripidou

When the Roman Inquisition forced Galileo to denounce his defence of Copernicus’ theory that the earth moves around the sun, and not the other way around, folklore has it the Italian astronomer replied: “And yet it moves.”

In other words, he told the distributors of knowledge in the 17th century that they can believe what they like, say what they like, but the facts are clear. Eventually, the message trickled down to the man in the street.

It’s highly unlikely that when journalist, historian and associate of the President, Makarios Drousiotis set about writing his book, The Invasion and the Big Powers, he was thinking of emulating Galileo.

But a tenuous link can be made between Galileo’s now seemingly obvious statement on the earth’s orbit around the sun, and Drousiotis’ bold assertion that the US, UK and NATO did not conspire to implement the 1974 coup and invasion, which turned out pretty bad for everyone except Moscow.

Why the link? Three reasons: First, both men make radical claims that turn the world as we know it upside down. Foreign readers may find this comparison slightly annoying as the groundbreaking argument on the earth’s relationship to the sun cannot really be compared to overturning the widely-held, 40-year belief among Cypriots of all political colours that the Greek-inspired coup and Turkish invasion were the brainchild of the US, UK and/or NATO. Deal with it. For us Cypriots, it’s on a par.

Second, there is a commonality in the confidence and certainty both have in their hypotheses, supported by scientific evidence they are willing to share.

And lastly, both got trashed by their critics.

British soldiers handing out bread in a refugee camp created within the British bases

British soldiers handing out bread in a refugee camp created within the British bases

Drousiotis’ book, released last month, truly is a watershed moment in the course of historical research on Cyprus. It is believed to be the first Greek-language book to review the period 1974-1977, providing almost a daily account of events from the coup until President Makarios’ death, using primary sources.

Drousiotis considers the four-year period in question of paramount importance as it laid the foundations for what he calls the Cyprus problem industry.

He spent €30,000 writing the book, combing through documents at the US National Archives and Records Administration, the State Department, Library of Congress, Henry Kissinger’s phone transcripts at the Digital National Security Archives of George Washington University, the UK’s National Archives, UN documents, as well as minutes of the Cyprus Parliament.

The part-time journalist, part-time historian had a bit of a eureka moment in the last decade, when he came to the conclusion that his earlier books on Cyprus’ modern history were written more from the perspective of a journalist influenced by emotions and subconscious loyalty to the official narrative, than historical research and analysis.

Speaking to the Sunday Mail, Drousiotis said his work has since matured, to the point where he felt compelled to write new books revising and contradicting his own previous work on the key moments in Cypriot history following independence in 1960.

Most of the primary sources come from transcripts, and diplomatic cables from the US and UK.

Given that both countries played a key role in managing the 1974 crisis, and saw NATO allies, Greece and Turkey, and by extension Cyprus, as being of key importance to their national interests, the author was able to gather a lot of relevant archival material, particularly correspondence between the UK and US embassies and their respective capitals.

Drousiotis notes in the prologue to his book, based on his personal experience of studying thousands of diplomatic cables, diplomats of well-organised states tend to be extremely accurate when passing on information of an event to their foreign ministry.

The same cannot be said for newspapers.

So, the first message he wants to give is read the book, and let the discussions begin.

Contrary to the fierce criticism of the book, mainly from opposition party AKEL, Drousiotis insists it is no whitewash of American policy. On the contrary, it is the first book which records so clearly and provides detailed evidence of US policy on Cyprus, and the tolerance shown towards the Turkish invasion.

However the book also draws some other conclusions that really do turn the facts as we have learnt them over the last 40 years on their head:

l The US and NATO did not plan the Greek coup against Makarios on July 15, 1974, nor the Turkish invasion five days later, though Kissinger clearly chose to tolerate the invasion, later admitting that he badly handled the whole affair – not out of pity for the Cypriots but in terms of not serving America’s best interests.

l The British worked closer with Makarios than any other country, first to try and prevent the invasion, and later to overturn its consequences.

l It was in the interests of both the UK and US to see a quick resolution of the problem and restore calm in NATO’s south-east flank post-1974, hence the American-British-Canadian plan proposed in 1978, and rejected by the Greek Cypriots.

l The invasion proved detrimental and costly to all players involved, (the US, UK, NATO, Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots and Turkey), except the Soviet Union, which benefited from destabilising NATO’s southern flank and enhanced relations with Turkey.

Drousiotis writes that it was the Soviet ambassador in Nicosia who convinced AKEL to reject the 1978 peace plan, considered the best version of a bizonal federation to have ever been tabled.

“The Soviets supported the Turkish invasion more than any other state in the world, but they convinced us through their propaganda machine that they were our most loyal allies,” said Drousiotis.

The author provides convincing arguments backed by evidence on all the above assertions, which require closer scrutiny by historians, and his detractors, many of whom have yet to read the book.

For example, he lays out for the reader the meetings between Turkish and Soviet diplomats and officials leading up

Nicosia under fire

Nicosia under fire

to the invasion and after.

The bottom line being that the Soviets spent a lot of energy working against the Greek junta’s coup but sat back on the invasion, after receiving assurances from the Turks that the island’s divided parts would not fall into NATO hands.

Even after Turkish troops had landed in Cyprus by air and sea on July 20, the Soviet Union’s news agency TASS reported that Turkish troops were there fighting the coupists, as opposed to Greek Cypriot forces trying to repel the Turkish troops’ arrival.

A compelling argument Drousiotis makes is that the Soviet Union, and its successor the Russian Federation, have consistently refused to name or condemn Turkey for any of its actions in Cyprus in any official statement.

In all of their meetings, the Soviet Communist Party never allowed its protégé in Cyprus, AKEL, to issue a joint statement condemning the invasion.

Somewhat ironically, Drousiotis says the initial motivation for researching the book was Russia’s stance in favour of the Greek Cypriot leadership in 2004, when it refused to let pass an American UN resolution supporting the island’s security in the event of a vote in favour of the Annan plan.

“What made Russia use its veto in the UN Security Council for the first time since the end of the Cold War?” he asked.

What made Rauf Denktash and Yiannakis Omirou both adopt a common language, and say, “Thank god for Russia”?

The book’s groundbreaking conclusions do not stop there. Despite the title, the essence of the book digs into something much deeper than simply busting the myths of long-held international conspiracy theories; the remarkable figure of a man in black robes, holding a staff.

It is the revered leader who from 1955 until his death in 1977 shaped the course of this island, navigating through the many twists and turns of the colonial struggle, passion for enosis, disappointment of independence, power-sharing with an 18 per cent minority, constitutional breakdown, interethnic strife, threats of invasion, Cold War machinations, subsequent coup and invasion, and his final act and biggest compromise, blessing of a bizonal, federal solution.

For a long time, Cyprus was a one-man show. Makarios did not have around him the swarm of advisers, analysts, risk assessors, and intelligence-gatherers that the more established, advanced countries had at the time. He took crucial decisions, but how? And has anyone ever really tried to provide an objective analysis of those decisions?

The book raises many questions. After the July 15 coup, why did Makarios focus all his energy on overturning the coup, to the point of believing a Turkish intervention would restore order, instead of working to prevent what would have been obvious to many, a pending invasion?

It wasn’t the first time Turkey had thought of trying it on. On reading Drousiotis’ account, with the benefit of hindsight, it becomes painfully clear that Makarios clearly got the wrong end of the stick during those crucial days in July.

In a meeting with the UN Security Council, he said he feared the Greek military officers more than Turkey, who were a threat to all Cypriots, despite the fact Turkey had already napalmed Cyprus once, threatened to invade twice, and was getting increasingly irritated with his games both towards the international community and the Turkish Cypriots.

Why did Makarios work in close consultation with the Soviets to issue a UN Security Council Resolution on July 20 – after Turkish troops had already fired their first shots in Cyprus – that slammed the coup but failed to condemn the arrival of thousands of Turkish boots on Cypriot soil?

Would events have unfolded differently had Kissinger and Makarios not had a mutual dislike and mistrust for each other?

The cables are there. Drousiotis has ensured the archives are doing their job, demanding further examination of what we conceive to be a cemented history.

But how has the reaction been in Cyprus?

Quite ferocious, at least from the parties with the most to lose, those historically aligned with Moscow. AKEL’s Andros Kyprianou accused the author of forging history, DISY of trying to brainwash the younger generations, and the government of attempting to acquit the US and NATO of guilt for the twin crimes committed against Cyprus.

EDEK’s Yiannakis Omirou was almost poetic: “The unprecedented, ignorant claim being aired recently by a mutated and self-contradictory author, that the US had no involvement in the Cypriot tragedy, is not only false but groundless.”

Drousiotis takes it in his stride: “They panicked. The ideological foundation on which AKEL policy has been based for 40 years, anti-imperialism, NATO, the US, has been brought into doubt.”

He adds: “Their antidote to any crisis is to focus on the coup, as we saw during Mari. They’re not interested in looking into the reasons behind the coup.”

Whether Drousiotis is right or not in claiming the Soviets, and by extension AKEL, had a strong hand in keeping the Cyprus problem alive, at the end of the day, the fact remains, 40 years on, the island remains divided, and the government needs AKEL to unite it.

In fact, Cyprus needs all Cypriots to take a much closer, more sober look at the past, so it can decide its future on less shaky ground.

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Our view: Living with the fait accompli we so vehemently decry

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ΤΟΥΡΚΙΚΗ ΕΙΣΒΟΥΛΗ 1974

TODAY we mark the 40th anniversary of the Turkish invasion which led to the occupation of 37 per cent of the Cyprus Republic’s territory.

In its 54-year existence, the Republic has exercised control over all its territory and coast-lines for only 14 years and this does not take into account the Turkish Cypriot enclaves that were created at the end of 1963 and operated as autonomous areas.

In other words, for almost three-quarters of its existence as a sovereign state, the Republic has had more than a third of its territory occupied by Turkey.

There is a sizable proportion of the population that has never seen Cyprus without a dividing line or ever visited what is now called the fenced area of Famagusta.

Even the official slogan – ‘I don’t forget’ – is meaningless to them as they have no memories of or any direct, personal connection to the north of the island before it was occupied.

And in another 10 years, reminiscing about Kyrenia or the Karpas will be an old age pensioner’s pastime.

Our politicians may still be talking about their desire for a settlement and condemning Turkish intransigence as preventing reunification in 10 years time but nobody will be listening.

The Cyprus problem industry, which has made many political careers, cannot last forever. Its best days are in the past and its peak – the 2004 referendum hysteria – was 10 years ago. It has been in decline ever since as a vote-winner and career-maker.

People are not just fed up of listening to the same old nonsense from dishonest politicians they no longer care.

The reality is that, despite the rhetoric, the overwhelming majority of people seem comfortable with the status quo and have accepted the division as part of their life; we suspect the Turkish Cypriots think the same way.

Why would people want reunification when the four decades of separation offered uninterrupted peace and security, in stark contrast to the period before 1974 which was plagued by intercommunal fighting and bloodshed?

The 40 years of partition, at least for the Greek Cypriots, was a period of growing prosperity and affluence, even if we are now paying the cost of our profligacy. Why risk it?

This is the thinking behind our politicians’ fiery rhetoric about a settlement being fair, just, viable, workable, respecting all human rights etc.

They know they are in no position to achieve this utopia, but they keep banging on about it, because they are afraid to say that permanent partition is, for them, the best of all options.

They are happy to achieve it through their childish, patriotic stance that rejects every compromise proposal for the chimera of the perfect settlement.

Partition has another big benefit for our political establishment – it ensures against the anathema of power-sharing. Greek Cypriot politicians do not want to share the spoils of power they have been enjoying for decades with Turkish Cypriots and operate in a system that would impose unprecedented checks and balances on them.

It is no coincidence that the last two presidents, both supposedly pro-settlement, in practice, have not been too committed to achieving a deal because they do not want to surrender their power or have it curtailed by a new constitution.

In 40 years of division the only major change that has taken place in relations between the two sides has been the opening of the checkpoints in 2003 by the Turkish Cypriot leadership.

After 29 years of complete separation the members of the two communities came into contact with each other once again, and the fear factor that existed until then greatly diminished.

In the 11 years since there has been no violence or any major incident and many thousands of people now visit the other side routinely, without fear.

This showed that the two communities could live peacefully as good neighbours, but it is also an indication that this might be as far as they are prepared to go.

There would be many, big opportunities from a settlement that did away with the dividing line and reunited the island but nobody is prepared to make the big leap of faith because partition seems to suit both sides, not only the Turkish Cypriots.

Despite the brave and defiant words about never accepting the fait accompli of the invasion, the Greek Cypriot politicians have done exactly that as the facts of the last 40 years show, and not many people have been protesting.

After all, the objective is no longer reunification but the preservation of the Cyprus Republic, even if the cost is to surrender 37 per cent of its territory to Turkey.

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Orphanides is guilty of very little

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CLEARLY Evdokimos Xenophontos was not a diligent reader of both the Cyprus and Sunday Mail or he would have mitigated his castigation of Athanasios Orphanides.

I have amongst my cuttings from the papers reports of the hearings of the Pikis Tribunal which leave very little that can be charged to the late governor of the Central Bank.

Particularly, I have a facsimile copy of the Trichet letter to Mr Christofias warning him of the consequences of his inaction, countersigned by Mr Orphanides.

Was not Mr Xenophontas, as a director of the Bank of Cyprus, equally responsible as other folks for carrying on ‘reckless banking practices like excessive investments in Greek government bonds, the aggressive expansion in property lending and sale of complex hydrid instruments’, most of which was beyond the control of the governor’s remit?

This was, after all, the period when Finance Minister Shiarly made promises to his counterparts in Frankfurt and was told by Mr Christofias on his return that he made financial policy, not the mandarins.

Maurice Sokel, Paphos

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Hamas is not part of a peaceful solution

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IT HAS barely been a month since the western world expressed its support for the formation of a Palestinian unity government.

Since then there have been kidnappings, murders, hundreds of rockets fired at civilian towns and huge levels of violence.

The US State department said that they would be watching closely to make sure that the Palestinian unity government would uphold the principles of peace.

British foreign Minister William Hague said, “We have made clear that our continued support to the new government will rest on its commitment to the principle of non-violence.”

How much more proof does the western world need to acknowledge that Hamas isn’t part of the peaceful solution to the conflict the world desires?

Michelle Moshelian
Givatayim, Israel

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Tolerant laws allow spread of graffiti

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IN MID-NOVEMBER 2008 you published a letter from me about the increasing prevalence of public graffiti.

My final sentence on the issue was: “if this is not nipped severely in the bud it is a social phenomenon which will bring expense, increasing ugliness, and a great regret for not acting sooner”.

Getting on for six years later we have seen this concern fully justified.

Recently a party of us visited the superb amphitheatre in Tala for a concert.

The place was despoiled by particularly mindless, irresponsible, and ugly blue graffiti with one contemptuous and brazen message reading: “we come at night”.

The Tala mukhtar believes she knows the perpetrators, but CCTV proof is needed. Painting over the ‘art’ is not an option on the stonework and it will be next to impossible to remove.

Nowadays, evidence of this activity in Cyprus is depressingly commonplace and I have yet to see a single report of anyone being found responsible. Is this an example of uncaring (or perhaps helpless) municipalities?

In Singapore, if people are caught, the punishment is caning, a heavy fine, and naming and shaming.

What a pity in some respects that our tolerant laws do not allow us to follow suit. Graffiti is a true blight and reflects so very badly on a Mediterranean island and community widely respected for its historical and artistic culture.

Clive Turner,
Paphos

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Action must be taken over graffiti

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HAVING WRITTEN to you in the past about the desecration of Limassol by the morons who perpetuate the graffiti, I am writing again in support of PK from Northallerton (Sunday Mail, July 13).

I live here and hate the mess. Would I recommend Limassol as a tourist destination? No way!

Nothing is being done to put a stop to this mindless degradation. How long will it be before the new marina is in the same disgusting state as the rest of our town?

There is a fine of up to 854 euros for littering on the highways; make this the minimum fine for graffiti on road signs which is both dangerous as well as unsightly.

Much of the graffiti is done by football supporters so fine the clubs. Put those responsible on community service to clean off the mess or paint it over.

Give the public a hotline to the police so that the perpetrators can be caught in the act.
Action needs to be taken now!

BR, Limassol

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Dive sites excellent for business

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FOR MANY years my wife and I visited Paphos on holiday and, while on these holidays, I managed to qualify with PADI at Cydive in Paphos to Scuba dive safely for pleasure and relaxation.

When I was able to retire I looked forward to more diving and it appeared that there was going to be an upsurge in diving in Cyprus as, in an effort to expand the tourist diving facilities in Paphos, Limassol and Ayia Napa, extra wrecks were to be sunk to encourage fish life to return as the areas have been severely overfished for many years.

There was a great deal of excitement in the Paphos diving community when the allotted wreck was sunk and marked a few weeks ago and I took great pleasure to be on the first Cydive organised dive on the site.

Imagine our chagrin when arriving at the dive site we found that the buoy tethered to the wreck to aid location had been cut loose by, we can only assume, members of the short-sighted Paphos ‘commercial’ fishing ‘mafia’.

Through the immense skill of our boat captain and a handy GPS reader we managed to find the wreck and the dive was enjoyed by all, but it took 40 minutes of maneuvering in a bobbing dive boat to successfully locate it.

Can I, through your pages, try to convince them that tourist diving is a vast benefit to all businesses in the area of a prime dive site.

You only have to ask the business population of Larnaca what benefit the wreck of the Zenobia has brought.

Michael F Roberts, Peyia

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Mourinho ends Chelsea’s transfers, predicts tough title fight

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Chelsea Press Conference

MANAGER Jose Mourinho is confident Chelsea have assembled a squad capable of winning the Barclays Premier League next season – but also knows any of the title hopefuls could also easily end up fifth.

The Blues, who finished third last season, spent around £80m pounds. They moved quickly in the summer transfer market, bringing in Cesc Fabregas before the World Cup, and have since added fellow Spaniard Diego Costa and also Brazilian defender Filipe Luis from Atletico Madrid, as well as promising 19-year-old midfielder Mario Pasalic from Hajduk Split.

Mourinho, however, understands all too well each of the other leading sides have also strengthened their armoury, while Manchester United are expected to recover and challenge again under new manager Luis van Gaal.

“Last year, if you had asked me in July, I would never have said Man United would be outside the top four. This season I will tell you one (to miss out) and I have a big percentage of making a mistake,” said Mourinho.

“There were good teams last season and there will be better teams this season because everyone is investing.

“A few years ago you make a team to be champions and most probably you are champions. Now if you make a team to be champions, you try to finish in the top four.”

Mourinho added: “Why I like the Premier League so much is that at this moment, nobody knows who is going to win the title.

“I know that we want to and I know that we can, but it is the kind of competition where I can’t say.

“At this moment, I think between us, Liverpool, Arsenal, Man United, Man City – who is going to be first, who is going to play in the Europa League, I don’t know.”

Mourinho maintains it took him only 20 minutes to convince Fabregas to sign from Barcelona – and reckons the former Arsenal captain never wanted to move back to his old club.

Arsenal had first option to bring Fabregas back to the club he left in 2011, which manager Arsene Wenger passed up as he pursued other targets.

Mourinho, though, feels Stamford Bridge was always the midfielder’s preferred destination.

“I spoke with him 20 minutes. I think he really wanted to come to us,” he said.

“As you know, Arsenal had an option where they could interfere, but I think he was not open to that, I think he was very, very much in our direction, so it was an easy job for me.”

Mourinho indicated the Blues’ chequebook was now closed.

“I have to say my club did a fantastic job, and not just because of what we bought, but because we did it in almost record time. The transfer market closes on August 31 and we closed our market on July 19,” he said.

“The club did fantastic, we knew the targets, we knew the players and the club attacked them and their clubs at a very early stage.

“We got exactly what we need and what we want. The squad is one which I like very much and I look forward to starting the season.”

Mourinho added: “I don’t think so (sign any more players). The market is open, but we are so happy with what we have.”

Chelsea had also been linked with a move for Real Madrid’s German World Cup-winning midfielder Sami Khedira but Mourinho said he was pleased with the squad he had at his disposal.

“We got exactly what we need and what we want. The squad is one which I like very much and I look forward to starting the season,” the former Real boss said.

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Why Bank of Cyprus needs additional capital

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comment Markides - BoC CEO john hourican CEO

By George Markides

IN LESS THAN one and a half years after Bank of Cyprus seized deposits to recapitalise itself, it is seeking at least €1.0 billion to boost its Core Tier 1 capital at the behest of the Central Bank (CBC). The question in everyone’s mind is why?

First of all we need to define Core Tier 1 capital, it’s the buffer capital held by the bank to cover against risks arising from its assets, it is usually expressed as a percentage ratio (capital buffer divided by the bank’s total equity), and this ratio must not fall below 8.0 per cent.

To demonstrate: assume bank A with a total equity of €10 that has set aside €1.0 as a capital buffer (Core Tier 1 capital ratio 10 per cent).

Person B wants a €5.0 housing loan with guarantees and Person C wants a €4.0 consumer loan with no guarantees. The bank assesses the risk of the loans and assigns a risk weight to each loan.

For this exercise let’s assume that for the housing loan the risk weight is 10 per cent and for the consumer loan it is 15 per cent.

To determine how much capital the bank needs to have in place to cover for B and C’s risk we first multiply the risk weight 10 per cent by the asset €4.0 (Person B’s loan), and 15 per cent by €5.0 (for Person C’s loan).

For loan B the capital that must be set aside is €0.40 and for loan C it is €0.75 or €1.15 in total, but the bank has only €1.0 set aside. From a regulatory standpoint the bank still meets the 8.0 per cent minimum requirement; however risks may increase if the economic condition of either C or B deteriorates forcing the bank to beef up its capital buffers to 1.15 or above.

Back to Bank of Cyprus. The bank has a rather shaky loan portfolio close to 50 per cent of total loans are non performing meaning they are over 90 days in arrears and the bank is brutally exposed to the real estate sector.

There was much talk after John Hourican was appointed as CEO that he wanted to create a bad bank to handle risky non performing loans (NPLs).

A bad bank has the sole purpose of liquidating all of its assets and then ceases to exist, so far no bad bank has ever made a profit or broke even and BoC would need to sustain its Bad Bank operations with money.

However, a bad bank would have given the chance to BoC to offload its bad loans and improve its capital position.

From our example, if bank A offloads loan C onto a bad bank then automatically bank A’s capital position has greatly increased without the need for additional capital because, as we have mentioned, loan B is less risky, therefore better quality.

Additionally, the bank no longer needs to keep capital to protect against loan C therefore €1.0 capital buffer is more than enough to cover for loan B risks (calculated at €0.4).

The decision to create a bad bank was never adopted by the BoC’s current board of directors. There were rumours circulating in the press that some BoD members bowed to pressure from real estate developers.

This spring BoC commissioned HSBC “to help us look at our overall corporate finance agenda including the entire structure of how the group is organised,” as Hourican told Reuters.

HSBC stated the obvious and recommended that BoC create a bad bank. To this day HSBC recommendations have not been heeded by the board of directors and there were media reports that Hourican wanted to resign over this issue.

The Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) has threatened to remove some board members and instructed BoC to proceed immediately with a capital increase of at least a €1.0 billion – the group’s total equity stood at €2.7 billion at the end of March 2014.

Moreover, the CBC gave clear instructions to limit the number of new shares to existing shareholders to less than 20 per cent. The new shares will be sold at a discount as yet unknown, but BoC will definitely be forced to cut the price at well below the €1.0 mark (the rate applied when deposits were converted to shares), so with less money new shareholders will get more shares.

Even without a discount, existing shareholders will see their holdings diluted/reduced by 21.6 per cent after the capital increase. When the exercise is finished, BoC will host a new shareholders meeting and some of the existing board of directors members will be shown the door as new shareholders seek board representation.

The bad bank issue comes into play here. As we have discussed, if assets had been offloaded onto a bad bank then it is reasonable to suggest that the capital requirements would be much less than €1.0 billion.

It appears then that some board members have inflicted damage on shareholders (80 per cent of whom were depositors) because by refusing to create a bad bank they have pushed up the capital requirements.

In October, the European Banking Authority (EBA) and the European Central Bank (ECB) are expected to announce the results of the Asset Quality Review (AQR) and the Stress Tests. Upon publishing the results, banks will have less than a year to plug any capital shortfalls.

If banks fail, then the newly voted pan-EU framework for bank rescue kicks in. Any bank that fails to raise capital from the private sector will be subjected to a liabilities haircut (meaning debt, deposits etc) of up to 8.0 per cent.

If that is not enough, the bank’s domicile country will have to bail it out from state coffers. If the country is flat broke then the EU’s European Stability Mechanism will recapitalise the bank but the sovereign will be liable to pay back the money.

Understandably, Cyprus banks cannot afford a second bail-in nor can the government afford to bail out any of its banks or, take on board more ESM debt to recapitalise them.

Personally I have little doubt the CBC is trying to kill two birds with one stone.

First they want to increase BoC’s capital buffers in order to pre-empt the ECB-EBA stress test-AQR, and second, they want to get rid of some of the existing board members that are dragging their feet on the NPL issue.

George Markides, BSc and MBA, is an economics researcher

*Disclosure: I and persons related to me, have no positions in any of the stocks/securities mentioned and no plans to initiate any such positions in the foreseeable future. Opinions expressed here are my own and do not constitute advice for readers to buy/sell any securities mentioned therein. I and persons related to me, have no business relationship with the business mentioned or with any competing business in Cyprus or abroad.

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Self-destructing every 40 years

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comment Hermes - The crowds after the banks re-opened on March 28 after nearly two weeks of being closed

By Hermes Solomon

FOREVER REMINDING us not to forget has become tiresome for some yet eternally securing for others.

If we Greek Cypriots never forget, there will never be an unbiased basis for reunification of both sides, and permanent partition remains the indisputable Cyprob solution.

Here we go again for the fortieth time – media digging out those well-worn 1974 ‘Movietone’ newsreels of suffering Cyprus, which bring tears to the eyes of those who lived through the first annihilation of the then infantile, yet complicit republic.

The division of this island and its people was brought about by whoever you want to blame: Archbishop Makarios, EOKA B, the Greek 1967 junta, Britain, Turkey or the CIA. You choose, then ask yourself, does knowing really serve any purpose? Forty years on many say, ‘tell someone who cares!’

This year, the media and politicians are openly blaming the mainland Greek junta for the island’s partition with marches, banners, speeches and songs.

But little or no mention is made of the eleven year internecine strife which preceded the storming of Government House and the archbishop’s escape through that infamous window to announce from his hideout in Paphos, ‘I am Makarios. I am alive and you recognise my voice.’

That crackly radio broadcast is unforgettable, after which the British flew him to fester in safety only for Turkey to intervene militarily after that junta/EOKA B stooge, Nicos Sampson proclaimed himself president.

Thus far the south has not despatched ‘fireworks’ across 80 per cent of the TRNC in an effort ‘never to be forgotten’, receiving in return death and destruction from an unimaginably powerful and supremely well organised military force that would have us, should they ever need to respond, shaking in our shoes.

We as a people are as insignificant as the Palestinians when it comes to Middle East geopolitics, and identifying the instigators of the republic’s 1960/74 demise is pointless.

Je n’accuse personne en particulier – nous sommes tous coupable.

But we, the ordinary citizens, believe we were innocent of all infamy during that period. We just got on with our acquisitive lives and were indifferent to ‘terrorist activity’ perpetrated by designated groups from both ethnicities – assassinations, massacres, ethnic cleansings, bombings, sieges and riots.

We sat by and watched and did not become embroiled. We believed we were as innocent of the 1974 rout as are the Palestinians of their ‘imprisonment’ in the ‘dormitory’ states of Gaza and the West Bank – the ‘landlord’ there being Israel and here whoever you want to blame for the division of the island.

And ever since the onset of the economic crisis nothing sells here and nobody goes anywhere unless it’s to work abroad as artisans of all complexions up to their necks in debt to our bankrupt banks – today’s emigration of skilled or semi-skilled labour mirroring that which occurred immediately after 1974.

It took eleven years for ‘those at the top’ to divide the island – 1963 to 1974.

Later, it took a further eleven years for that same class of ‘inbreeds’ to destroy the south’s economy – 2002 to 2013 – when our banks fomented loans sans collateral, laundered money and legalised the theft/junking of depositors deposits, shareholders shares and bondholders bonds while government profligately spent, spent and spent.

The various governments of the latter eleven years, headed first by DIKO then AKEL and now DISY were all complicit in the economy’s downfall, as was the administration, while we, the innocent of infamy, snatched at those loans and lived a great life, ten years of it, ultimately refusing to repay the loans, never mind the interest, while most of ‘those at the top ‘ knowingly transferred their uncollateralised loans and spare hoards of cash abroad just prior to the introduction of banking restrictions.

What happened in March 2013 was no more than ‘un coup des banques’ by ‘those at the top’ which, like all coups, unfairly targets the ill-informed, indifferent and innocent.

But we, the innocent, have not aimed ‘fireworks’ at the houses of ‘those at the top’. We even let Christofias off the hook as well as former CBC governors, Orphanides and Demetriades.

Have we forgotten so soon the names of those who were responsible for our economic demise – those politicians, bankers, property developers, lawyers and economists?

Of course we have. We’ve more important things to worry about, like the minimum wage, which will be scrupulously means tested to ‘steal’ from the poor and give to the even poorer.

The not so new Immovable Property Tax (IPT) – a repeat of 2013 even though 300,000 odd unregistered properties have come to light purportedly to lighten the load for we law-abiding fools who paid last year – is set to stay.

Will those 300,000 be obliged to register and pay Transfer Tax, which will amount if collected to one and a half billion euros at least? And can you accept that those who avoided paying IPT in 2013 will not have their 2014 IPT bill back-dated to include 2013?

But let’s not forget the tenacious troika, which will persist in demanding foreclosures on most non-performing loans, their approach being one of softly, softly turning the key, touching your purse so tenderly – hopefully starting with those at the top – Leptos, Aristos, Shacolas et al! But I bet first residences will be the first to come under the hammer!

Can you forgive and forget how your bank accounts continue to suffer un-European banking restrictions?

And you tell me I shouldn’t forget 1974! Of course I won’t – never will. But in conjunction with that anniversary, I will now and in the future recall the 2013 second coup d’état and destruction of the island’s economy by our political parties, ‘entrepreneurs’ and bankers – recidivists all or bunglers?

You choose, then ask yourself whether would you invest in a country that self-destructs every forty years?

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