President Denktas evaluated the views of the Greek Cypriot Varosha Refugees Movement.

Pointing out that property issues should be fairly settled between the two sides in Cyprus within the framework of the principle of equality, President Denktas said 70 per cent of the buildings in Varosha were taken over through deceit and the title deeds for the lands on which these buildings are on were acquired through illegal actions. He underlined that these lands belonged to the Evkaf Foundation.

Explaining that before 1974, 30-40,000 Greek Cypriots lived in Varosha and 30,000 Turkish Cypriots lived in 103 villages in South Cyprus, President Denktas underlining that property issues could only be fairly settled between the two sides in Cyprus on the basis of equality, said: “Nothing could be achieved by ignoring the Greek Cypriot side’s actions and outcries, which brought Cyprus to its current situation today, the atrocities they carried out against the Turkish Cypriots between 1963-74, the Akritas Plan and the mass graves”. He said as long as the title deeds acquired through force of arms by the Greek Cypriot side are deemed to be valid and TRNC title deeds invalid, this indicates that Greek Cypriot property requests, which they started in 1963 by ousting the Turkish Cypriots from their homes, land and country are still continuing.

Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat, calling upon the Greek Cypriots who are demonstrating to return to Varosha stated that if they had voted ‘yes’ in the April 24 referendum then today they would have been in Varosha.

Pointing out that with the Greek Cypriot Leadership persuading the Greek Cypriots to vote ‘no’, the Annan Plan was no longer valid, Prime Minister Talat drawing attention to the fact that according to the Annan Plan Varosha would have been handed over to the Greek Cypriot Constituent State on 11 August 2004, said if the Greek Cypriots had voted ‘yes’ in the referendum, today, Varosha would have been handed over to the Greek Cypriot Constituent State and they would have returned to Varosha.

Also calling upon those Greek Cypriots who were demonstrating for not being able to return to Varosha and for a settlement, the Prime Minister said these people should seek an answer to this from the Greek Cypriot Administration, who by misinforming them persuaded them to vote ‘no’ in the referendum and deprived them of returning to Varosha.

Members of the Committee for the Families of the Murataga, Sandallar and Atlilar Martyrs, who were brutally killed by Greek Cypriots on 14 August 1974, in a letter sent to the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, condemned the killings that Greek Cypriots carried out in these three Turkish Cypriot villages.

In the letter, committee members, Ekrem Atli, Ahmet Asir and Mustafa Sadanoglu, stated that although 30 years have passed since 14 August 1974, when under the leadership of Nicos Sampson, EOKA B and the Greek Junta brutally killed the Turkish Cypriot inhabitants of the villages of Murataga, Sandallar and Atlilar, including 16 month old babies and elderly people as old as 95 years, it was impossible to forget this massacre and the memory and pain of this atrocity was still fresh in their memories.

Stating that it was as if the UN were cooperating with the killers of all these innocent people when faced with this brutal massacre, the letter said this was a genocide and the Greek Cypriot Administration and Greeks violated the Universal Charter on Human Rights and that up until 14 August 1974 these three villages were subjected to national, ethnic and racial discrimination and this should be very embarrassing for the UN who are stationed in Cyprus.