In a statement issued yesterday (24 February), the TRNC Deputy Prime Ministry and Ministry for Foreign Affairs, stated that if the Greek Cypriot side desired a Cyprus settlement it had to adopt a constructive approach instead of honouring EOKA members.

The full text is as follows:

"The Greek Cypriot Orthodox Church, the Greek Cypriot Ministry of Education and Culture together with the Council for the Remembrance of EOKA and the Foundation of the Cyprus Hellenic Liberation Struggle (EOKA) have declared 2005 as the "The Year for the Remembrance and Honoring of EOKA Liberation Struggle". It has been reported that the said campaign has the full backing of the Greek Cypriot leader Papadopoulos. Within this framework, it has also been reported in the Greek Cypriot press that the necessary legal arrangements are underway for the distribution of the medals of honour inscribed with the signature of Papadopoulos to approximately 21 thousand EOKA members on the occasion of the "50^th anniversary of the EOKA Struggle".

Contrary to the constructive approach embraced by the government of the TRNC in order to reach a compromise settlement and to improve the relations between the two peoples, adoption of a negative stance by the Greek Cypriot administration by bringing the issue of the terrorist organization EOKA on the agenda is striking.

Despite the failure of the Annan Plan to meet all Turkish Cypriot expectations and concerns, our people demonstrated its good will by voting in favour of the Plan in the hope of achieving a solution based on the principles of political equality and bi-zonality.

The Greek Cypriot people, on the other hand, demonstrated its absolute rejection of a settlement based on power-sharing by voting overwhelmingly against the Annan Plan at the instigation of the Greek Cypriot leadership. If the Greek Cypriot side sincerely desires a settlement, it needs to demonstrate this to the entire international community, particularly to the Turkish Cypriot people, by adopting a constructive approach. Unfortunately, assuming a completely opposite posture, the Greek Cypriot administration has chosen to honour members of the EOKA, an organization established to subject the Turkish Cypriots to ethnic cleansing and which resorted to violence in destroying the partnership republic of 1960.