Saturday, January 18, 2014

AFFIDAVIT OF DR.AHMET DJAVIT AN


(Presented to the European Commission of Human Rights in Strassbourg for the case Djavit An v. Turkey, Application No. 20652/92 with additional information for the case)


The first intercommunal meeting of the simple people from the two communities living in Cyprus took place at the Ledra Palace Hotel on 24th October 1988 In Nicosia on the occasion of the UNFICYP's Nobel Peace Award Ceremony. After this first contact of the masses since 1974, the second case was on 16th April 1989, again at the Ledra Palace Garden organized by the International Union of Students. In both meetings, app. 100 Turkish-Cypriots could meet and talk with their Greek-Cypriot com­patriots in an informal atmosphere. Until then, intercommunal meetings took place in Cyprus or outside the island, where only a few delegates could participate.

The idea to invite some 30 persons from the T/C and G/C communities, who could discuss politics and subjects of art and environment was put forward in March 1989 by Mrs.Marina Gross, member of the Central Commit­tee of the Federal German Green Party, who participated at the Second March of the “Women Walk Home” in Cyprus. The editor of the anti-chauvi­nist G/C Monthly “Endos ton Tihon”, Mr.Costis Achniotis, the G/C film director Panicos Chrisanthou and T/C Niyazi Kızılyürek were the three Cypriots, who got into contact with certain non-party member individuals of left-wing tendency from both communities and secured their partici­pation at a meeting in West-Berlin. Because of the high cost of the tra­vel and accomodation, organized, and financed, by the “Bildungswerk für Demokratie und Umweltschutz”(Educationworkshop for Democracy and Environmental Protection), the participants were 8 T/C's from the occupied areas of Cyprus and 7 G/C's from the free areas. 3 T/Cs and 2 G/C's were addi­tional participants from London and other cities.

Between 13 and 16 May, 1989 the participants discussed the roots of the Cyprus problem and the faults of the two sides together with the interfering outside factors and decided to meet next time in their home country, Cyprus. (The proceedings of the West-Berlin Meeting was publish­ed by Ahmet An in the T/C daily Ortam, 23 June-3 July 1989 with the joint communique). The meeting was also welcomed by the G/C press.

The “Bildungswerk”sent invitation to the same participants for a meeting on 5-6 August 1989 in Ledra Palace Hotel in Nicosia and the joint application to get permission to cross the Green-line to the Hotel was rejected by the T/C authorities on the ground that “it was not made accor­ding to the rules of correspondence”. No answer was given to the subse­quent individual applications. (Yeni Diüzen, 7 August 1989)

On 23-24 September 1989, we were able to meet at the Ledra Palace, where 25 T/C's and 36 G/C's could participate and discuss ways of. rapprochement and more contacts between the two communities in Cyprus. (The proceedings of the foundation meeting of the Movement for an Inde­pendent and Federal Cyprus was published by Ahmet An in Ortam, 2-3 Octo­ber, 1989.) The joint press release of the meeting was published both in the T/C and G/C press and the meeting was flash news at the CyBC-TV.

The English-language G/C daily Cyprus Mail wrote on 24 September 1989: “Yesterday's meeting between Turkish and Greek Cypriots at the Ledra Palace was a triumph of compromise and understanding. Away from bigotry and political posturing, representatives of the two communities mixed freely without acrimony.”

On 28 September 1989 the Cyprus Mail editor ended up his Editorial with this remark: “In the end, however, Denktash will intervene as soon as something constructive is decided and acted upon. Then, he will not allow any further such meetings to take place. That is the reason why caution and restraint should be shown at these meetings, if any prog­ress is to be made. Unfortunately, with too much caution, little can be achieved, other than keeping Denktash in the dark. And that cannot be an end in itself.”

On 30 September and 1 October 1989 the press festival of the Haravgi newspaper took place at the premises of the International Cyprus Fair at the G/C sector of Nicosia. 59 T/C's were invited, mostly members of the Republican Turkish Party and some members of the Movement. The permission was given to participate at these events. On 2 October1989 the T/C daily Kıbrıs, Asil Nadir's newspaper, reported the event as its main news item with the title “Festival of the like-minded - Big show of affection to Özgür (Chairman of the RTP) at the communist festival.” Haravgi newspaper reported the impressions of some T/C's, expressing the joy of the participants and their wish for more contacts and cooperation.

On the evening of 2 October 1989, a bomb exploded in front of the apartment, where Mr.Alpay Durduran (independent MP, who later formed the New Cyprus Party at the end of that month and who was also present at the Haravgi Festival) lives. His car was damaged. At the same evening TNT was put at the entrance of the RTP-Headquarters, which did not explode. Mr. Durduran told the press that the reason could be his criti­cal article against the T / Cmafia, but not political. But the T/C public opinion was sure that the bombs had the aim of intimidation of the par­ticipants at the Press Festival, as another bomb explosions were reported in September 1989against smugglers for the first time since 1 9 7 4. Later on the evening of 5 November 1 9 8 9 leaflets of the underground organization called “Turkish Cypriot People's Movement” were distributed, in which b o t h “t h e T/C traitors to the national c a u s e “ and the smugglers were attacked. The responsibility of the bombs were accepted with their statement circulated on 31 January 1 9 9 0.

On 16 October 19 8 9 I applied to the T/C authorities to get permission and make an interview with Mr.Ploutis Servas, who was present at the foundation meeting of the Movement and who had worked as AKEL Secretary General before the party took an open political attitude for the unifi­cation of Cyprus with Greece, a policy which blocked the cooperation of the party with the T/C community after the end of the Second World War. My second application was on 6 November and the third on the 13 November 1 9 8 9 and I was not allowed to go and talk with this historical personality, who was speaking critically of the AKEL policies in relation to the T/C community.

My impressions from the Haravgi Press Festival was published again in Ortam on6-7 October 1989 with critical approach of the AKEL policy regarding the T/C community and critical of Mr.Özker Özgür' s evaluation of the situation after 1974 and of his solution to the problem.

During the Festival I met a G/C doctor, who wished to cooperate with T/C colleagues and form a bi-communal medical committee. We agreed to meet on 29 November1989, but the T/C authorities did not allow us to go to the Ledra Palace on that day. Finally on 18 December 1989 we were allowed. 12 T/C's and 34 G/C's met and formed the Commitee for the Coo­peration of the Cypriot Medical Professionals.

I applied to get permission on 25 November 1989 for the press confe­rence of Mr.Vassiliou, President of the Republic of Cyprus. I could not go, on the ground that I was not a journalist.

Again on 12 December1989 the G/C coordinator of our Movement invited me through the “Free Thought Association” to participate at her confe­rence in Paphos. I was not allowed.

Our Coordinating Committee was able to come together on 2 December 1989 in order to organize the conferences of the three oppositional T/C party leaders at the Famagusta Gate. They took place on 14 December 1989 (Mr.Alpay Durduran- New Cyprus Party), 19 January 1990 (Mr. Mustafa Akıncı- Communal Liberation Party) and 23 February 1990 (Mr. Özker Özgür - Republican Turkish Party). The G/C audience was able to put questions to the T/C political leaders and hear their policy on Cyprus problem for the first time since 1974. The G/C press gave a big coverage to these conferences organized by our Movement. I was present at all of them and reported the discussions later in the T/C press. (16-22 December 1989 in Yeni Düzen, 24 January 1990 inDemokrat and 28 February 1990 inDemok­rat.)

When we organized visits of the G/C political leaders, who would come to the T/C sector of the capital and give conferences on Cyprus problem, the invited persons were not allowed to enter the T/C sector. On 29 December1989, 12 January1990, 15 January,26 January,16 March1990 were the dates ,for which we got negative answers.

The Union of theT/C Self-employed Doctors applied on 27th December 1989 to the Authorities to get permission for the 5 doctor members of the Committee for the Cooperation of the Cypriot Medical Professionals, for the 5 January1990, but no answer was given to the application. We got finally the permission on 15 January1990 and4 colleagues visited the Nicosia T/C State Hospital and some private clinics anda joint statement was given to the T/Cand G/C press. The Committee invitedT/C doctors to an International Cancer Symposium to be held on 10-11 February 1990 in Limassol. We applied for permission for 25 doctors, who were interested in participating. At first we were told that only cancer specialists could go with the approval of the Ministryof Health, later when we objected to this condition, we were told to apply as indi­viduals, instead of joint application. On 6 February, we were informed orally that we were not given the permission on the ground that the G/C President of the Republic and the Health Minister would be present at the opening ceremony and it would mean that the T/C participants recog n i s e d the G/Cgovernment! I protested this policy with an article published on 15 February 1990 inYeni Düzen with the title “Either someone from us or noone”.

Mr.Rauf Denktash gave a statement on 15 February 1990,saying that the T/C doctors (he meant the government-employed) did not find it use­ful to attend the symposium in Limassol. He added that in the near fu­ture there will be an International Urology seminar in the occupied area under the auspices of the “Health Minister”there, the G/C doctors as well as Republic's Health Minister would be invited and he (Denktash) would address the seminar. Denktash claimed that if the G/C doctors attend the meeting, then the T/C doctors would attend future seminars organized in the free areas!

Since the intercommunal free contacts were made difficult for the members of the Movement for an Independent and Federal Cyprus, we pub­lished on 20 January 1990 a statement complaining about the arbitrary policy of the T/C leadership, which had no defined rules or regulations concerning the contacts between the two sides of the Green Line, saying “Everything is indefinite, unknown and it depends on the words, which come out through the lips of the permission authority.” We proposed points of contact in the buffer zone with UNFICYP cooperation. We asked for regulations to be made and officially declared for contacts. We wanted to have the facility of telephone and postal service between the two sides with the final aim of free movement and communication.

The T/C leadership was embarrassed by the intercommunal contacts, which were carried out in a free manner without its control and on the line of a real federal and independent Cyprus. That's why, it formed only two days after the formation of our Movement, a self-styled Movement of T/C Intellectuals for Self-Determination, which only had 5 members, the members of the T/C Union of Journalists' Administrative Body. Their state­ments were given widely and in full text on the radio and TV-news and newspapers, whereas the statements of our movement were published only in one or two oppositional newspapers.

The Second Meeting of the Movement took place on 20-21January 1990, where we discussed (Proceedings were published in Yeni Düzen, 12-14 February 1990) and approved our basic principles and views, which were later published, in Greek, Turkish andEnglish languages as a leaflet.

The Third Meeting was on 10-11 February 1993 when we discussed written contributions from 3 T/C's and 2 G/Cs. The papers were later published inYeni Düzen, 29 January - 6 February 1990 with my translation. (See the report of the discussions in Yeni Düzen, 6-8 March 1990). Many questions were to be discussed under the title “What kind of a federal Cyprus do I want to see?” But it was not possible to realize the Fourth meeting anymore. The T/C leadership took advantage of the student demonstrations at the Ledra Palace check-point, starting on 21 February 1990, who protested the arrest of a G/C youth by the T/C regime. When we applied for the Fourth Meeting on 17-18 March 1990, we were rejected.

The G/C Union of Writers invited a group of poets and writers from the T/C side to meet, but my application for 10 T/C's for 14 December 1989 and 21 February 1990 were rejected again on the ground that there were demonstrations at the Check-point.

My last visit to the G/C sector of Nicosia was together with Mr.Özker Özgür on 23 February 1990, when he gave a conference at the Famagusta Gate, as the third T/C oppositional leader to speak in front of G/C audience. Starting from 2 March 1990 up to 17 December 1990, I applied 17 times to get permission for participation at some activities in the free areas of the island, but I got 17 times negative answers.

Because of the restriction of our freedom of movement and organiza­tion in our own country, I wrote a letter on 7 June to the Secretary General of the UN, Mr. Perez de Cuellar in the name of the T/C Coordi­nating Committee of the Movement and asked him to use his influence on the T/C leadership, which hindered arbitrarily our freedom of movement.

On 9 June 1990, our Committee published a press release, condemning the arbitrary policy of the T/C leadership, which gave permission to other persons and organizations to meet at the Ledra Palace, but not to our Movement.

I wrote a personal letter to Mr. George Vassiliou on 28 June 1990 asking him to take necessary precautions for free contacts and to remove some restrictions put on the Ledra Palace check-point.

Since we could not meet and organize bi-communal meetings, our com­mittee decided to be active on the T/C sector of Nicosia. We organized a conference on the “Influence of Chauvinism on Cyprus problem” given by Mr. Arif H.Tahsin, one of the founders of the Movement in West-Berlin. That conference took place on 26 January 1990. On 15 March 1990 the subject we discussed was Mr. Ecevit's proposal that the TRNC should unite with Turkey as an autonomous state. Our Movement denounced this proposal very sharply. We organized two forum-discussions with the public, one on 24 July 1990 under the title “Obstruction of the intercommunal con­tacts and the European Community” and the other on 31 July 1990 under the title “One new step forwards in the direction of becoming a province of Turkey: Our alternative is Independent and Federal Cyprus”, on the occasion of abolishing the passports between TRNC and Turkey.

On 15 August 1990, 15 days after the forum, three students, who participated at our meeting on 31 July, were called to the Police Station in Nicosia on the ground that they spoke among themselves on that evening matters, which are contrary to the law! Houses of the two students were searched with a police warrant, on the ground that they kept bombs at their houses! We denounced this act of provocation with a press release on 16 August 1990.

30 members of the T/C Committee of the Movement were not given to take part at a meeting on 1 September 1990, World Peace Day. Although a delegation of our Committee visited Mr. Atakol on 26 February 1990 and asked for improvement of the attitude of the authorities to the Movement, our 7 meetings at the G/C sector of Nicosia and 7 meetings at the Ledra Palace Hotel, which is in the buffer zone, could not take place, because of not getting the necessary permissions. A press release was published on 2 September 1990 denouncing the T/C leadership.

On 14 October 1990, 36 members of our Committee demonstrated at the Ledra Palace Check-point (T/C side) and protested the T/C leadership, which blocked our contacts. At the G/C side a parallel demonstration took place. At 2.00 o’clock in the morning of 16 October, the car of Mr. Hürrem Tulga, one of the organizers of the protest demonstration and the editor of the left-wing journal “Özgürlük”(Freedom) was destroyed with a bomb. The second bomb exploded on that morning belonged to a man of Mafia. The third in Famagusta destroyed the car of a Mafioso. The fourth bomb exploded at the garden of an ex-MP of the Republican Turkish Party. Our Committee put the blame on the “partitionists”.

On 20 October1990, 3 T/C oppositional parties, 11 Trade Unions and Associations staged, a protest march in Nicosia as a protest to the recent bomb explosions. The underground organization“T/C People's Movement” took the responsibility of the bombs in their statement of 15 October1990, in which it declared itself as the continuation of the TMT!

Most of the members of the G/C Committee of our Movement organized themselves on 29 April1990 as a political party, called ADISOK. I applied to the Authorities with my press card No.067, given by the PIO of the TRNC, in order to report first-hand information about the foundation congress in the T/C weekly Demokrat, where I started a serial on 17 January 1990 under the title “Struggle for Perestroika in the AKEL”. The AKEL-dissidents, the EDEK-dissidents and some independents were the founders of the new party and they were the G/C's, who interested in working with our members of the Committee. I was not given permission again, on the ground that my press card was not yellow, which means professional journalist, who can cross over the Green-line to the G/C side according to the so-called regulations!

On 17 October1990, I received a letter by the President of the ADISOK, who invited our Committee to visit the party and who proposed the visit of an ADISOK-delegation to our side with the purpose of developing the understanding between the two sides. Both delegations could not get the permission to realize their mutual visits on 25 and29 November1990 respectively. On 24 November 1990 we published a protest statement, once again urging the T/C leadership to contribute to the creation of condi­tions for a free dialogue and communication in our own country. In our statement, we accused the Denktash and National Unity Party leadership of taking an antagonistic and agressive attitude towards our Movement since 1990. We also denounced Mr.Denktash's statement to the Ankara’a “Turkish Daily News”, in which he said: “Until the world accepts us as a separate state, it is out of question to discuss federal solution!”

On 27 November 1990 Mr. Denktash gave a statement, in which he critici­zed our on-going initiatives for cooperation and contacts with our com­patriots for the creation of an atmosphere of friendship between our communities and he advised us to sue a policy parallel to his and to report back to the T/C authorities about our meetings with the G/C's.

Our Committee answered Mr.Denktash's statement on 28 November 1990. We repeated our “Principles and basic views” and reminded him that all the proceedings of our meetingswere already published in the T/C press and as free citizens we did not feel ourselves obliged to go and report to someone as if we were civil servants. We reminded him also that all our meetings were made on the principle of equality of the two sides and we ended up: “If we are not living under a regime of slavery, having dialog and communication should not be in the monopoly of any leadership.”

Since our contacts through the Ledra Palace Check-point were blocked we tried to get a permission and go to the Pyla village, which is near the British Sovereign Base Area and on the Green-line. My application together with Mr.Hürrem Tulga on 6 December 1990 to get permission for Pyla, where we could talk with the villagers on the subject of coexistence and economical restrictions, was rejected by the Military authorities and we were sent again to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get the permission, which denied it to us.

I and columnist Mr. Kutlu Adali were invited on 15 December 1990 for the congress of New Cyprus Association, which struggles since 1975 for the dissemination of the “Cypriot patriotism” idea'. We applied on 10 December 1990, UN Day of Human Rights, for the permission, but after 5 hours, I was rejected through a telephone answer. We protested the T/C leadership, reminding the Article 13 of the Universal Human Rights Con­vention and the relevant paragraph of the Paris Declaration of the CSCE countries.

Mainland Turkish humorist Mr. Aziz Nesin visited the free areas of Cyprus as the guest of the G/C Union of Writers. Our Movement organized three cultural evenings with Mr.Nesin's participation at the G/C sector of Nicosia, starting with a press conference on 17 December 1990, for which T/C journalists and I could get permission to go. On 18 December Aziz Nesin visited the T/C sector of Nicosia together with G/C poets and writers and CyBC-TV, all 29 persons, participating at two press confe­rences. I was then General Secretary of the T/C Union of Writers and Artists and I was able to organize the visit of T/C's to the cultural evenings, 34 persons on the 17th, 38 persons on the 18th and 51 persons on the 19th December 1990. 25 persons, being our own members, a total of 80 T/C's crossed the Green-line to the G/C side and had contacts with G/Cs.

The visit of Mr. Nesincaused a lot of trouble for the T/C leadership, which criticized him ofnot coming first to the Northern occupied part. Mr. Nesin answered that he was not invited, to do so! The chauvinists planned to burn his book on the day he was planned to cross and there was a warning that the conference hall would be bombed. That's why we changed the venue later. I was accused on the following day of getting money from the G/C’s for financing the lunch we gave to them, which was actually paid by the T/C municipality of Nicosia.

On 19 January 1991 a new T/C Union of Writers was formed and they visited Mr. Denktash on 29 January 1991. In the following May, when our T/C Union of Writers and Artists made its congress, I and Mr. and Mrs. Kutlu Adali were voted out of the Administrative body, since we were active for more intercommunalcontacts and writing on the line of “Cypriotism”! Mr.Denktash later published a letter to Mr. Nesin, in which he tried to convince him not to come to the G/C side!

The G/C Amateur Painters’ Association, which had contact with the T/C Association of Cartoonists informed our Committee about a visit of the Japanese peace lovers with a ship to Cyprus. We could get permission on 17 January 1991 in order to discuss the joint programme, but we were accompanied there with two T/C journalists, one of them recording the whole meeting! On 25 January we were not allowed to cross to the buffer zone, where joint painting was planned for peace. We made our paintings on the T/C side of the check-point, where the PR-officials of the Denktash regime summoned in order to welcome the Japanese delegation. When the delegation came one hour later, our group was dispersed and the officials welcomed the delegation. Some of our members, who were still there, were able to get into contact with the delegation and inform them about the real situation that these officials were not our members! (Ortam, 25-26 January 1991)

On 9 February 1991we were not given the permission to participate at the Meeting of the World Peace Council, which took place in Nicosia.

On 13 February 1991, 7 representatives from our Movement were not allowed to visit the Pancyprian Painting and Cartoon Exhibition, whereas only 8 artists were allowed.

When we were able to visit the G/C sector during the visit of Mr.Nesin, our Coordination Committee could not meet and decided to organize new meetings at the Ledra Palace Hotel on the systems of federalism. The conferences were supposed to be given by the diplomats in Cyprus from the countries, which have a federal system. We started on 26 February 1991 with a conference on American federalism. 33 T/C's could participate.

I wrote a letter on 11 February 1991 to Mr. Kenan Atakol, asking him to put an end to the double standard by giving permission and naminga responsible person at the Ministry, to whom we could apply for explanation, why we were not informed properly about the fate of our applications. Until the last moment, we were not informed, if we got the permission or not, so that we could inform our invitees about our possible visit. I received no answer from him.

On 28 February 1991 I appealed once again to Mr.Vassiliou, the P r e s id e n t of the Republic of Cyprus for doing as much as he could for the realization of our human rights according to the Paris Charta he under­signed .

On 8 February 1991 we organized with the participation of the three oppositional T/C parties, which support a federal solution to the Cyprus problem, under the title “What does your party expect from a federal solution?”

On 1 March 1991 we met in Famagusta to tell to the public there more about the aims of our Movement. On 15 March 1991 a forum-discussion was organized in Nicosia about the freedom of movement in our own country, possible complaint to Human Rights Commission.

Our second conference in Ledra Palace was on Yugoslav Federalism on 22 March 1991. Our 62 members were not allowed to cross on the ground that the new ambassador of Yugoslavia did not visit Mr. Denktash yet and since he did not recognize our state, we could not listen to his conference!

The Doctors' Contact Group tried to visit the G/C side on 7 February 1991 for the return visit with 5 self-employed and 5 government-employed doctors. On 15 February 1991 we were informed that the government employed doctors were not aware of such an invitation, which was not true and they were forced to retreat! Our return visit was able to be done on our 5th application (Previously applications were all turned down for the dates 18 March 1990, 12 May 1990, 15 January 1991 and 23 March 1991) on 5 May 1991 after 16 months, but made only possible after a British dele­gation visited Mr. Denktash and secured the permission. (Mr. Nick Lewer of the Conflict Resolution Institute of the Bradford University /England and Dr. Edward Cadbury of the IPPNW-UK)

On 2 April 1991 a meeting was organized by various trade unions and other associations to discuss common policy on federal Cyprus and Mr. Denktash sent an open letter to this meeting. He repeated his criticism of the Cyprus government, which speaks of “occupied territory” of the Republic of Cyprus and restricts the visit of the foreign tourists to these areas. “This was supposed to be an insult for those, who contact with G/C s and they have to condemn this. The TRNC has to be accepted. The regulations for entering and exiting the TRNC are not obstructing the contacts and peaceful approach of the T/C side.”

Mr. Atakol gave a statement to the T/C Radio on 10 April 1991, stating that in the last year 114 G/C journa­lists, 22 political leaders, 105 Trade-unionists visited the North and 101 T/C journalists, 128 Trade-unionists, 41 political leaders and 241representatives of various organizations visited the South, excluding the meetings at the Ledra Palace. He repeated that they were doing all the help they could to this effect. They were not against meeting if the equality of the two sides were respected.

In March-April 1991 the G/Cand T/C political parties started mutual visits to each other for the purpose of rapprochment, but the T/C leadership did not allow some delegations to visit. The Yeni Düzen reported on 9 April 1991that the Haravgi delegation was not given permission to visit the North and the Liberal Party delegation, which was invited by the Communal Liberation Party and the Republican Turkish Party was not given permission for the 9 April. The Authorities restricted the number persons in each delegation to five persons. Coordinator of the T/C Commitee of the Movement for a Federal and Independent Cyprus, Dr.Ahmet Cavit An was not given permission by the “Security” to visit the ADISOK on 12 April and the AKEL on 13 April 1991.

Nevzat Adil wasthe other member, who was not given the permission and was asked to be put out of the list of applicants. He hadstayed two days at the G/C sector of Nicosia in December 1990 together with his wife as a guest of a friend, studied with him at the “School for the Blind” in Nicosia in the 1960's.

On 27 February 1991 the Yeni Düzen reported about our meeting on 25 February with legal experts and that the T/C Committee of the Movement decided to take to the European Human Rights Court the Denktash regime and take legal action against the restriction put on our movements to the free areas of the island by Denktash. We had filed 52 applications for various contacts with G/C personalities and organizations, but the Denktash regime approved only 14 of them.

On 15 May 1991 Yeni Düzen reported the acceptance of our application to the Commission of HumanRights of the European Council, which made the T/C leadership furious.

On 7 June about 29 persons, some members of our Movement, were inter­rogated by the Police, one and half months after the 1 May Demonstration. After the official march, a group of 150 persons marched up to the Ledra Palace check-point, where we appealed for our unrestricted right of contact with our compatriots. The police brought the offence that calls like “Down with Özal, down with the government” were heard, which we did not hear! The check-point was fortified on that day with two bus­es of T/C policemen with arms. (Ortam, 18 June 1991)

On 6 May 1991 a four-person delegation of the Movement visited Mr. Kenan Atakol, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, at his office and dis­cussed again the problems we were faced by the contacts and by getting the permissions. During the discussion, he wanted us to inform him about every visit we make and to give a report, which I resisted to do so, since he had a Public Information Office and his officials could cut the news of our visit and our speeches from the daily press and submit to him. Mr. Atakol, like Mr. Denktash, repeated the condition that whenever we meet with the G/C compatriots and later the G/C press writes that they met with T/C's coming from the occupied areas, we should make statements, in which we deny that we do not live under occupation! I told Mr. Atakol that I evaluate the presence of Turkey in the 37% of the territory of Cyprus as an occupation and I don't see it necessary to give such a statement. After-all, it has been the usual evaluation of theG/C press of the situation as invasion and occupation in Cyprus, I don't need to negate it everytime we put a communique. Mr. Atakol advised me to leave the country, if I accept the presence of the Turkish Army as “occupation”.I told him that I shall never do so, but struggle for my human rights until I get them.

After I came back to my clinic, an official from the Ministry phoned me and asked the names of the persons, who visited Mr. Atakol. I gave them Dr. Ahmet Cavit An, Nevzat Adil, Şefika (Beren) Çavlan and Turgut Çavlan. Mr.Turgut Çavlan used to work as a constructor /civil engineer in Pyla, the only mixed village at the Green-line near Dhekelia SBA, British Base. After that meeting he could not get permission to go to Pyla and he found out that after our meeting, Mr. Atakol reported to Mr. Denktash about the discussion we had and Mr. Denktash wrote a letter to the Permission-giving-authority, civil and military, asking that we, four per­sons, would never get anymore permission to cross the Green-line to the buffer zone or G/C side. He learned it from a friend, who used to have military service at the Headquarters of the Turkish Occupation Army, he saw the text of the letter, but was afraid to make a photocopy of it for us. Turgut and Şefika Çavlan later left the Northern part and via Athens settled in the South, since Turgut could not get the permission any­more for going to work in the G/C side over Pyla. Nevzat Adil was a civil servant and could not fight more with me. I was left all alone to fight for our freedom of movement, freedom of thought and freedom of communication in my own country.

Mr.Denktash gave an interview to Yeni Düzen on 21 February 1991, in which he advised the journalist, Hasan Erçakıca, one of the founding members of our Movement, that whoever visits the G/C side should give a statement that he/she made a sacrifice; the G/C side should not see the T/C visiting the South a citizen of the Republic of Cyprus, who is coming from the occupied area as a free citizen”. “If you put at the beginning of your article or if you tell them when you meet and we know that you have already told them so, we shall open the gates for you.”

On 17 May 1991 Mr. Denktash commented on our application to Strasbourg and told that this situation had to be a warning to everyone. “Those 3 or 5 persons have been profiting from the blessings of the TRNC! The country is on terms of a cease-fire. The opposite side is arming itself, EOKA Day has been a national holiday. Every basic principle for compro­mise is rejected and these people could dare to sue the TRNC as the “T/C authorities in the Republic of Cyprus”. This is a picture, which could be a warning to everyone!” (Yeni Gün, 18 May 1991)

On25 May 1991 the new weekly “Vatan” made our application its main title as “Big scandal”, because we named the TRNC as the T/C authorities of the Republic of Cyprus. It said that this had to be an offence, if it is not already. The Parliament had to react and stop this scandal by making a law. A new label had to be hanged at the check-point saying “Those, who do not recognize the TRNC, cannot pass through”. A similar suggestion that our citizenship had to be abolished was made by the ex-TMT Members Association. On 26 May 1991 a MP of the governing party criticized our application at the Parliament. (Kıbrıs, 29 May 1991)

After the general elections in the South, I applied to go to the G/C sector of Nicosia and evaluate the new situation for the weekly news­paper “Yeni Çağ” on 25-26 May 1991 and later on 1-2 June 1991, both applications were rejected.

I was granted a short-term medical scholarship in the USA and I wanted to see the Newborn Department in Makarios Hospital-Nicosia and Mental Retardation Prevention Centre-Limassol on 31 May and 9 June res­pectively, both were rejected on the ground that I would see similar institutions in the USA!

I was not allowed to participate at a medical meeting of the UNHCR at the Ledra Palace on 4 June 1991, whereas other T/C doctors were allowed. On 23-24 November 1991 a group of T/C doctors were invited through our Committee to participate at a medical meeting on hepatology in Limassol, we were not allowed to visit the medical seminar.

On 30 November 1991 the Prime Minister of the TRNC, Mr. D.Eroğlu criticized those, who try to give an image to the outside world that the TRNC is under occupation.” This is not true. On the contrary, the TRNC is under the protection of the Turkish Army Corps, which remains here with the consent of the T/C people... Those, who want to have a fe­deral solution under whichever condition, have to look at the situation in Yugoslavia.” (Kıbrıs, 30 November 1991)

Prof. Dr. jur. Erik Siesby from the Executive Committee of the Danish Helsinki Committee visited Cyprus on 3-10 June 1991, where he studied the human rights situation on the island. I met him on 5 June 1991 and told him all the difficulties we had for more contacts with the G/C's. I gave him a written account of the planned meetings, which could not be realized. He visited Mr. Rauf Denktash on 7 June 1991, whom he asked why my freedom of travel to the G/C sector of Nicosia was banned. Mr. Denk­tash told him that I am a communist that's why I was restricted! Prof. Siesby promised me to take my case to the Warsaw (end of August 1991) and Moscow Meetings (10 September and 4 October 1991) of the International Helsinki Committee. He specially referred to the Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Rights Dimension of the CSCE (June 1990), Article 9 and 10.4.

During a seminar on “Human Rights and the Cyprus Question in the context of the CSCE Process”, which was organized by the T/C Human Rights Committee on 9-11 September 1991, I got in touch with Mr. Keith Kyle, Cyprus expert of the Royal Institute of International Affairs / UK and told him my case. When he had a meeting with Mr. Atakol, he asked him about restrictions put on our contacts with the G/C side. Mr. Atakol told him that the members of our Movement were not quite proper!, as informed me about his conversation with Mr. Atakol.

I was in October-November 1991 in Washington / USA for a short-term medical training, where I had the chance to bring my case into the knowledge of some Congressmen. On 19 October 1991 Cyprus Mail reported that our “Human rights appeal ruled inadmissible”,that “the authority of respondent Government is in fact limited to the southern part of Cyprus. The Republic of Cyprus cannot be held responsible under Article 1 of the Convention for the acts of the T/C authorities in the north of Cyprus of which the present applicants complain.”

On 10 December1991, International Human Rights Day, I sent a letter to Mr. Süleyman Demirel, the new Prime Minister of Turkey, whose new government's programme referred to the Paris Charta, informing him about the restrictions put on our contacts w it h t he G / C s a n d I a s k e d h i m to show interest in our case. I received no answer.

On 18 December 1991, I prepared an open letter, in which I asked for help and solidarity with our case, informing that our lawyer, who sent the complaint to the Human Rights Commission was put under psychological pressure and asked to give the copy of our application to the T/C authorities. The T/C Bar Council of Nicosia attempted to give Mr. Ergin Ulunay a disciplinary punishment, which could not win enough votes (3 to 2). The open letter was sent to the T/C and G/C press and various human rights organizations in Europe, also in Turkey.

On our New Year's Message published in Ortam , 30 December 1991, we asked for freedom of movement in Cyprus for all T/Cs as well as all G/C's. We wished that the divisive walls in Cyprus should turn into bridges of friendship and peace.

On 10-18 January 1992 there was a UNHCR Seminar on chronic diseases control at the Ledra Palace. 21 T/C doctors were allowed and only I was not given the permission to go. I protested this arbitrary attitude of the T/C leadership with reference to its own Constitution, Article 8 about the equality of all citizens and Article 25 about the freedom of science and art. Although I was regarded as “politically dangerous”, there has been no legal action against me, I concluded. (Ortam, 11 Januar 1992) The T/C Chamber of Doctors protested also this discrimination to one of their member colleagues and asked for explanation from the Foreign Ministry with a letter dated 14 January 1992, which was not answered. I, as the Secretary-General of the T/C Self-employed Doctors’ Association, wrote a letter on 15 January 1992 to the Adviser to the Health Ministry, Mr. Orhan Aktunç and asked why my name was picked out of the list of the participants compiled by the Health Ministry. I received his answer dated 3 February 1992, Letter No. SB 22/84 of Health Ministry, in which he told: “According to the information our Ministry received, you were informed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Defence orally and this has been a decision of the government and we have nothing to add as the Ministry. According to the directive of Mr. Minister I want you to acknowledge this respectfully. Signed Orhan Aktunc (Adviser). A copy of the letter was sent to the Chamber of T/C Doctors.”

I was not informed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but the Presi­dent of the Chamber of Doctors informed me about the negative answer on the day of beginning of the seminar and I had to return from the check-point, where the T/C representative of the UNHCR could not do anything. I later reported this discriminatory act of the T/C leadership to Mrs. Dolores Lazanne, representative of the UNHCR in Cyprus with a letter of 11 January 1992 and to Mr. Robert Lamb, American Ambassador in Cyprus, who was one of the sponsors of the seminar with a letter of the same date. I received no answer, but orally I was told that they could not interfere into the matters of the T/C leadership.

On 6 February 1992 I asked the TRNC Government to disclose the cabinet decision about me, which was referred to in the letter of the Health Ministry, dated 3 February 1992. I also gave information to the T/C press that I had a meeting with an official of the American Embassy, who sup­ports the necessity of intercommunalcontacts and that I submitted a letter to the new German Ambassador to Cyprus, who also spoke of more contacts between the two sides. (Ortam, 7 February 1992)

Mr. Atakol gave a statement to a French newspaper and answered a ques­tion about intercommunalcontacts:“If these contacts are made under equality, we even encourage them!” (Bairak Radio News at 13.30 on 20 February 1992)

On 20-24 January 1992 the 16th Congress of the International Union of Students took place in Larnaca. Our Movement was also invited, among other T/C organizations. All applicants were not allowed to cross the Green line, but we were told, we were free to go to Larnaca via Athens or any other channel!

On 20 March 1992 on the occasion of the International Day against Racia1 Discrimination a bi-communal photographic exhibition called “Beyond Lines” was organized. None of the invited (me included) were allowed to go to the opening ceremony at the Famagusta Gate. I wrote a letter to Mr. Camillon and protested this arbitrary action.

On 4 May 1992, only 6 artists were allowed, 7 other invited persons (me included) were not allowed to visit the 7th Pancyprian Exhibition of ENAZ.

On 9 May 1992 there was a Spring Fair at the Nicosia International Airport (UNFICYP-HQ). Two buses of Turkish Cypriots could go only by showing their identity cards, without prior written application. When my turn came at the que, I was rejected by the official of the Foreign Ministry on the ground that I complained to the Human Rights Commission and I did not recognize the TRNC! (See Kutlu Adalı’s article in Yeni Düzen, 12 May 1992) I reported this discriminatory act to Mr. Camillion on the spot, who was about to cross the check-point and asked his help.

The T/C Press reported on 28 January 1992 that the new German Ambas­sador Mr. Henning Leopold von Hassel spoke of the possibility of over­coming the division of Cyprus through more intercommunal contacts as he gave his credentials to Mr. Vasiliou. I sent him a letter dated 3 February 1992 and informed him about the difficulties I had in getting into contact with the G/C side. When he visited Mr. Denktash on 10 Feb­ruary 1992, he asked about me and why I was not allowed to have contacts. As I heard on 25 February from Mr. von Hassel, Mr. Denktash told him that I was a paid agent of the G/C's that's why my name is included on a black-list of persons, who cannot cross over to have contacts with the G/Cs! This was a blatant lie of Mr. Denktash against me, who has been criticizing his partitionist policy on Cyprus since 1958 in my weekly articles in Yeni Çağ newspaper.

With the help of the International Association for the Protection of Human Rights in Cyprus, I was able to participate at the 3rd Meeting of the Helsinki Citizens Assembly in Bratislava /Czechoslovakia, between 26-29 March 1992. I brought my case in the Commission on Human Rights there. When I came back, I kept contact with the Association and we decided to form the Cyprus National Committee for the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly. Mr. Chris Clerides, Vice-President of the Association, wrote on 6 October 1992 to the Ambassadors of the Five Permanent Members of the Security Council of the UN in Nicosia, asking them to ensure my participation at the Founding of the Committee at the Ledra Palace in any one of the suggested dates (8.10. or 10.10.1992)to Paul Kavanagh, UN, Nicosia. We were not able to declare our foundation since I was not given the permission once again.

As I was in Bratislava, I contacted Mrs. Claudia Luciani from the Council of Europe who advised me to write a letter to Mr. Peter Leuprecht, Human Rights Director of the Council of Europe about my application to the Commission No.18270/91. When Mr. Leuprecht answered my letter of 6 April 1992, on 21 April, he advised me as my only possibility to lodge a complaint against Turkey, who can be held responsible under Article 25 of the Convention for the violations I mentioned.

On 6 April 1992 I wrote letters to Mr.Hans-Peter Furrer, the Political Director of the Council of Europe and to Mr.Peter Leuprecht, Human Rights Director of the Council of Europe and informed them about the difficulties I have in having political or medical contact with my Greek-Cypriot compatriots. I asked both of them to give me legal advice and to send me the last report of the Council of Europe about the Human Rights Violations of Turkey in Cyprus.

On 7 April 1992 I wrote a letter to Mrs. Mary Sue Hafner, Deputy Staff Director and General Counsel of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, Washington, who visited me on 11 February 1992 with Mr.Mike Amitay, giving her further information about the on-going violations and about the remarks of Mr.Denktash to the new German Ambassador in Cyprus, Mr.Henning Leopold von Hasel that I was a paid agent of the Greek-Cypriots (sic)!

Later in the Cyprus section of the “1993 Annual Human Rights Report of the US State Department to the Congressional Foreign Affairs Committee” the following remarks were reported under the paragraph “Freedom of Movement within the Country, Foreign Travel, Emigration and Repatriation” (p.5):

“One well-known Turkish Cypriot dissident, Dr.Ahmet Cavit, has been consistently denied permission to travel into the south, despite multiple applications, because of his outspoken criticism of the ruling regime. “TRNC” civil servants periodically face a blanket prohibition against travelling from the “TRNC” into the south, or even into the U.N.-patrolled buffer zone.”

On 4 May 1992, only 6 artists were allowed, 7 other invited persons (me included) were not allowed to visit the 7th Pancyprian Exhibition of ENAZ.

On 9 May 1992 there was a Spring Fair at the Nicosia International Airport (UNFICYP-HQ). Two buses of Turkish Cypriots could go only by showing their identity cards, without prior written application. When my turn came at the queue, I was rejected by the official of the Foreign Ministry on the ground that I complained to the Human Rights Commission and I did not recognise the TRNC! (See Kutlu Adalı's article in Yeni Düzen, 12 May 1992, reporting the humiliation.)I reported this discriminatory act to Mr.Camilion on the spot who was about to cross the check-point and asked his help in vain.

On 6 May 1992 the Yeni Düzen newspaper reported a commentary of Mr.Denktash about the reception of the new EC Representative in Cyprus for which all the invited persons were not allowed to take part. Mr.Denktash said: “The various embassies are trying to bring the Turkish-Cypriots and Greek-Cypriots artificially together. They don't invite the officials of our state whereas the Greek-Cypriot side is all invited with their titles. If our officials are not invited, no T/C should participate such meetings, those invited should ask this question to themselves and prefer not to go!”

On 7 May 1992 I wrote a letter to Mr.Dervish Eroglou, Prime Minister of the TRNC asking to re-evaluate the cabinet decision banning my contacts with the G/C's and give me in one month's time an answer. I enclosed also the copy of the letter I received from Mr.Leuprecht. I insisted that the so-called cabinet decision is contrary to the Constitution of the TRNC No. 22 (Freedom of Travel and Settlement), No.25 (Freedom of Science and Art) and No.24 (Freedom of Thought, Wording and Expression) I received no answer.

On 29 May 1992 I sent a similar letter to Mr.Hikmet Chetin, Foreign Minister of Turkey, asking him to take action since the Turkish Army Corps in Cyprus has a say in granting permission to the T/C's to cross the Green-line. I received no answer again.

On 17 and 24 May 1992 the G/C Doctors' Committee was invited for the second time to visit the T/C sector. On both cases they were not given permission.

On 26 June 1992, the New Cyprus Association, of which I am a member, invited me to give a conference in Limassol about the degree of acceptance of the idea of “Cypriotism” among the T/C community. I could not get the permission.

On 29 June 1992 12 T/C doctors were given permission to participate at a bi-communal UNHCR medical seminar on neurological diseases and accidents in the G/C sector of Nicosia. I was the only T/C doctor who could not get the permission from the authorities to go. I thought that now the T/C leadership and the Turkish Military Authorities started to harm also my professional development, stopping me from participating at medical meetings to, let alone political or cultural.

With the help of the International Association for the Protection of Human Rights in Cyprus, I went to Strasbourg and put my second complaint (first one was No.18270/91) on 8 September 1992, this time against Turkey, the occupying military power in the 37% of the northern part of Cyprus.

On 2 October 1992, there was a reception of the German Embassy in Nicosia on the occasion of the Day of German Unification. I was not given the permission to go there.

On 7 October 1992, the Coordinating Committee of the Movement for an Independent and Federal Cyprus planned a meeting at the Ledra Palace to review the situation. The T/C members (I was the T/C coordinator ) were not given the permission to go to the buffer zone.

On 12 October 1992 the New Cyprus Association sent a letter to the Secretary of the European Commission of Human Rights, condemning the infringement of the my human rights, particularly at a time when discussions were in progress for the reunification of Cyprus.

On 19 October 1992 the US Embassy gave a reception on the occasion of the 30th Anniversary of the Cyprus-American Scholarship Programme and I was invited too. I was not given the permission. What else the civil servants from the TRNC were not given too, but they were not informed beforehand and there was a chaos at the check-point which was reported on 20 October 1992 in Ortam newspaper with the main title “Scandal at the Barricade”. The US Ambassador Mr.Lamb phoned Mr.Denktash to come to the check-point and he came there. Mr.Denktash told that noone knew in this country, who the government was. Since some invited T/C's who worked at the Presidency were allowed to cross as civil servants, the others were allowed too after Mr.Denktash phoned some authorities! This proved once again that there exists no regulations, only arbitrary actions prevail for crossing the Green-line to either side!

On 30 October 1992, there was a bi-communal poetry evening at the Ledra Palace. 10 invited T/C's were allowed to go and I was the only person who could not get the permission.

On 16 November 1992 the Yeni Düzen newspaper reported about the involvement of the Turkish Army by granting permission to those, who want to cross the Green-line to the G/C sector or to the buffer-zone.

On 11 January 1993 the T/C Doctors' Contact Committee (including me) wanted to visit the G/C sector of Nicosia, but we were not given the permission, although Mr.G.Marcoullis asked for the help of Mr.Robert Lamb, the US Ambassador and Mr.Paul Kavanagh, Senior Adviser to the UNFICYP.. (Columnist Kutlu Adalıdenounced this on 23 January 1993 in Yeni Düzen)

On 11 March 1993 a statement by Hasan Uzun, a worker who was not able to get a permission to work in the southern G/C part of Cyprus, was published in Yeni Düzen with the title “We are faced with double standard”. He applied in 1990 before the General Elections to the Personnel Department of the TRNC to get working-permission in South. He was not given. But in the last three years others could get permission with bribery. He learned that such permissions were granted not anymore by the Military, but by Mr.Prime Minister himself. One has to be a member of the governing National Unity Party before getting such permission. He resisted to do so and he was not given the permission. There was also other workers crossing the Green-line to the G/C South to work illegally without any permission.”

I remembered the proposal of Dr.George Marcoullis, my G/C partner from the Committee for the Cooperation of the Cypriot Medical Professionals formed on 18 December 1989, who gave me the opportunity to be employed by the Hospital where he worked. It was not possible for Mr.Robert Lamb, the US-Ambassador in Nicosia, to secure a working permission for me to work in the G/C sector of Nicosia, whereas hundreds of Turkish Cypriot construction workers were allowed to work in the G/C sector at that time. On 24 April 1993 the Cyprus Weekly reported that according to the British Sovereign Base police chief, Colin Maddock, at Pergamos, there was a T/C controlled gate which permits 300 workers to pass from the North to the South and return every day.

On 26 February 1993, 8 T/C's were given permission to go to the opening of the Pancyprian Exhibition of ENAZ, but I was not given the permission.

On 2 April 1993 another poetry evening was organized on the occasion of the Special Issue of the literary journal “Nea Epochi” for which I was also invited as translator of the poems. 8 persons were given permission and I was not. This was my 94th application since September 1989 to get permission for having contacts with the G/C friends, unfortunately I got my 79th negative answer.

I kept on writing in the weekly “Yeni Çağ” newspaper of the New Cyprus Party (NCP) as an independent writer. The NCP continued to criticise the partitionist and non-conciliatory attitude of the T/C leadership and the party building was shot on 11 November 1992.

There was a cultural festival “Peaceful Coexistence”, organized by the UN Association of Cyprus on 28 June 1993, but noone were given the permission to take part.

On 3 October 1993, I was not allowed to go to the Day of German Unity-Reception at the German Embassy in the G/C sector of Nicosia.

With the formation of a new coalition government between the Democrat Party (DP) and the Republican Turkish Party (CTP), there was a slight change of policy for intercommunal contacts. That's why I was able to participate for the first time at a bi-communal UNHCR Seminar on Mental Health. Later I was given the permission to visit the opening of the bi-communal EN-AZ Painting exhibition.

After seeing the relaxation of the policy, I applied on 14 March 1994 for a visit to the G/C sector of Nicosia in order to study the draft National Health Scheme for Cyprus. Unfortunately I was not given the permission again.

I was granted the permission on 18 March 1994 for a conference on “Confidence Building Measures from the Human Rights Point of View”. To my surprise, I was accompanied by a newsreporter from the State News Agency TAK who later published his report of my speech in the Halkın Sesi newspaper of 20 March 1994 under the title “According to Dr.An there is no freedom of speech in the TRNC”. I was complaining of the situation that unless you were a member of a political party, the party newspapers did not publish your articles if it was critical of the T/C leadership. Mr.Rauf Denktash, sent me a letter on 28 March 1994 in which he expressed his opinion on my critical approach for the freedom of speech, saying that if the things I said were true, neither the news about my conference, nor my articles would be published. He was making demagogy as usual and advising me to respect the state and its constitution.

On 8 April 1994, I was given the permission to be one of the three T/C speakers at a conference in the G/C sector of Nicosia on Cypriotism, organized by the New Cyprus Association. The text of my speech was published in the Yeni Çağnewspaper on 18 April 1994, which made the T/C authorities to cancel my permission for the 19 April 1994. Only my name was put out of the list of 5 members of our T/C Coordinating Committee of the Movement for an Independent and Federal Cyprus which we wanted to reorganize.

I wrote on 19 April 1994 an open letter to the ambassadors of the permanent members of the Security Council of the UN in Nicosia, strongly protesting this arbitrary action of the T/C leadership, restricting my freedom of movement and speech in my own country. (Cyprus Weekly, 13 May 1994)

On the same day I wrote also to the Foreign Ministry of the TRNC, asking for the reason why I was not given the permission. One day before the end of one month's duration for an official answer, I received the letter of Mr.Adli Kumbaracı, the 1st Secretary, Directorate of the Consular and Minority Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Defence of the TRNC, dated 18 May 1994. The pretext was given as follows:

“The necessary permission, asked in your letter of 19 April 1994, was not given to you, because you make propaganda against the state and because of the security reason for the interest and benefit of the public.”

In a second letter to the ambassadors of the permanent members of the Security Council of the UN in Nicosia, dated 25 May 1994, I informed them about the given pretext and the advice of the officials that I was free to talk and write in the TRNC, but I should not be allowed to go to the G/C sector and criticise their regime over there. May be that is why I was not given the permission again on 26 April 1994 for a reception on the Day of German Unity at the German Embassy.

On 24 May 1994, I wrote to Mr.Özker Özgür, the Deputy Prime-Minister, asking if the previous decision of the cabinet was still in power, since I was not allowed to visit the buffer zone or the G/C sector of Nicosia. On the same day I also asked the support of the other two political leaders, Mr.Mustafa Akıncı of the Communal Liberation Party and Mr.Alpay Durduran, The New Cyprus Party in this respect.

On 5 June 1994 there was a seminar on cardiology, organized by the UNHCR in Limassol. Again I was the only T/C doctor who was not given the permission, out of 51 doctors. Another arbitrary restriction of my medical professional development by the T/C leadership.

On 22 July 1994 our T/C Committee asked for a permission in order to meet Mr.Gustav Feissel and discuss our problem of restriction of the freedom of organization, but we were not given again the permission. I informed Mr.Özgür on 19 July and reminded him of my last letter, but I received no answer from him.

He wrote two years later in an article on 18 March 1996 in Yeni Düzen newspaper that he, as the Deputy Prime Minister then, applied to the Prime Minister in order to learn the reason why I was not granted the permission. He received no written answer. He asked the President Denktash also and learned that that particular citizen (i.e.Ahmet An) criticised the regime in the North when he visited the South. Did the same citizen not criticise the regime when he was in the North?, Mr.Özgür asked in his article where he was complaining of not getting the permission for himself to participate at a reception at the German Embassy after he was not any more a cabinet member. He finished his article as follows: “Some citizens go to the South to work. But not every citizen can get permission to go and work in the South. Why? Is there any law forbidding it? We were supposed to be a state of law? Why an unemployed citizen could not visit the South and work there? If he cannot find a job to earn his life, he should leave the island. Is this not a promotion for the emigration of the local population?... There is no freedom of travel for getting a job in the South. You can criticise the regime in the North in which form you want, but if you tell the same thing in the South, your right to visit the South would be banned.”

Another negative answer was given on 3 October 1994 for the permission to go to the yet another reception at the German Embassy on the Day of German Unity.

On 2 February 1995, there was the opening of the 10th Pancyprian Exhibition of the EN-AZ for which no permission was granted.

Instead of 3 minutes walk, I had to fly 3330 km via Istanbul and Athens to Larnaca Airport in order to participate at a conference of the International Association for the Protection of Human Rights in the G/C sector of Nicosia, on 5-7 May 1995. There, I had the chance to meet my lawyer, Prof.Malcolm Shaw and some members of the Committee of Human Rights of the European Council of Europe.

On 16 June 1995, a folklore evening was organized by the Goethe Institute and the French Cultural Centre. 230 T/C's could get the permission to go to the Ledra Palace, but I was not given the permission again. One day later, on 17 June 1995, The United Nations Association of Cyprus organized a cultural event on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the UN. 65 T/C's could visit the G/C sector of Nicosia, but I could not.

On 24 June 1994 there was a meeting of the New Cyprus Association, celebrating its 20th anniversary. Although I am a member of the NCA, I could not get the permission to go to this meeting. I had to send a written message instead.

After talking with Mr.Gustav Feissel, Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the UN in Cyprus, I asked for permission from the authorities to meet him at the Ledra Palace, but there was no positive answer.

On 10 and 11 September 1995 two events were organized by the AKEL to celebrate the 70th birthday of Mikis Theodorakis. I was invited to participate, but all the invited T/C's (about 180) were able to go except I. Again I had to send a message to the organizers and ask for solidarity for my struggle for freedom of movement and organization. After I talked with Mr.Adli Kumbaracı, I sent a letter to the Ministry, asking the reason why I was not granted this permission. I referred to the Article 8 (Equality of the citizens) and Article 76 (The right of getting a written answer to an application in max. 30 days) of the TRNC Constitution. On the last day, 11 October 1995, Mr.Özer Koray, Adviser to the Ministry, sent me a letter dated 10 October 1995, stating that there was nothing to add to the oral answer (which was “It is not appropriate to give you the permission!”) given to me on that day.

On 3 October 1995, I was not given the permission to go to the reception of the German Embassy on the Day of German Unity. The International Association for the Protection of Human Rights in Cyprus protested this arbitrary act of the T/C authorities. (See Eleftherotipia, 5.10.1995)

A conference was organized by the EDEK on 18 October 1995. The speaker was Dr.Sigrid Skarpellis-Sperk, from the German SPD and the subject was “The experience of German Unification: The similarities and differences with the situation in Cyprus”. I was not given the permission to visit the conference.

On 22 October 1995 the UN organized an Open House at the Ledra Palace for the celebrations of its 50th anniversary. 1700 T/C's applied to cross the check-point for this event and all of them (including me) were allowed according to the promise given by Mr.Denktash to the UN. An additional 200 T/C's gave only their identity card numbers and crossed to the buffer-zone to meet around 1,500 G/C compatriots. This was the second time after 1988 (when UNFICYP got the Nobel-Laureate and celebrated with an Open House at the same place) that the ordinary Cypriots could meet with each other.

On 25 October I was allowed once again to go to the Ledra Palace for a panel discussion on Cyprus-EU with T/C and G/C speakers, organized by the American Embassy

On 5 December 1995, there was a photographic exhibition about the late Dr.Ihsan Ali, a critic of the partitionist policies of the T/C leadership. I was not given the permission to go to the G/C sector of Nicosia.

On 2 February 1996, I, together with 21 T/C's, were not allowed to go to the opening of a joint exhibition of the T/C and G/C cartoonists and painters. We organized on the same day a protest demonstration at the Ledra-Palace check-point. Our application to get a permission for the closure of the exhibition on 12 February 1996 was rejected too.

I was invited to address a NEDI-SY(Youth Organization of Democratic Rally) Seminar on “The Price for Peace and Stability in the Eastern Mediterranean”which was organized in cooperation with the Democrat Youth Community of Europe in Nicosia between 7 and 10 March 1996. I was not given the permission.

On the morning of 10 March 1996 I found a letter of threat under the door of my practice. My name on the envelope was written in red ink. The English translation of this letter is as follows:

“Hey Ahmet Djavit An

Have you ever thought for whose interests you serve by defending the view that the Turkish Army is an occupier in CYPRUS?

- Have you ever thought what could happen if the Turkish Army withdraws under the existing circumstances?

- Do the Greek-Cypriots have very good intentions? Have they opened their arms for us and do they want to share CYPRUS with us and is this being obstructed by the Turkish Army?

- Or was CYPRUS an island of happiness and according to you, did the Turkish Army make it bad by dividing it?

Give sincere answers to these questions! Make a good account, for whose interests you serve with your speeches! Because this people can not endure any more those, who, like you, want to risk its future.

The views and proposals, which can endanger the security of a people cannot be tolerated in nowhere around the world. Don't try in vain, you cannot let the rivers run upwards, but you can easily get drowned in that river!

Make a good analysis of the realities of the world and CYPRUS! From now on, try to voice the views which are in accordance with the expectations of our community. Otherwise the patience of this people is not limitless.

Do not prepare your end yourself with your such behaviour!

A Group of Patriots”

I went on the morning of 11 March 1996 to the Nicosia Turkish Police Station to make a complaint. Later I phoned UNFICYP-Spokesman to have a contact with me. An officer visited me and took a letter of mine to the International Association for the Protection of Human Rights in Cyprus. The full text of the letter was published only in Ortam newspaper, dated 12 March 1996. The last time I spoke publicly about the Turkish “occupation army” was on 6 February 1996 during a panel discussion of the University Youth. I was criticising the mainland Turkish speaker who did not mention about the army and the settlers as our main problem. Why after one month this letter was sent, I could not explain. There was no comment on that evening about my remark.

On 24 April 1996 I, together with other cartoonist friends, were not given the permission to go to the opening of the Pancypriot Cartoon Exhibition.

On 9 May 1996 a reception was organized by the EU Delegation in Cyprus on the 46th anniversary of the Schumann Declaration. All the invited people were not allowed to go.

On 8 June 1996 there was a jazz concert at the Ledra Palace organized by the French Embassy. All the invited people could go except me.

I was shocked to hear the news that on the evening of 6 July 1996 Mr.Kutlu Adalı, a very close friend of mine, columnist of the Yeni Düzen daily, was murdered by “unknown persons”. He was an active member of our Movement for an Independent and Federal Cyprus and used to criticise the partitionist policies of the T/C leadership. This was the first political murder after the twin murder of the oppositional advocates and journalists Ahmet Muzaffer Gürkan and Ayhan Hikmet in April 1962 in the T/C sector of Nicosia. Mrs.Ilkay Adalıapplied already to the Commission of Human Rights of the European Council about the murder of her husband.

In the same month I published my first book about the “Stormy Years in Cyprus (1942-1962)” in which a lot of documents were included about the terror of the T/C underground organization “TMT”. The T/C leadership was stirred by the documents I published in my book, but it could not dare to put a ban on the distribution of my book in the aftermath of the murder of Mr.Adalı. Instead Mr.Denktash put pressure on the editor of the “Kıbrıslı”, an illustrated monthly where I wrote, not to publish my articles. But the editor, who was an adviser to Mr.Denktash and a left-wing nationalist, supported my freedom of thought and resisted to abide. But after this I preferred to write more on historical than political subjects.

On 3 October 1996, there was a reception of the German Embassy on the Day of German Unification which I could not join. One year later again on 3 October 1997, no permission was granted to visit the reception of the German Embassy.

On 13 December 1997, I was not given once again the permission to participate at the annual General Assembly of the New Cyprus Association that I am a member of. That was the case again on 22 January 1998 and 22 February 1999 when the annual Pancyprian Exhibition of T/C and G/C cartoonists and painters took place.

As a last application, I applied on 14 October 1999 to get a permission for the seminar on 16 October of the International Association for the Protection of Human Rights in Cyprus: “50 Years of the Council of Europe-Achievements and Prospects in the Field of Human Rights”. The answer was again negative. I was told on the phone on 15 October at 11.00 o'clock that because of the policy of the state, noone was supposed to be given permission to visit the South.

I told that I was going to report this to Strasbourg and I need to get a written answer from them and that I was supposed to meet people from the Human Rights Commission in Limassol. Most probably they evaluated this information and I had a telephone call in the afternoon at 16.10 o'clock. The same official (Mr.Mustafa Davulcu) asked me to write him a letter and telling with whom I was going to meet. I refused to do so and reminded him that I already gave an application on the 14th and I should wait a written answer to this letter getting the reason why I was not given the permission.

I learned on the morning of 16 October, Saturday, that the Department was busy in the evening, trying to find the other three persons from Famagusta who asked for the permission to go to Limassol and already got negative answer before I gave my application. They were informed at 23.00 o'clock in the evening that they were granted the permission. The official could not reach me in the evening, because I gave the telephone number of my clinic. When I came to my clinic at 9 o'clock in the morning of 16 October, the telephone was ringing to inform me that the permission was granted to me too. It seems that the officials were embarrassed from my threat that I should report this arbitrary act to Strasbourg.

On the other hand, there was a report in Kıbrıs newspaper dated 13 October 1999 that a patient was sent to the Nicosia General Hospital on 12 October for a diagnosis through the computer tomography there since the one in the north was in repair. Again on 16 October 1999 the two political parties Patriotic Union Movement (YBH) from the T/C side and the communist party AKEL from the G/C side were supposed to meet in Pyla for signing a communique on a friendship and cooperation. On 16 October again, my publisher was given permission to visit the G/C sector of Nicosia in order to hand over the Turkish translation of the book “Common Homeland” to its G/C writer at a press conference. I had written the preface to the Turkish edition and the idea to publish this book was put forward during the meetings of the “Hade”editorial board in Pyla. It is noteworthy that the writer, Plutis Servas, a 93 years old veteran communist, was critical of the policies of the G/C leadership and my publisher got the personal support of Mr.Denktash in getting the permission by giving him a copy of the book!

I and my three other human rights activist friends were very happy to be able to participate at the seminar in Limassol. I had the chance to meet very important persons there and inform them about the difficulties we have in the occupied northern part of Cyprus.

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On the other hand the US Embassy in Nicosia was active since 1992 with the formation of new bi-communal groups which would work with the so-called methods of “conflict resolution”(=CR) and seek a solution to the Cyprus problem in accordance with Pax Americana. But it was very interesting to observe that almost all the participants from the T/C side were pro-Denktash. Mr.Ergün Olgun, an adviser to Mr.Denktash, was one of the speakers on the so-called Oxford (1993) Meeting of the bi-communal CR-group. He answered a question of mine that our Movement for an Independent and Federal Cyprus was not successful (sic!)and that's why their group was formed!”

At first Mr.Denktash was critical about these CR meetings and he wanted that the participants would defend the official Cyprus policy of the T/C leadership and report to the T/C authorities about the discussions there. He spoke on the BRT-TV on the evening of 15 December 1995 disclosing that he has placed his men in these groups who would report him back.

On 26 May 1997 the Kıbrıs newspaper reported that since 1991, when the CR activities started, 300 from each side, a total of 600 persons were involved in the CR projects.

After the Luxembourg declaration of the EU on Cyprus, the T/C authorities put a ban on all bi-communal activities in the buffer zone or in South starting on 27 December 1997. On the same day, it was announced that permission would be given for the meetings in Pyla, a village in the British Sovereign Base Area. It is not allowed to go outside the village Pyla. Several T/C people were sentenced to prison or made to pay money for the offence of visiting Larnaca or the other parts of the government controlled area.

On 25 March 1998 the 4 T/C members of the so-called “Brussels Women's Group”, one of the bi-communal CR groups, were stopped at the Ercan airport and were not allowed to participate at a meeting of the women's trade unionists. The four civil servants later opened 7 administrative and 4 legal cases against the authorities of the TRNC which are still all pending. (Kıbrıs, 4 June 1998)

Mr.Rauf Denktash gave a statement that the freedom of the civil servants should be restricted and new legal regulations should be made. He was talking to the members of the “Brussels Women's Group” who visited him yesterday. he went on saying: “There is a decision of the government, be it right or wrong. What is it? These bi-communal contacts should stop. Why? Because whenever these trade-unionists, women meet, they publish a communique, showing to the world that they can live peacefully together. These people want to prove and give the impression that the TRNC is not influential, the government thinks different than the people. Yes, it is your right to travel abroad. But what I want from my people is that they should say “It is not the right of a civil servant to participate at such meetings without getting permission from their officials.”This is a consequence of being a civil servant.”

Mr.Denktash told that the case was in the court and he did not want to influence it, but he felt himself forced to tell his opinion. If the government thinks that it is essential, a law can be passed to this effect and state that “for such reasons one cannot leave the island, because these events can harm the right of being a state.” He concluded that what he wanted was to show the people who send these invitations that the decisions of the government can be put into power.” (Kıbrıs, 16.6.1998)

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On 7 May 1998 the Radikal newspaper of Istanbul reported in a column by Turgut Tarhanlı that in the draft law of punishment, there was an article No.359 under the title “action against the national interest”.

According to this article, an offence could be punished more if “the withdrawal of the Turkish troops from Cyprus” or “the acceptance of a way of a solution against the interests of Turkey” was propagated either in the press or on the broadcast.”

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Starting from 26 December 1998 I visited several times the Plya village where the editorial board of the bi-communal magazine “Hade” met. On two occasions I, together with other members of the board were kept waiting and our personal belongings were examined. On 29 May 1999 we had to wait for two hours and on 11 September 1999 for half an hour until the written material and notes we had were examined and reported to the headquarters.

I heard from a friend that Mr.Ergün Olgun, the personal secretary of Mr.Rauf Denktash, did not like the contents of the “Hade” magazine issue No.2 which came out in September 1999. Some articles in it (e.g. my article) are very critical of the separatist policy of the T/C leadership. The “Hade” was originally a CR project which later was taken over by left-wing people from both sides. The T/C leadership is trying to find a way to ban it in the North, but they are afraid that we shall protest in the EU and at the UN. The magazine is printed in the South and was brought to the North through the American Embassy. The authorities decided to ask for the VAT from the bookshop which sells it. But it I did not work, because it sold without any profit with a solidarity price.

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M.-Therese Schoepfer, Secretary to the European Commission of Human Rights informed me with a letter dated 3 June 1999 that she received my “Declaration of Applicant's Means” and copies of these documents had been transmitted to the Government for comments. On 9 June 1999 I read in the local newspaper “Yeni Demokrat” the following comment by Mr.Rauf Denktash under the title :”There are people who make our stomachs upset”:

“Nowadays who has a headache says “I shall go to the Human Rights Court. How could you go? How could you declare that you do not recognise the TRNC and that you say “I am a citizen of the republic of Cyprus” and then you apply. To whom do you apply?

The lawyers of the Greek-Cypriots take you there, they give the money and you continue these cases by accusing Turkey. Among us there are such kind of people now. They are one or two, but these one or two make our stomachs upset. Because the Greek-Cypriots use them.”

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* Why I did not apply to the local courts?

I did not apply to the local courts for my case, because I do not trust the legal system in the occupied areas of Cyprus. First you have to find a democratic-minded advocate, who can defend your case freely, without any limitation or fear, which he or she could have, when the case is against the military regime.

When I, in the name of the Turkish-Cypriot Committee of the Bi-Communal Movement for an Independent and Federal Cyprus, made my first complaint to the European Commission of Human Rights on 13 May 1991, (Application No.18270/91), our advocate was Mr.Ergin Ulunay, a democratic lawyer practising in Nicosia. In the decision of the Commission, dated 8 October 1991, the following facts were summarised under the title “Relevant domestic law and practice”:

“The applicants further observe that the entry-exit point at the Ledra palace Gate is within “the first Degree Militarily Prohibited Region”. Therefore the military authorities “have a say in granting the permits for crossing over...The Turkish Cypriot Military, Security and Police Authorities are in practice under the command of Cyprus-Turkish Peace Keeping Force of Turkey which is stationed in Northern Cyprus.

The possibility of getting local redress in Northern Cyprus is uncertain because the Turkish Cypriot Courts are likely to treat the freedom of movement from Northern to Southern Cyprus or vice versa as a political matter not judicially reviewable and therefore will decline to assume jurisdiction, their decision will not be binding on the military authorities of Turkey.”

Whereas we were complaining against the Turkish Cypriot authorities of the Republic of Cyprus, the Commission had found that the Government of the Republic of Cyprus could not be held responsible for the acts of Turkish Cypriot authorities in the north of Cyprus, because the Government of the Republic of Cyprus had since 1974 been prevented from exercising their jurisdiction in the north of the island and this restriction on the exercise of jurisdiction...was due to the presence of Turkish armed forces. (Human Rights Law Journal, Vol.13, No.4, p.153)

When our press release was printed in the local press that we applied to the Commission, one of the local newspapers, Vatan daily, very near to Mr.Denktash, put its main title (most probably written by Mr.Rauf Denktash himself) on 25 May 1991 as “Big Scandal”, because we were naming the responsible as “the Turkish Cypriot authorities of the Republic of Cyprus” instead of “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus-TRNC authorities”. It followed: “This definition perhaps is a crime according to our laws. If it is not, it should be. The parliament has to move immediately and make a law which can obstruct this scandal. Also a label has to be hanged at our Entry Gates, stating “Those, who do not recognise the TRNC, cannot pass through this gate”. There was also a little statement from our lawyer who was asked about this application, saying: “I will not make any comment or statement since this application has a legal and political aspect.”

After the decision was received in October 1991, Mr.Ergin Ulunay informed me that he was about to be expelled from the Nicosia Bar Council, wenn his attitude to the TRNC (naming it in the application as the “Turkish Cypriot authorities of the Republic of Cyprus”) was put in front of the “Disciplinary Committee of the Bar. Thank God the decision was 4 to 3 and no disciplinary action was taken against him. He was very embarrassed during those days and later he advised me not to act against Turkey or against the military authorities. He was also informed that our first application to Strasbourg was opened at the Post Office and it was translated into Turkish by the military authorities!

* The advocates in the occupied north of Cyprus are not free when practising their profession as I gather from a report in one of the local newspapers, Kıbrıs, dated 13 and 14.3.1992: “One of the judges of the Supreme Court, Mr.Metin A.Hakkı, ruled that an appeal against the decision of the Court about a fraud of a big bank allegedly reaching a billion Turkish pounds and he later told this: “Those who lost their first cases at the court should not appeal and misuse the legal system. If they do so, they can be confronted with various precautions like paying all the expenses. I warn them.”

Among other advocates who opposed this statement was Mr.Ergin Ulunay: “To appeal is a right...There is no advocate in the world who is under threat of being punished if he or she appeals. This opinion of the Supreme Court is anachronistic and against the constitution.”

* A statement of an ex-Minister and a retired judge of the Supreme Court, Mr.Orhan Zihni Bilgehan: “The court and the civil servants of the TRNC are falling into decay. Is there a state in which the rule of law prevails? All the courts and the judges are going to pieces.” (Kıbrıs, 14.4.1992)

* Mr.Ergün Vehbi, a MP of the Social Democrat Party, spoke at the Parliament: “I allege that noone trusts the judiciary in this country. There a need to form a mechanism which will monitor the judges, state-attorneys and those advocates who sell their cases.” (Halkın Sesi, 13.12.1991)

* Chairman of the Supreme Court, Mr.Salih Dayıoğlu: “Justice works by us a little bit slow (a case lasts 1.3 years). We are trying to reduce this time to 7-8 months.” (Interviews published in Halkın Sesi, 16 and 28.6.1993 and Ortam, 18.3.1996)

* Goods, which were supposed to be protected by the decision of the court, were stolen from the government's depot- (Newsitem from Halkın Sesi, 27.10.1994)

* The law profession is being conducted under the British Colonial Laws which are made many years ago. The Turkish Cypriot lawyers and advocates have been trying to have a modern law for their profession, but they are not able to have one. The parliament has not passed until now such a new law. The general assembly of the Union of Bar Councils of the TRNC had to be postponed on 25 February 1997 to 4 March 1997. But noone attended the general assembly on that day out of protest that there is no modern law regulating the profession. The legal existence of the Union of the Bar Councils of the TRNC has ended on 4 March 1997. (Kıbrıs, 5.3.1997)

* On 16 September 1999 when the Judicial Year started with a ceremony, Mr.Salih Dayıoğlu, Head of the Supreme Court of the TRNC told in his speech that it takes 2 to 3 weeks to communicate a case and 3 to 4 years to conclude a case. Mr.Ertuğrul Hasipoğlu, the speaker of the House, told that sometimes the opinion of the Attorney-General and his deputy can be different and the House was put into a dilemma. (Yeni Demokrat, 17.9.1999)

 

 

 

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