TURKISH PRESS
AND OTHER MEDIA
No.186/04
28.09.04
A. NEWS ITEMS
1. Reactions on the decision of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Cyprus on Arif Mustafa case continue.
2. Efforts to cover the occupation of Cyprus under a democratic veil.
3. The Democratic Party sees positively the establishment of a three-party “coalition government” with the
participation of the Peace and Democracy Movement.
4. Hurriyet on the Turkish connection to Chechen militants.
5. After the grapes poison on the peaches.
1. Reactions on the decision of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Cyprus on Arif Mustafa case continue
Under the banner front-page title “Property storm”, Turkish Cypriot daily KIBRIS newspaper (28.09.04) publishes
statements of the Minister of Interior, Andreas Christou, the Greek Cypriot lawyer Konstantinos Kantounas and the
deputy of the dean of the illegal Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) associate professor at the Law Faculty Dr
Tufan Erhurman on the decision of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Cyprus regarding the case of the Turkish
Cypriot Arif Mustafa from Episkopi village who had appealed to the court demanding the return of his house and
property which are currently being used by Greek Cypriot refugees from the occupied Kyrenia area.
In statements to KIBRIS Mr Christou said that the Attorney General of the Republic asked the Court to postpone the
implementation of the decision regarding Arif Mustafa, but it is not yet clear whether or not this demand will be
approved. “We shall wait for a few days and see the decision of the Court”, he added.
Mr Kantounas said that the decision of the Supreme Court was a step in the right direction and that the important
thing was the implementation of the decision and for everybody to respect it. He noted that the Cyprus Government
had the right to take the decision to the Court of Appeals and that it should do so. “In this way the Court will be taking
its final decision”, he argued.
On his part, law professor Mr Erhurman argued that the decision of the Supreme Court was not an unexpected one
and that there were “serious parallels” between this decision and the decision of the European Court of Human
Rights on the Titina Loizidou case.
Noting that both decisions are based on the principle that the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots continue to
have rights on their properties which they had been forced to abandon in 1974, Mr Erhurman said: “In fact after the
Loizidou decision this kind of decisions were expected on cases of Turkish Cypriots”.
Mr. Erhurman argued that this decision could create both positive and negative results for the Turkish Cypriots and
the Greek Cypriots and added that both sides should evaluate well the situation and determine their strategy. He said
that with this decision the Turkish Cypriots would have no doubts that their rights on their properties in the
Government controlled areas of Cyprus are legally recognized.
Mr Erhurman argued that this could be considered as an important gain, but on the other hand in this manner the
Turkish Cypriots would accept that the problem of the properties in Cyprus should be solved by the persons on the
basis of the title deeds given by the Republic of Cyprus and not on the basis of the Annan Plan or of a similar plan.
He also supported the opinion that under these circumstances it is obvious that the Turkish Cypriots as a community
will lose and the realization of the principle of the bi-zonality in a possible solution will get more difficult.
Mr Erhurman said that from the point of view of the Greek Cypriot refugees the decision would cause some insecurity
in the short term, but it did not seem that this insecurity could cause actual problems in the near future. He noted that
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in the long term all the title deeds of the Republic of Cyprus will be considered valid. “The increase of such decisions
will serve more the efforts of the Greek Cypriot side to weaken the bi-zonality in a possible solution”, he concluded.
2. Efforts to cover the occupation of Cyprus under a democratic veil
Turkish Cypriot daily YENIDUZEN newspaper (28.09.04) reports that the so-called parliament approved yesterday
two amendment “laws”.
The first amendment “law”, the “Trial by the Security Forces Court and Security Forces Court of Appeals
(Amendment) Law” prohibits the trial of civilians by the “military courts”.
The second “law” is the “Foreigners and Emigration (Amendment) law”.
3. The Democratic Party sees positively the establishment of a three-party “coalition government” with the
participation of the Peace and Democracy Movement
Turkish Cypriot daily VATAN newspaper (28.09.04) reports that Mr Mustafa Arabacioglu, the General Secretary of
the Democratic Party (DP), the junior partner of the so-called coalition government of the pseudostate, stated that his
party sees positively the establishment of a three-party coalition “government” with the participation of the Peace and
Democracy Movement (PDM) of Mustafa Akinci. At the same time he stated that the DP does not welcome a similar
partnership with the National Unity Party of Dervis Eroglu.
Replying to questions, Mr Arabacioglu stated that Mr Ferdi Sabit Soyer the General Secretary of the Republican
Turkish Party (RTP), which is the senior partner of the coalition “government”, is having contacts as regards this
issue. He stated that Mr Soyer sounded out the Democratic Party but the issue of the “ministries” has not been
discussed.
4. Hurriyet on the Turkish connection to Chechen militants
According to Turkish daily Hurriyet newspaper, (28.09.04), during an operation carried out by Russian security forces
in the Shali region of south Chechnya, five militants were killed. One of the killed militants was carrying Turkish
identity papers, with the name of Hasan Umac (24). The ascertainment of the identity of the other four killed militants
were not possible.
Russian officials said that the militants were communicating on the wireless in Turkish.
Meanwhile, the Justice Minister of Cyprus disclosed that Chechen militants have used camps in the Turkish
Occupied area of Cyprus to conduct training exercises before conducting terrorist attacks in Russia.
Speaking in an interview with a Greek Cypriot newspaper Monday Doros Theodorou stressed that terrorists from a
number of countries had been based in the occupied area with most being Chechens.
According to Theodorou, the information came from intelligence sources, writes Hurriyet.
5. After the grapes poison on the peaches
Under the above title, Turkish Cypriot daily KIBRIS newspaper (28.09.04) reports that after analysis conducted at the
so-called state laboratory, high proportion of poison has been found on grapes and peaches produced in the
occupied areas of the island. According to the results of the analysis a high proportion of poison was found again on
the grapes, while high quantities of poison has also been found after analysis conducted on peaches.
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