A COURT in the occupied north has dropped charges against 30 members of the Turkish Cypriot Teachers Union (KTOS) after a ‘state prosecutor’ deemed that none of the charges referred to an actual criminal offence.
The case was first brought against the 30 in January 2001, when their union printed a notice in a number of Turkish Cypriot dailies telling the Turkish government that it did not want Ankara to send its “economic packages, money or experts” to Cyprus any more.
“We want to rule ourselves. We have the necessary knowledge, the ability and skill. We no longer want to be prisoners of war,” the announcement continued.
At the time, Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash described the union’s statement as “treasonous” and called for the sacking of the teachers for “gross ingratitude to the motherland”.
The 30 teachers were charged with “seeking to engender hatred towards Turkey” and “seeking to incite social unrest”. Computers and other electronic equipment were seized by the authorities, claiming the equipment had been used in the perpetration of the crime.
The ‘state prosecutor’ has now ordered the return of the equipment to the union.
Union leader, and one of the thirty teachers charged, Sener Elcil told the yesterday: “We don’t know why, but the Attorney-general has dropped the charges. If you want to know why he did it, you’ll have to ask him.”
Elcil said he had no evidence that the charges had been dropped as a result of political changes in the north.
“The judiciary is supposed to be apolitical, so how could they be affected by such changes?”
Elcil added that he felt disappointment that the charges had been dropped as it denied the union the opportunity to show the world the absurdity of the ruling.
“If they had pursued the case, we would have taken it to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Now we won’t be able to,” Elcil said.
Hundreds more such cases are outstanding in the north, particularly against journalists who have dared to criticise the regime. Observers will be keen to see whether Mehmet Ali Talat’s more liberal regime will seek the dropping of more charges.
