THE Morphou reunification movement yesterday denied media reports claiming that two former presidents had been prevented by the Turkish Cypriot authorities from attending a bi-communal function in Morphou.
The function had been organised on Saturday by 30 Turkish Cypriot and 10 Greek Cypriot organisations and was attended by thousands of people.
Former presidents Glafcos Clerides and George Vasilliou were also scheduled to attend but according to the movement, there had been a misunderstanding, which prevented them from going.
In a written statement, the movement noted that the Turkish Cypriot Mayor of Nicosia, Kutlay Erk, had made arrangements for the unobstructed passage of the two men to the occupied north.
But due to a misunderstanding, the mayor thought the two former presidents were going to cross through the Ayios Dhometios checkpoint, while it had in fact been requested that they pass through the Ledra Palace to avoid the heavy traffic.
Erk arrived in Ayios Dhometios 45 minutes before the agreed time – 6pm – but by the time he realised his mistake and rushed back to the Ledra Palce to instruct the guards there not to check identities, as agreed, Clerides and Vasilliou were gone.
“The mistake was due to a misunderstanding between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot organisers on one hand and Mr Kutluay Erk, on the other,” the movement said.
They added that it would be unfortunate for the incident to be exploited by those who were not happy with the enthusiastic bi-communal functions of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot people.
Concerning comments speaking of “the humiliation” of the two former presidents, the statement said: “we believe that the worse humiliation would be when we explain to our children and grandchildren that we the simple people hid instead of being active citizens because we feared humiliation at a moment when we saw that certain politicians led Cyprus to partition with their mistakes.”
Government Spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides described the incident as unacceptable and wondered why there had been so little reaction in the press when there was so much reaction on other matters.
“I am really sorry to observe that there were no protests heard for this kind of behaviour towards two former presidents from our side,” the spokesman said.
He added: “Let this be a lesson, in the sense that it seems that the occupation is not over because many hurriedly accuse our side on various issues.”
