THE TWO Greek Cypriots, who were held for 48 hours in the occupied north for entering the fenced-off area of Famagusta, were released yesterday after appearing in ‘court’ and being made to pay a fine of 200 Turkish lira each.
The four Members of the European Parliament and two priests who were also detained by Turkish troops were set free on Saturday evening after undergoing questioning for several hours.
This was a blatant show of arrogant muscle-flexing by the Turkish occupation troops who have been guarding a ghost town for 37 years now. Perhaps, arresting unarmed civilians, who venture a few yards into the fenced off area, once in a blue moon, gives the Turkish troops something to do – distraction from the mundane reality that they are guarding a deserted town.
For 37 years, the occupation troops have been guarding the empty buildings and streets of Varosha, with a doggedness that defies belief.
The arrest of the four MEPs – two Poles, a Bulgarian and a Greek Cypriot – and one retired MEP would attract some attention to Turkey’s insane commitment to keep a town empty rather than allow its residents to return to their homes.
In the last couple of years there have been concerted efforts to persuade Turkey to open up the fenced-off area to its residents, but nothing has come of them.
A petition was sent to the European Parliament while President Christofias has proposed the opening of the town under the UN –as a confidence-building measure – but Ankara has refused to even discuss such a possibility.
Presumably, the idea is that the return of Famagusta would take place only if there was a settlement. And if there is no deal, would the Turks carry on guarding a ghost town from intruders or open it up and move Anatolian settlers in?
The nationalist Turkish Cypriot press, predictably, said that what had happened on Saturday was a Greek Cypriot provocation. The foreign MEPs had been taken inside the fenced area by their Greek Cypriot hosts in order to provoke an incident. Even if this were the case why did the Turkish military oblige? There would have been no incident if the group were told to leave, instead of being detained, by the Turkish soldiers.
But the truth is that the Turkish army cannot pass the opportunity to drive home the crude message that as long as Famagusta is under occupation nobody would be allowed entry. That is a much bigger provocation than the one supposedly committed by MEPs walking a few yards into the fenced area.
