House to launch 1974 coup inquiry

THE HOUSE of Representatives will soon launch an inquiry into the 1974 coup which led to the Turkish invasion, House president Spyros Kyprianou said yesterday.

He told reporters the House would secure the minutes of an exhaustive investigation carried out in the Greek parliament years ago.

The decision follows the admission by a member of the Greek junta that the coup against President Makarios had been planned in Athens.

Diko and Edek have asked for a House debate on the issue. Disy submitted its own topic for debate – the urgent need for the House of Representatives to obtain the official minutes, conclusions and other evidence which make up the records of the committee of inquiry on the Cyprus file set up by the Greek Parliament.

Asked yesterday whether it was possible for the inquiry by the House to start before the February 1998 presidential elections, Kyprianou said: “Yes, this is possible.”

He said it was impossible to say when the inquiry would end, but added that it was essential to establish the truth.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.