The report and decision on Varosha, which had been discussed in the Committee last June, were discussed again yesterday in the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
According to the PGI, the Turkish Cypriot Press reports that after the introduction by the Italian Rapporteur, Pierro Fassino, the Turkish Cypriot "MPs" of the KEE and RTK parties, Oguzhan Hasipoglou and Armagan Dziandan, as well as AKEL MP Giorgos Loukaidis, took the floor.
In his speech, Mr. Hasipoglou mentioned that although the current decision states that the "real estate committee" has not completed any application in the closed Varosha, in the previous days one application with compensation was completed and a total of 577 people submitted an application and are claiming their properties in Varosha.
He claimed that Greek Cypriot interest in the region has increased recently and there are millions of people visiting Varoš.
He also claimed that it is not fair to not put on the agenda the “unjust isolation” and “restrictions” suffered by Turkish Cypriots and to continue to discuss only the property issue of Greek Cypriots in the specific case of Varosha. He also asked that the issue be removed from the Committee’s agenda.
He also spoke of "unjust arrests" by the Greek Cypriot side over property, ignoring the European Convention on Human Rights, claiming that the Greek Cypriot side has already arrested 5 foreign nationals and has put "citizens of the TRNC" on global watch lists, trying to pressure and intimidate them with the threat of arrest.
Mr. Hasipoglou called on the Republic of Cyprus to end its "illegal approach", as he put it, and the targeting of the "TRNC" economy.
In his intervention, the RTK "MP", Armagan Jadan, noted that the agenda for the property issue in the Committee of Representatives of the Council of Europe was postponed to December, and explained that in October "presidential elections" will be held in the occupied territories, after which there will be a possibility of resuming negotiations on the Cyprus issue.
Recalling that the UN and the EU have appointed Special Representatives for the Cyprus issue, Mr. Cantan described the rapprochement between Turkey and Greece as pleasant and said that this should also be reflected in Cyprus.
Ozturkler
Meanwhile, the "speaker of the parliament", Ziya Oztukler, speaking on a television show yesterday, expressed the view that it would be useful to make a joint statement on the property and arrests in the "parliament".
He argued that Cyprus's close relations with Israel, the arrival of American soldiers on the island for training, and the status of British bases turned the "people of the TRNC" into a target against their will, and claimed that this image demonstrates once again the importance of Turkey's active and effective guarantees.
Source: KYPE
