Cyprus-Forum.com

[RebelWithoutAPause]

Nikitas and Pan - your similar examples wont make any difference Shahmoron; he only brought up his friends case to try and show that the RoC is prejudice againt Turkish Cypriots. He's gonna find another wacky story now like this stupid Baghdatis thing.

[shahmaran]

What is this some sort of a genetic elimination for deciding on ones nationality? What are you Nazis?

Why would anyone want to submit to a government who puts you in doubt about who you actually are when you consider yourself nothing but Cypriot for the last 30 years, i certainly wouldn't unless i was desperate to get out (as most of us have already done) because i cannot give a dam about the Cyprus problem and i just want to get on with my life, this is the biggest weapon the RoC had all along and it is what brought all the immigrants here, so don't blame Turkey for looking out for her interests in such a situation, you brought it up onto yourselves and pulled us down with you. Proving that the RoC doesn't and never did give a dam about the minorities living here, they cannot wait for us to "evacuate" what is supposedly theirs alone and everything they do is either to assimilate or to discourage people from living here!

Thankfully we are not as weak as some of the other minorities around the world who are fighting for their rights and we can just WIN our freedom rather then waiting for it at the mercy of a people who still holds 1000 year old grudges and decides that we are actually Cypriot when the shit starts raining on them.

You are OK with "tough breaks"? Then forget about your properties, close the borders and we call it even steven.

Are you OK with tough breaks now? I definitely am not!

[denizaksulu]

I've chanted that many times duing the anti-occupation marches when i was at school. I'll go and inform the wife she married a thug....might get her excited.

I did the same! Shall I inform my husband as well?

Only if he eats porridge!

[DT.]

I've chanted that many times duing the anti-occupation marches when i was at school. I'll go and inform the wife she married a thug....might get her excited.

I did the same! Shall I inform my husband as well?

Only if he eats porridge!

He's gone through and this thread should stop. He's done nothing ut make Cyprus heard in the whole world. His insistence on playing under the Cyprus flag when Australia and Greece both tried to sign him up giving him bigger budgets should say something. Especially considering how our govt did f*** all to help him when he was starting out.

[Piratis]

Who are the thugs are those criminal thieves that illegally occupy part of our island and those who support them. We have several such people in this forum.

Marcos has every right to demonstrate against the illegal Turkish occupation of our island and those that do not like it they should get used at it because we will NEVER stop fighting for our rights on our own island.

Congratulations to Marcos for yet another great game today.

[Viewpoint]

Whats the excitement about? we have heard these slogans before so many times...proof that GCs still long for an island without the Turkish Army so they can share the island with their TC brothers, smother them to death literally

[DT.]

Whats the excitement about? we have heard these slogans before so many times...proof that GCs still long for an island without the Turkish Army so they can share the island with their TC brothers, smother them to death literally

you know of many countries who fantasise of having foreign armies on their soil?

[shahmaran]

You have the British, whats wrong with the Turkish?

[RAFAELLA]

Baghdatis defends himself in controversy over Cyprus

18/01/2008

Cypriot tennis ace Marcos Baghdatis defended himself in the face of a controversy on Friday after the release of a video in which he appeared to chant anti-Turkish slogans at a party.

Australian media showed a video of the Cypriot singing songs with friends, a broadcast which was also posted on the video-sharing Web site YouTube.

Baghdatis reacted to the news with a statement in which he defended his actions.

"There has been a lot of coverage of me appearing in a video on youtube.com," he said.

"In that video from 2007 I was supporting the interest of my country, Cyprus, while protesting against a situation that is not recognised by the United Nations,” he said, referring to the Turkish occupation of the island’s north since 1974.

"Now I would like to concentrate on the tournament and ask everyone to respect that. I love the Australian Open and want to do well here."

Baghdatis is due to face Australian Lleyton Hewitt in the third round of the tournament on Saturday.
Financial Mirror

[Gabira]

Defiant Baghdatis sparks Turkish outrage

Friday Jan 18 18:28 AEDT

Turkish and Greek community leaders have played down fears of ethnic clashes at the Australian Open despite outrage at Greek-Cypriot player Marcos Baghdatis' role in a video calling for Turks to leave Cyprus.

Baghdatis said he was merely standing up for his country in the year-old video shot at a private Melbourne barbecue with Hellas Fan Club (HFC) members who were singing the Greek national anthem and chanting "Turks out of Cyprus."

His actions have infuriated some sections of Melbourne's Turkish-Cypriot community who have called for him to be expelled from Australia.

Despite the reaction, others in Melbourne's large Turkish and Greek communities are certain there will be no repeat of the violent clashes between Serbian and Croatian supporters which scarred last year's Australian Open.

There are no Turkish players at the Open, so the only chance of confrontation would be if members of the Turkish community came to Melbourne Park to challenge the conspicuous Greek supporters expected at Baghdatis' match against Australia's Leyton Hewitt on Saturday night.

Victorian police would not comment on its approach toward any specific match, but said there would be no change to its security arrangements.

"Victorian Police will continue to have adequate resources available at the Australian Open to deal with any potential incident," a spokesperson said.

Australian Open organisers would not comment on the politically sensitive issue.

A defiant Baghdatis defended his actions in the video which was taken following last year's Australian Open and has been on video-sharing website YouTube for 10 months.

"In that video from 2007 I was supporting the interest of my country, Cyprus, while protesting against a situation that is not recognised by the United Nations," Baghdatis said in a statement.

"Now I would like to concentrate on the tournament and ask everyone to respect that.

"I love the Australian Open and want to do well here."

Cyprus has been ethnically divided and tense since Turkey invaded and occupied a third of the Greek-controlled island in 1974.

In the video, Baghdatis was shown holding a flare with members of the Melbourne-based HFC, including its president Chris Vlahogiannis, and chanting nationalistic slogans.

Vlahogiannis was one of three HFC members arrested and facing charges, including assaulting police, after being kicked out of the tournament on Tuesday.

The Greek supporters clashed with police during the match between Greek player Konstantinos Economidis and Chile's Fernando Gonzalez.

Australian Turkish Cypriot Cultural and Welfare Association president Hakki Suleyman said his members were furious Baghdatis had provoked their community.

"I have had a lot of calls from upset members stunned about this racist attack by a high-profile sportsman that breaches the racial vilification act," he said.

"This is a straight-forward provocation of our community."

But Suat Yilmaz, secretary of the Australian Turkish Cultural Association believes members of his community will ignore Baghdatis' behaviour.

"I don't think there will be a bad reaction from our community - people will ignore him," Mr Yilmaz said.

Mr Yilmaz said he has seen Turkish fans with a Cypriot background at the tennis supporting Baghdatis.

Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria director Bill Papastergiadis was also adamant there would be no bad blood among the crowd at Saturday night's match.

"I don't think so, because most Greeks will know they're there to watch tennis and not to support another platform," he said.

He also said the call for Turks to leave Cyprus was in line with the UN.

"It's not exactly expressing a view which doesn't conform with the UN resolution or with the general global view of that incident," Mr Papastergiadis said.

He said Baghdatis' comments were not racial vilification and it was "mischievous" of the media to make a story out of the old footage.

The HFC - which supports Greek athletes in Australia - said the newspaper (Eds: The Age) article which uncovered the YouTube video had incorrectly translated and misconstrued the chants.

It also emerged that Baghdatis' cousin was one of the Greek supporters ejected from the tournament on Tuesday.

©AAP 2008

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=368561