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European report slams Turkey for violation of human rights
By Jean Christou
A REPORT by the European Commission for Human Rights, made public yesterday, slams Turkey for gross violation of human rights in Cyprus.
The contents of the report were made public at a press conference given by Attorney-general Alecos Markides, who hailed it as "the most important success the Republic of Cyprus has had in international legal fora".
"The Commission report is of a truly historic significance as it reaffirms previous reports in the first three inter-state cases against Turkey and the Court decision on the case of Titina Loizidou," Markides said.
Loizidou won a case before the European Court of Human Rights which found Turkey guilty of the continuous violation of her right to enjoy her property in Kyrenia and ruled that she remained the legal owner.
The report published yesterday was issued at the end of Commission hearings during the fourth inter-state case of Cyprus against Turkey.
It affirms that the government of Cyprus is the only recognised authority on the island and reiterates that Turkey's responsibility extends to all the complaints filed by the government.
The case has been referred by the government to the European Court of Human Rights, where the two parties, Cyprus and Turkey, will present heir arguments before the Court issues a judgement.
Markides said the case rested on five issues, the missing persons, the rights of property of displaced Greek Cypriots and their rights to hold free elections, the living conditions of the enclaved, and the rights of Turkish Cypriots violated by Turkey.
On the latter, the Commission report said the application by the government failed because the Commission considered all local avenues had not been exhausted.
It said the breakaway regime was a local administration subject to Turkey and that Turkish Cypriots should apply to Turkey before approaching the European judicial system.
"We do not consider anything carried out in the occupied areas as being in accordance with international law," Markides said.
On the issue of missing persons, Markides said the report found massive violations of human rights regarding the missing and their relatives by the failure of the Turkish side to cooperate with the investigation into their fate.
On the issue of property, similar violations were found, while regarding the enclaved, the report said their living conditions constituted a serious form of intervention in the right to respect for private and family life.
"The treatment of enclaved persons is tantamount to adverse discrimination on the basis of ethnic origin, race and religion," Markides quoted the report as saying.