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[halil]

Open letter by Ozcan Ozcanhan to Alexander Downer
05.06.2009

Ozcan Ozcanhan

Your Excellency,

Months ago I applied to you, through your Spokesman Jose Diaz, for an exclusive interview on behalf of ADA TV, Cyprus Star and Cyprus Observer. I sent a reminder and complained to Mr. Diaz that you were discriminating against the Turkish Cypriot media, since you had granted exclusive interviews to the Greek Cypriot TV channels, Filelefheros, Politis and other newspapers.
His reply consoled me for a while.... “Mr. Downer, when he is back, is planning to grant a series of interviews. There is no discrimination.”
Alas!! Months have gone by, and, still, I have had neither a meeting nor chance for an interview.
Therefore, with due respect, I am publicly putting down a number of questions, hoping that you will promptly respond.

Questions

Are you still encouraged by the ongoing Talat-Christofias negotiations for a Cyprus settlement?
In your own words at the beginning of your assignment, you sounded “optimistic and encouraged. It is a difficult problem and it will take time. But, the two leaders have committed themselves to finding a peaceful solution. We will continue to provide every assistance....”
And, like your predecessors, you have tried to be very helpful, but failed, and reports say you have decided to give up and that you are in touch with some quarters for a better, new job ‘without the headaches of the Cyprus impasse’.
Can you, honestly, admit that there has so far been no significant and encouraging progress in the continuing Cyprus talks?
Is it not true that whatever progress may have been made bears no significance to the overall, complicated, long outstanding problem? (UN Sponsored Cyprus talks have been going on since 1968)
Are you aware how many UN Secretary-Generals, Special Advisers, experts, UN drafts and Confidence Building Measure packages, deconfrontation attempts etc. were involved in the now years-old negotiation process?
Are you prepared and willing to disclose, publicly, the proposals drafted by your team of experts and the result of your contacts with not only the two leaders, but also, with the NGOs, trade union representatives, businessmen etc?
Can you deny or confirm reports that work has been going on for a further revised Annan Plan?
Is there a totally different, conclusive UN plan for a lasting, honourable settlement in Cyprus?
Have the ‘Property, Territory, Oil Prospecting’ issues hindered your work and created further problems?
Are they the only stumbling blocks in the way of Christofias and Talat?
Is there any commitment by the two leaders to abandon the de facto status quo - i.e. Republic of Cyprus and the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC) - for a re-unified Cyprus?
Has Mr. Talat, the Turkish Cypriot negotiator, given his word to release considerable territory, in the wake of a ‘Land for Peace’ deal?
How many thousand Greek Cypriots are ready and willing to return to the North under Turkish Cypriot control and governance?
And, how many Turkish Cypriots are willing to return to the South to their former homes and villages from where they had to flee starting from the 1958, 1963 Greek cleansing operation of ethnic Turks?
Surely, you must have some information!
Since the two sides, as has been announced and as has been agreed in 1977 and 1979 at the Makarios-Denktas, Kyprianou-Denktas summit accords, why is there so much more bargaining on a ‘bizonal, bicommunal federation based on political equality of Greek and Turkish Cypriots’?
Why does the UN not press for an early implementation of the 1977 and 1979 agreements and why is so much time wasted?
Are the 1960 International Cyprus Agreements and the Treaty of Guarantee and Establishment still in force or not?
Is it not agreed that all those agreements are in force and valid until they are superseded by new agreements?
How can the Cyprus Republic, without Turkish Cypriots in the cabinet (that should be made up of three Turkish Cypriots and seven Greek Cypriots) and with 26 Turkish Cypriot members absent from the House of Representatives, be the legitimate, internationally recognised, 1960 partnership Cyprus Republic?
Is it not ‘de facto?
How can it be ‘de jure’ and be treated and recognised as internationally legitimate?
If the present Cyprus Republic is legitimate and internationally recognised, why should the unilaterally declared TRNC not be recognised legally?
After all, the current Cyprus Republic is not what it should be. Its shape, its cabinet, House of Representatives, all government organs, public services have been seized by Greek Cypriots.
Since the British are sovereign in Cyprus in their base areas, why cannot the Cyprus Turks be sovereign in their own native lands?
The status of the British bases at Dhekelia and Akrotiri must also be questioned. Don’t you think so?
The 1960 Cyprus Republic is non-existent. It has not existed since it was seized and usurped, late in December 1963. Not to mention the 1974 military coup, when ‘The Hellenic Republic of Cyprus’ was declared and Nicos Samson - the EOKA hitman - was installed as President.
What have the UN and UNFICYP done during crucial and historic times of Cyprus?
And what are they really doing now?
The Security Council resolutions, UN Reports, the six monthly extensions of the mandate of UNFICYP, and the UN solution plans have served not an iota in the final, mutually acceptable Cyprus settlement for over 44 years.
Is that why, you have now, realised that you should give up and look for another comfortable occupation?
Who are your new employers?
Before you go, why don’t you – the UN - not set a time limit for the Cyprus talks and why don’t you ask the Security Council to pass a new resolution recognising the existence of two separate, independent states in Cyprus, guaranteed by Turkey, the UN, the US and the EU, leaving out Britain and Greece? Because Greece occupied Cyprus in 1974 and because Britain remained a mere onlooker at critical times of the former Cyprus Republic
Mr. Downer, I hope, you will find enough time to answer, sincerely and bluntly all those questions, without leaving the slightest shadow of doubt.

[Sotos]

These are not "Questions". These are the words of a fanatic Turkish Settler brought to our island after a Turkish invasion so that Turks can push away the native Cypriots and steal our land. No decent human being would want to have anything to do with such barbarians. Unfortunately we have to deal with them because they came here by invading our island.

[Get Real!]

Open letter by Ozcan Ozcanhan to Alexander Downer
05.06.2009

Ozcan Ozcanhan

Your Excellency,

Isn't he just a foreign diplomat?