Cyprus-Forum.com

by **Oracle** » Sat Jul 10, 2010 9:55 pm

Was not Maraş (Varosha) occupied for bargain?

Sat, 07/10/2010

The offer of Dimitris Christofias, saying “We can give green light for some of Turkey's negotiation chapters to begin, in return for Maraş (Varosha)” was described as an ‘immoral offer’ by Turkish media. Actually, Kenan Evren himself, had mentioned that the town had been occupied for bargain.

The President of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr. Christofias, was reported to have said to Turkish Chief EU Negotiator, Egemen Bağış, at the EU summit in Brussels that “If Maraş (Varosha) is returned to Cyprus, we can allow certain topics of negotiation for the EU to begin.”

Turkish media reacted to this offer. One of the big newspapers, Habertürk, put the title `Immoral offer from Greek Cypriots` to the news.
However, even Turkish officials had mentioned the fact that in 1974, when some territory of Cyprus, including Maraş (Varosha), was occupied by Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) beyond the previous plans of occupation so that it can be used for bargain in the negotiations.

On the 21st of November in 2002, Kenan Evren, the head of land forces of the army back then, talking about Northern Cyprus in a TV program in CNNTURK said: “Forces entering to Cyprus went further than it had been planed previously when they did not face any resistance. The situation was negotiated in the government that time, and it was decided that extra land taken would be used later to give as a concession in the negotiations.” Evren added “ I think less or more land, land problem is not such a big issue.”

After this TV program, Cengiz Çandar wrote, quoting Kenan Evren's speech, “However, In the TV studio and on the screen in front of us, Kenan Evren appeared after Mümtaz Soysal. `In 1974 when the operation was fullfilled, I was head of land forces. All the territory inside today's borders were not in our operation plan. Then the planned border was behind the actual border today. However, when our forces did not face any resistance, they went further than it had been planned before. There was not even Maraş (Varosha) in our plan. Forces asked what to do and `Go on`, we said. They even entered the British Military Installation accidentally, so they went out from there afterwards` said Evren, adding to the `historical knowledge` that the land taken back then was captured with the aim of giving back as a concession in the possible negotiations in the future. “

http://english.sol.org.tr/news/internat ... rgain-1208

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I would add that the whole of Cyprus was "captured" as a bargaining chip by the Turks. It had nothing to do with TC safety. Just an easy way for Turkey to gain advantages.

by **Piratis** » Sun Jul 11, 2010 1:14 am

Says it all about what the Turks mean by "concessions" and "compromises". Concession for them is to give us back a small part of what they stole from us, while from us they demand real and huge concessions in the most important issues, such as our human rights and democracy, things that should never be compromised.