Turkish Cypriots promise more rallies
AS FALLOUT continued yesterday over Thursday’s anti-austerity rally in the north, plans were already underway for yet another mass protest against Ankara’s economic restructuring.
Opinion in the north was divided yesterday after demonstrators were seen on Thursday attempting to put up the Cyprus Republic flag on the walls of the Turkish ‘embassy’ in the north of Nicosia and carrying a banner calling on “occupier Turkey” to “F__k off from Cyprus”.
Not impressed was Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu, who told the press that such actions would weaken his negotiating position in talks with President Demetris Christofias.
“Neither is Turkey an occupier, and nor is our parliament a puppet of the Turkish government,” Eroglu said, adding that the sentiments expressed by some at the rally were “definitely not representative the majority of Turkish Cypriots”. Most Turkish Cypriots, he said, wished to see Turkey remain as an effective guarantor.
Others went further, calling for the arrest and punishment of those carrying “offensive” banners and flags. Foremost among these was leader of the small Freedom and Reform Party (ORP) who said he was willing to work in ‘parliament’ to devise laws to make such actions “severely punishable”.
But despite Eroglu’s call for calm and unity, trade unions opposed to Ankara’s austerity package yesterday vowed to continue their protests, and received a boost when two largest left wing opposition parties announced joint plans for rally on April 24.
Although billed as a pro-solution rally, the April 24 rally will carry a double message, aimed not just at putting pressure on the two Cypriot leaders, but also on Ankara to loosen its grip on the north.
In a joint statement Republican Turkish Party (CTP) leader Ferdi Sabit Soyer and Communal Democracy Party (TDP) leader Mehmet Cakici said the rally, being held on the 7th anniversary of the Turkish Cypriot community’s ‘yes’ vote in referendum to the Annan reunification plan, would show the world the Turkish Cypriot community’s continuing commitment to a bizonal federal solution.
Reaction in Turkey to Thursday’s rally was somewhat muted, with newspaper editors clearly taken aback by the animosity shown towards Ankara.
Most papers reporting on the rally carried pictures of a young man seeking to place the Cyprus Republic flag in the grounds of the Turkish ‘embassy’. Prominent daily Hurriyet blamed “groups of provocateurs” for the tussles with police, while Posta observed that “tensions are rising” in the north of Cyprus as a result of regular anti-austerity demonstrations despite the fact that Turkey gave the Turkish Cypriots €440 million worth of aid this year alone.
Despite his caustic condemnation of earlier rallies and his branding of Turkish Cypriot public sector workers as “ingrates”, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan was yesterday yet to respond to the latest protest and the news of more.
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/cyprus/turki ... s/20110409
