Positive references to Cyprus in a resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)
An exceptionally positive resolution, with very important references on Cyprus was adopted with overwhelming majority on 4 October during the plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, in the framework of the 4th Part of the 2011 Session of the Assembly.
The resolution based on the report of the Rapporteur, on behalf of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of PACE, German MP Mrs Marina Schuster, is entitled “National sovereignty and statehood in contemporary international law: the need for clarification”. It is noted that this issue had been brought before the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights by Mr Christos Pourgourides and other members of the Assembly.
Though the resolution, which was given the serial number 1832 (2011), PACE calls, inter alia, on all the member states of the Council of Europe “to refrain from recognising or supporting in any way the de facto authorities of territories resulting from unlawful secessions, in particular those supported by foreign military interventions”” It also stresses that conflicts that result from military interventions “should be solved exclusively by peaceful means on the basis of international law”.
The adopted resolution states, inter alia, “that military interventions such as those by Turkey in Cyprus in 1974, have themselves led to numerous human rights violations and have not produced lasting solutions for the underlying problems; It is also stated that bilateral guarantees such as those in the context of the independence of Cyprus have not prevented conflicts”. “On the contrary”, the resolution states, “in the case of Cyprus they were used as an excuse for unilateral military intervention, conflicting with Article 2 (4) of the Charter of the United Nations and a peremptory norm of international law prohibiting the use of force”.
Moreover it states that “even if the international law were to recognize a right of national or ethnic minorities to self-determination” PACE considers that, “such a right would not give rise to an automatic right to secession”.
Furthermore, the explanatory memorandum of the report of the resolution notes, inter alia, that according to special experts serious doubts are raised on whether the Treaty of Guarantee may still be regarded as valid due to the principle which dictates that its validity may be questioned, when the reasons for establishing a Treaty no longer exist or because there was a serious breach by one of the contracting parties to the Treaty, as in the case of Cyprus by Turkey’s military intervention. This possibility, it continues, creates at the same time a big question mark as regards the legitimacy of the existence of British “sovereign military bases”, whose existence is based, again, as the Rapporteur points out, on the Treaty of Establishment.
It is also stated that Cyprus’ independence, which was linked to an outdated trilateral guarantee agreement, was the last act of decolonization in Europe. “The island”, the report states, “has remained divided de facto for decades, despite the quasi-unanimous non-recognition of the breakaway entity in the north, set up under the protection of the Turkish military”.
The memorandum also recalls resolutions 541 (1983) and 550 (1984) of the Security Council of the United Nations regarding the non-recognition of the illegal regime in the occupied areas, as well as the 4th Interstate Appeal of Cyprus vs. Turkey, in relation to the issue of the Greek Cypriot missing persons, the decision of the European Court of Human rights (ECHR) in the case of Titina Loizidou vs. Turkey, as well as other decisions of the ECHR, which concern the rights of the displaced Greek Cypriots to their properties.
It is also stressed that the Government of the Republic of Cyprus represents internationally the whole territory of Cyprus and that while it is for this reason that the whole of Cyprus acceded to the European Union in 2004, yet the acquis communautaire has been temporarily suspended in the northern part of the country, as provided by Protocol 10. It is also noted that Turkey's refusal to recognize the Republic of Cyprus, while it is the only country that recognizes the so-called "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus", is a major obstacle to Turkey's accession course.
The above references caused, during the discussion that followed, the enraged reaction of the members of the Turkish delegation to the Assembly as well as of the representative of the Turkish Cypriot community in PACE, who argued, inter alia, that these references are misleading, expressing the firm Turkish positions on the Cyprus issue. The Rapporteur, in reply, categorically rejected the above allegations referring, them, inter alia, to relevant the United Nations Security Council resolutions on Cyprus.
Moreover, Mr Christos Pourgourides speaking as President of the Assembly‘s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights after congratulating the Rapporteur for her excellent and very important report, rejected categorically, inter alia, the criticism expressed by members of the Assembly and invited everyone to vote for this very important and balanced report, as he said.
Moreover, Mr Pourgourides, President of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, presented to the plenary of the Assembly the Commission’s opinion on the issue of granting the status "Partner for Democracy" to the Palestinian National Council. After the conclusion of the discussion on the above issue, the plenary of the Parliamentary Assembly voted in favour of granting the specific status to the Palestinian National Council.
http://www.isria.com/pages/6_October_2011_37.php
yeah partial to not endorsing ethnic cleansing...
