- The President of United States
- The Prime Minister of United Kingdom
- The Secretary General of the United Nations
- The President of the Commission of the
European Union
- President of Greece
- Prime Minister of Greece
- President of Turkey
- The Prime Minister of Turkey
- The President of the Republic of Cyprus
and Head of the Greek Cypriot Community
- The Head of the Turkish Cypriot Community
MEMBERS OF:
-
United
Nations
-
European Union
- European Parliament
- Council
of Europe
- U.S. House of Representatives
-
US Senate
CC:
- Members of Parliaments
of the world and Press
The Republic of Cyprus has been an independent
state since 1960. Its right to independence has been validated
by the London-Zurich agreements and by the Treaty of Guarantee
of 1960.
The Republic of Cyprus has been without interruption
a member of the United Nations since 1960. The establishment
of an independent Cypriot state was a result of the Cypriot
people's struggle for self-determination during the 1950's.
Eighty percent of the Cypriots are of Hellenic ancestry, while
eighteen percent are of Turkish.
On July 20 and August 14, 1974, the armed
forces of the Republic of Turkey invaded and occupied thirty
seven percent of the territory belonging to the internationally
recognized government of the Republic of Cyprus. As a result
of the dual Turkish invasions of Cyprus in 1974, over 200,000
Greek Cypriots were ethnically cleansed by the invading forces
of the Republic of Turkey, and had to flee as refugees in the
southern part of the island. While more than 50,000 Turkish
Cypriots were forced un-willingly to move in the occupied area.
To date, there are still over 1,600 Cypriots
missing. At the present time, Turkish occupation forces are
working to make the occupation of Cyprus irreversible, by refusing
to abide to the UN resolutions, the international law, and the
decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. Their intransigent
position is for legalising the fait accompli (Turkey is the
only state that recognizes the pseudo-state of the north), by
proposing a solution of two states and a loose con-federal status
between them, by threatening to unite the occupied territories
to Turkey, and by importing illegal settlers from Turkey who
eventually occupy homes and property belonging to Greek refugees.
At the same time native-born Turkish Cypriots in the occupied
north, diminish in numbers by immigrating abroad, due to harassment
and hardships from the occupation forces and the illegal settlers.
The Cyprus issue today is in front of important
crossroads: with the good services of the United Nations and
its Secretary General, an effort is made to brake the Turkish
intransigence and to find among the two island's communities
a peaceful, viable, workable and long-lasting solution. A re-unified
Cyprus with a Federal structure that will guarantee one international
legal personality, one indivisible sovereignty and one sole
nationality is the solution sought; this will reject groundless
thoughts about two separate states or a confederation. Such
a solution is prescribed in the relevant UN Resolutions, the
High Level agreements between the two Cypriot communities, and
the Aqui Communitaire & rules of the European Union. The
Republic of Cyprus is bidding to join at the next process of
E.U.'s enlargement. It is important that this solution guarantees
the respect of Human Rights and basic freedoms for all the legal
citizens of Cyprus and especially to exercise in the whole of
the Cyprus territory the rights to property, movement and settlement.
We the undersigned present this petition to
American President George W. Bush, the UK Prime Minister Tony
Blair, the UN Secretary Kofi Anan, and the President of the
Commission of the European Union Romano Prodi, as well as to
members of Parliaments of the world. With this petition we urge
you to support the respect for human rights, basic freedoms
and international law by supporting the re-unification and territorial
integrity of Cyprus.
With this petition we urge the major powers
of the world to unconditionally support the Republic of Cyprus
in its bid to enter the European Union. With this petition we
urge the recipients to oppose threats and further acts of aggression
by Turkish political and military authorities and "convince"
them to respect the International and UN resolutions and Laws.
We the signatories
of this petition believe it is time to put an end to the occupation
of Cyprus. To move towards a peaceful, workable, viable and
long-lasting solution to the Cyprus problem.
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