At the General Meeting of Saturday 13th March 2010 the new Committee was elected and is as follows:
President - Neoklis Neokleous,
V. President - Tony Theodorou,
G. Secretary - Minas Mina,
Asst G. Secretary - Avraam Christou,
Treasurer - Kyriacos Paschalis,
Public Relations - Ioannis Kouvaros,
E. Secretary - Costas Paul.
Members: Xenia Chambou, Anastasia Chrysanthou, Maria Kashis, Niki Hadjoullis.
Campaign and Fund Raising Committee: Costas Antoniou, Lella Markou-Theodorou, Georgia Antoniou, Niki Ioakim, Niki Loizou and Gokay Ucar.
MEETING WITH
OFFICIALS OF THE FOREIGN & COMMONWEALTH
OFFICE:
On Tuesday 19th January 2010, a
five-member delegation of ORMC (UK) Committee met at
the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO), with the
leaders of the Cyprus-Greece and Turkey desks.
At the meeting it was put, once again, the refusal of
Turkey to abide by the European Court of Human Rights
(ECHR) judgement in relation to Greek Cypriot Missing
and their Relatives, as well as the unwillingness and
inability of the international community to persuade or
force Turkey to abide.
Unfortunately, as in previous meetings the reply of the
FCO was the same. “We do all we can to persuade Turkey
to abide. We can do no more”. Our representatives
strongly expressed their disagreement to that
contention.
It was pointed out that the Organisation is not at all
happy with the stance taken by the UK Government (UKG)
and insisted that they can do a lot more towards Turkey
on this issue. The ORMC (UK) members pointed out that
the UKG not only has the obligation but also is in a
strong position to exert pressure on Turkey. The
F&CO officials responded by suggesting that: since
whenever they raise the Greek Cypriot Missing issue,
Turkish officials raise the issue of Turkish Cypriot
Missing and that restrict them from putting additional
pressure, as they do not want to be accused of
bias.
Our representatives demanded that the UK Government
stop the pretence of impartiality and “sitting on the
fence”, that greatly favours Turkey.
And, if it really wants a solution to both issues of
the Missing, it would be better to study each case
separately, identify the barriers to the solution for
each case and act accordingly, for the restoration of
human rights for all the Missing and their Relatives.
Sitting on the fence only benefits the perpetrators of
this hideous crime.
CUTTING
OF THE NEW YEAR’S CAKE:
This took place on Sunday 17th Jan 2010 at
St Barnaba’s Church Hall, after the service at St.
Mary’s church. Bishop Athanasios after prayers, cut and
distributed the cake to all present. Short speeches
followed by ORMC (UK) President N. Neokleous and the
Consul General Mr E. Savva. Support was also expressed
by DY.SY (UK) President Mr A. Papaevripides, Mrs L.
Pattichi of the Ladies Section of DY.SY (UK) who
donated a cheque for £500, on behalf of the Ladies
Group and from Mr M. Kashis of EDEK (UK) who also
offered £500.
The ORMC President thanked them all and all those
present and promised that the donated money will be
used wisely and will help our campaign.
ARGUMENT AGAINST PEACE OR OBLIGATION TO HUMAN RIGHTS?
For 34 years now we have
been lobbying Governments, Heads of States,
democratically elected public representatives and
especially our Government here in the UK to help locate
and identify the fate of all the missing Cypriots from
1974 but even earlier from 1963.
Unfortunately not everyone out there seems to
understand this basic Human Rights obligation to those
that disappeared but also of their relatives who for so
many years are still living in the dark about the fate
of their loved ones.
Here (right) is a copy of a letter recently received at
our offices from 'a Turkish Cypriot’ friend, who
unfortunately wishes to remain anonymous and who seems
to be missing this important point all together. As we
are unable to communicate directly with them, a reply
on our home site is our only hope that sooner or later
it might find its way to him/her.
Our friend has completely missed the whole point of our
letter to the MPs. We as the relatives of the Missing
Cypriots want to know the fate of our loved ones. This
is a basic human right and nobody should try and deny
us that right.
All we want to know is if our loved ones are dead,
where are they buried so that they can be exhumed and
be given a proper burial and if they are alive to be
returned. Is this too much to ask?
The UN sponsored CMP (Committee of Missing People) in
Cyprus is doing a grand job, but it will do a better
job if the Turkish army would give all the information
it has about the Missing. So far it has given
absolutely NOTHING!
This is why, as British citizens, we want the British
Government to apply pressure on Turkey to give all the
information it has about our Missing. After all the
European Court of Human Rights has already ruled, in
the case Varnava and others, that Turkey had violated
Article 2 (right to life) and Article 5 (right to
liberty and security) of the European Convention on
Human Rights by failing to conduct an effective
investigation into their whereabouts. It also ruled
that Turkey had breached the rights of the nine
relatives under Article 3 (proscribing inhuman or
degrading treatment).
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