 |
 |
|
Greek Cypriot
"...the objective of the Turkish side is the political upgrading of the pseudo-state, the dissolution of the Cyprus Republic, the creation of two separate legal entities and the maintenance and deepening of the division..."
Cyprus President Tasssos Papadopoulos, on 31 years of Turkish invasion and occupation, 14 July 2005
"Turkey occupied 37 percent of the territory of Cyprus and carried out the greatest national cleansing campaign, in relation to the size of the population, in modern European history."
George Georgis, Ambassador of Cyprus to Athens, 16 July 2005
"An act of self defence."
Cyprus President Tasssos Papadopoulos, on the rejection of the Annan plan by the Greek Cypriots
"Erdogan has every right to return to Ankara in triumph. He gained the title of Mohammed the Conqueror, who five centuries ago passed triumphantly through the gates of the then world. The current modern world opened its gates to Turkey, as Barroso literally said, making concessions to all blackmails of Tayyip Erdogan."
Simerini newspaper, on EU Turkish accession negotiations, 18 December 2004
"The Republic of Cyprus was the biggest victim of the division of the pie on demands for the commencement of Turkey's EU accession negotiations. The alliances of the EU big countries and mainly of the British and the Germans deprived Nicosia of the possibility of having its demand adopted regarding the recognition of the Republic of Cyprus by Turkey."
Phileleftheros newspaper, on EU Turkish accession negotiations, 18 December
"The Brussels thriller is over and Turkey undertook the responsibility to adjust its customs union agreement to include all 10 new EU member-states, including Cyprus. It seems that the final agreement is binding for Turkey that has to recognise Cyprus despite the fact that Tayyip Erdogan said that he has not undertaken such a commitment."
Machi newspaper, on EU Turkish accession negotiations, 18 December
"Only a lunatic would be able to draw up the Annan plan."
Demetris Tsatsos, Professor of Constitutional Law
"Reading through the detailed 26-page report [to Security Council] there is a total absence of any reference to the basic cause of the Cyprus problem, the Turkish invasion, the 30-year-occupation and its consequences, whose legitimisation through the Annan Plan is the basic reason for its rejection by the Greek Cypriots in the referendum."
Cyprus Weekly on UN Secretary General Annan’s report on Cyprus (S/2004/437), 3 June 2004
"With so many international crises on his plate, he [Kofi Annan] may not be fully informed about the true situation in Cyprus, and is forced to depend too much on the advice of intermediaries like Messrs Hannay and Weston, whose objective is not the upholding of UN principles and respect for human rights and international law, but the defence of their national interests."
Cyprus Weekly, 30 April 2004
"This plan rewards the Turkish invasion... we had to leave our homes and land,we lost our parents and grandparents and grandparents and now the Turks get to stay."
Maria, Greek Cypriot quoted in BBC News online, regarding the proposed Annan Plan, 1 April 2004
"After 1 May I will be able to settle anywhere I like in Europe, but I won't have the right to return to the [proposed] Turkish Cypriot state where I was born. So why should I vote for it?"
Orania, Greek Cypriot refugee quoted in BBC News online, regarding the proposed Annan Plan, 1 April 2004
"Every time there there was a new version of the plan it was worse than the previous one. Why is the world doing this to us?"
Lianna, Greek Cypriot quoted in BBC News online, regarding the proposed Annan Plan, 1 April 2004
"The overwhelming majority of Greek Cypriots yesterday felt they had drawn the short straw in the fourth version of the Annan plan, with the general feeling that they would reject the blueprint come referendum day, whatever the consequences might be."
Phileleftheros newspaper on the proposed Annan Plan
"Even though Turkey gets the lion's share in the fourth plan of the UN secretary-general it appears displeased. And like a patient suffering from bulimia, it seeks more."
Haravghi newspaper on the proposed Annan Plan
"By tabling its plan last Monday in Buergenstock, the United Nations has reinforced the already powerful current of citizens who oppose the plan."
Kostas Venizelos in Politis newspaper on the proposed Annan Plan
"Without substantive financial costing, the Annan plan will fail to resolve the issue permanently: Rather, it will complicate it further, especially during the first crucial years of the new state's operation, with tremendous dangers for social harmony and peace."
Dinos Lordhos in Politis newspaper on the proposed Annan Plan
"Instead of Turkey being democratized so as to join the European Union, Cyprus will be de-democratized. And it shall join the EU in a political system that bears little connection with the acquis communautaire..."
Simerini on the Annan Plan, 2 February 2004
"The refugees were, are and continue to be the legal owners of the land."
Achilleas Demetriades, Counsel of Titina Loizidou, speaking at Lobby for Cyprus seminar, London, 19 November 1998
"The diaspora of the Greek Cypriot Argakiotes means that a link between people and resources has been broken, a destructive, aggresssive act, the opposite of the creativity which constructed the community for a very long time. I do not know how long. There is a record of a village called Argaki in 1825, but in 1630, the Dutch cartographer Blau shows a community called Ariati on roughly the place where Argaki is today. The construction of Argaki took thousands of days; the destruction only one."
P Loizos 'The uprooting of a Cypriot village'
"...I set up a youth club in a small village called Lapithos which attracted both Greeks and Turks. Prior to the Greek national day the Turkish boys used to come along and help us string up Greek flags in the club premises. The village football team had four Turks amongst its leading players. But one day when I asked them to play against a team in a nearby village they said they could not because some Turkish political leaders had told them they should not play in our team. That was the last time I ever saw them in our club..."
Greek Cypriot refugee Charilaos Frangouides, in 'Cyprus: Paradise and Hell', 1989
"My fiance and six men were shot dead. The Turkish soldiers laughed at me and then I was raped."
Greek Cypriot girl aged 20, The Sun, 'Barbarians', 8 August 1974, which documents atrocities committed by the Turkish military in its illegal invasion of Cyprus
"The Turkish soldiers cut off my father's hands and legs. Then they shot him while I watched."
Greek Cypriot woman aged 32, The Sun, 'Barbarians', 8 August 1974
"They shot the men. My friend's wife said 'Why should I live without my husband?' A soldier shot her in the head."
Greek Cypriot farmer aged 51, The Sun, 'Barbarians', 8 August 1974
|
| HOME | back to top ^ |
|
|
|
| Other quotations: |
| Cypriot |