Support freedom of expression for AVRUPAPosted: Thursday, June 14, 2001 at 10:18 PM UT | Updated: May 23, 2017 The Turkish Cypriot daily AVRUPA (Europe in Turkish) reported under the banner headlines “We do not have security of life” that its journalists and staff have declared that their lives are in danger and demand the United Nations Security Council's protection. Please take a few minutes of your time to extend your support to a group of progressive journalists in Cyprus under assault and death threats for opposing the politics of continued ethnic division on the island. Your condemnation of attacks upon the press and violations of freedom of expression in Cyprus is invaluable. A small but strategic island in the eastern Mediterranean, torn apart by ethnic strife, can use all the help it can get in support of a free press. Ethnic conflict in the case of Cyprus, as in the Balkans, is enabled when voices opposing nationalist and chauvinist politics are attacked and silenced. You can contact the current Chairman of the United Nations Security Council, Honorable Anwarul Karim Chowdhury, Ambassador and Permanent Representative for Bangladesh to urge him to respond to the recent appeal by the by the journalists and staff of the Turkish Cypriot opposition daily AVRUPA for protection of their lives. SUMMARY: On 9 June 2001 the Turkish Cypriot daily AVRUPA (Europe in Turkish) reported under the banner headlines «We do not have security of life» that its journalists and staff have declared that their lives are in danger and demand the United Nations Security Council's protection. In a signed letter addressed to the UN Security Council the 30 employees of AVRUPA demanded its protection. The letter was hand delivered to a UN official who visited the paper's office in occupied northern Cyprus. The UN official was asked to transmit the letter to the UN Security Council presidency. In their letter, AVRUPA's staff state that because of their newspaper's opposition to the official Cyprus policy of Turkey and the Denktas regime, the intimidation and oppression to silence the paper has escalated recently, including a continuing and unabated campaign of death threats. The staff of AVRUPA concluded their letter to the UN Security Council with the! following: «We, the journalists, writers and the workers of AVRUPA who are living under continuous death threat, have started worrying about our lives. We apply to you to protect our lives because we have no other way out. We are at our wits' end. We do believe that you will do what is necessary, with the competent authorities». BACKGROUND: Since Turkey invaded the island in 1974, Cyprus has been divided into two ethnic parts. A 2,500-member U.N. peacekeeping force patrols a buffer zone to maintain peace in the unresolved conflict between the Turkish-occupied north and the Greek-dominated south. Turkey maintains 35,000 occupation troops in the north and is the only nation to recognize the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state. U.N.-sponsored talks for the reunification of Cyprus broke off late last year over the refusal of Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktas to return to the negotiating table unless his breakaway state is recognized. Progressive and pro-peace journalists in northern Cyprus are under assault with the 'blessings" of the Turkish occupation army and the nationalist Denktas regime they prop. On 24 May 2001 a firebomb attack against the premises of AVRUPA occurred. AVRUPA, a main voice of opposition against the continuing division of the island and the policies of the Turkish government supporting the breakaway state in northern Cyprus, has been subjected to a prolonged campaign of harassment, intimidation and firebomb attacks. CONDEMNATION BY JOURNALIST ORGANIZATIONS: The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), representing over 450,000 journalists in more than 100 countries, on 25 May 2001 condemned the Turkish authorities over the bomb attack. The IFJ and its regional group, the European Federation of Journalists, accused the authorities of northern Cyprus of "willful neglect" over the safety of journalists after the latest firebomb attack on the independent daily newspaper AVRUPA. The IFJ is concerned that the latest attack, which follows a period of court fines and official harassment, is part of wide campaign aimed at shutting down the newspaper. Another firebomb attack against AVRUPA's printing premises occurred in November 2000. The press printing machine and a large amount of paper were burned. AVRUPA, which is critical of the regime of Rauf Denktas, has been a victim of intimidation, court action and official interference for years. In January 2000 the paper was accused of incitement and defamation of the regime. Hearings against the paper started on 26 May 2000 before an unrecognised "criminal court" in the Turkish occupied part of Cyprus. AVRUPA faced 75 lawsuits for "instigating hatred against the Turkish republic of North Cyprus and the Turkish army". Military and police prosecutors have sought to jail the editor-in-chief Mr. Sener Levent and five other journalists of AVRUPA. In July, Sener Levent and two journalists were briefly detained and accused of treason and espionage. An IFJ mission to the island at the time accused the authorities of breaching human rights rules and of failing to protect the journalists.
For more information please visit the website of IFJ at: https://www.ifj.org/publications/press/pr/214.html https://www.ifj.org/hrights/missions/cyprus.html Following the latest firebomb attack against AVRUPA, the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has also voiced its concern about the campaign against the newspaper. For more information please visit the website of CPJ at: https://www.cpj.org/news/2001/Cyprus31may01na.html AVRUPA consistently advocates positions in support of the U.N. Security Council resolutions on Cyprus. In particular AVRUPA voices support for a June 1999 resolution calling for a settlement of the ethnic division on the island "based on a state of Cyprus with a single sovereignty and international personality and a single citizenship, with its independence and territorial integrity safeguarded, and comprising two politically equal communities.'' The Denktas regime must stop all forms of victimization of these journalists who have committed no crime. In a fashion consistent with democratic practice, AVRUPA provides critical journalism and independent scrutiny of those who exercise power. In northern Cyprus today they have become victims of a regime that refuses to protect its citizens, their property and their freedom of expression. CONTACT INFORMATION: Write, call or fax U.N. Security Council Chairman Anwarul Karim Chowdhury. Also cc your message to the Chinese Ambassador Wang Yingfan who will be the chair of the U.N. Security Council in July and to your Congressional representatives. You can also cc all of the permanent members of the Security Council. UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL Security Council Chair (Bangladesh) for June 2001: H.E. Mr. Anwarul Karim Chowdhury |
