Missing Turkish Cypriots found in Larnaca
LARNACA construction workers came across a grave containing what is believed to
be the remains of missing Turkish Cypriots dating back to the Turkish uprising
of 1963-1964 or the 1974 Turkish Invasion.
The grave was discovered on Istanbul Street, in the former Larnaca Turkish
Cypriot quarters, by accident during works to dig water drainage pipes.
Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot scientists have been employed to investigate
the grave, and are being assisted by Argentinean anthropologists.
The next large scale dig will take place in the Limassol district to uncover a
mass grave of 84 missing Turkish Cypriots from Tochni, Mari and Zygi, who went
missing in August 1974.
10/10/06 Cyprus Mail 2006
Serb opposition leader
challenges Tassos over cash
By
Elias Hazou
SERBIAN opposition leader Vladan Batic yesterday called on President Tassos
Papadopoulos to account for his role in the siphoning of billions of dollars
from the former Yugoslavia to Cyprus in the 1990s.
As former Justice Minister of Serbia, Batic has tracked the issue for some
time, working with UN Carla del Ponte, Chief Prosecutor for the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, in establishing how the money left
the country under the Milosevic regime.
Yugoslavia was subject to a UN embargo at the time.
The involvement of offshore banks in Cyprus in moving the money has been well
documented in a report prepared by UN war crimes investigator Morten
Torkildsen.
In the report, Papadopoulos’ law firm is named as registering a number of
offshore banks with a turnover running in the hundreds of millions of pounds.
The process is believed to have been facilitated by Beogradska Banka, one of
Yugoslavia’s largest banks.
The Cyprus branch of Beogradska was managed by Borka Vucic who, according to
Batic, was acting on the instructions of the late Serbian President Slobodan
Milosevic.
In one case, a company known as Antexol was registered in the name of Ljiljana
Radenkovic. But it later emerged she had never heard of the company.
Antexol was struck off the company registrar’s record in August 2004.
In an open letter to Papadopoulos yesterday, Batic begins:
“These questions originate on the one hand from very detailed information that
I am acquainted with and on the other as a plea for help for Serbia and the
Serbian people. They come regardless of mistakes and oversights that you might
have made in the recent past, by purpose, or unintentionally, since it is in
the human nature to make mistakes.
“In your interview given to daily newspaper Politis of June 22, 2002, you
confirmed that those companies have been established by order and for the need
of Beogradska Banka on Cyprus, with the aim, as you said, ‘for bypassing
American sanctions’.”
The questions then follow:
“Were you informed about the following: UN sanctions have been toughened with
UN resolution no. 820 of April 17, 1993? The Council of Ministers of Cyprus
passed an important obligatory decision on April 22, 1993, regarding implementing
of UN resolution, and therefore informed all potential participators, including
your law office. This, however, did not cause any response from your office and
the usual business practices were carried out as before. Did you not know that
doing so is a serious law violation and did you know about such actions at that
time?
“Did you know that after publishing of the Torkildsen report of the Hague
Tribunal, Predrag Djordjevic, who resides in Cyprus and petitions the lawsuit,
reported the mentioned activities as criminal acts to a former state prosecutor
Alecos Markides. He acted and on November 17, 2002 started a number of
investigations against several suspects including yourself, all based on
evidence from the Hague Tribunal and statements of Ljiljana Radenkovic and
Radmila Budisin?
“Do you know that the investigation was obstructed after your instatement as
President of Cyprus, and finally stopped by the decision of the new
Attorney-general Petros Klerides…
“Are you familiar with the fact that Ministry of Trade and Commerce of Cyprus,
during 2003, under supervision of your closest associate Mr Lillikas, illegally
removed the Antexol Company from the register of companies, which was kept by
the Ministry?...
“Have you been informed that other Cypriot institutions also destroyed written
evidence regarding activities of aforementioned companies, such as Ministry of
Finance, Customs, Central Bank of Cyprus, Laiki Bank etc?
“Did you know that the money brought to Cyprus comes either from the Serbian state
and the people, or as a profit of most serious criminal activities, such as
drugs, weapons trafficking and illegal trade of oil and cigarettes? Such ‘dirty
money’ had to be laundered right through companies registered at your office.
“Do you know that according to estimates of experts, over ten billion American
dollars had been taken out from Serbia and transferred to accounts of ‘screen’
companies registered by your office? A portion of that money ended as profit of
the richest group – tycoons of Serbia, but also foreigners on Cyprus, Greece
and other countries, as a repayment for certain services done for Milosevic
regime.”
And in closing, Batic notes:
“With deepest respect, I wish to believe that at the time of forming the
aforementioned companies you were deeply convinced that you were helping Serbia
and its people. Unfortunately, it did not turn out that way. My most sincere
conviction is that you probably have unintentionally helped Milosevic and his
tycoons without your knowledge. I truly hope you realise that at present.”
There is a political angle to the affair: As Serbia heads for a crunch election
this December, Batic is running on a corruption-crackdown ticket. He has vowed
to return the stolen money to the Serb people and bring to justice all those
involved in the sanctions busting.
10/10/06 Cyprus Mail 2006
Serb businessman threatens $26
million suit against bank
By
Elias Hazou
THE Popular Bank could be facing a blitz of lawsuits in the near future as
Serbian people seek to recuperate their life savings, lost during the siphoning
away of billions of dollars abroad under the Milosevic regime.
The island’s second largest lender stands suspected of being an accessory to
money laundering, for its alleged failure to exercise due diligence in opening
accounts, whose cash trail pointed to Yugoslavia, then subject to a strict UN
embargo.
In what could be a pilot case, Serbian businessman Predrag Djordjevic, a
resident of Cyprus, is suing the bank to the tune of $26 million for loss of
potential income.
Djordjevic claims the bank illegally held his money in an account, and as a
result of his inability to have access to the funds, he missed out on a number
of business contracts.
In 1994, at the height of the Bosnian war, Djordjevic attempted to ship cotton
into Yugoslavia with a UN permit.
Djordjevic claims his Bulgarian trade partner deposited about £180,000 in
Deutschmarks into his company account in Belgrade, and that the money was
supposed to be transferred to Beogradska Banka in Cyprus.
However, the transfer was mysteriously blocked.
After a long legal wrangle with Beogradska, Djordjevic found his money had been
moved into an account with the Popular Bank. A company he had never heard of,
Antexol Trade Ltd, controlled the account.
When the accounts were examined in court, Djordjevic discovered about $300,000
had been transferred to Antexol’s Popular Bank account, which bore the same
number as his account with Beogradska.
The now-defunct Antexol was registered by the Tassos Papadopoulos law firm.
Djordjevic, who finally received his money too late to save his cotton deal,
then decided to take legal action against the Popular Bank and Antexol Trade
Ltd.
The hearings against the Popular Bank and Antexol are in progress, but in the
meantime Djordjevic is separately suing the Popular Bank for loss of potential
income because, ultimately, he claims it was the organisation responsible for
handling his account.
A date for the second case has yet to be set, although the hearings should get
under way by the end of the year.
“They [the bank] had an obligation to protect me, their client. Instead, they
put my money into a secret account,” claims Djordjevic.
In essence, he accuses the Popular Bank of conspiring with Beogradska and the
Tassos Papadopoulos law office to “steal” his money, even if inadvertently.
Worse, Djordjevic claims, in the process the Popular Bank disclosed to
Beogradska confidential information about his company’s commercial activities,
again violating its fiduciary duties to him.
“But this is only the beginning” Djordjevic told the Mail yesterday.
A host of other Serbs were planning similar actions against the bank “some time
soon,” he said.
“About 99 per cent of the money secreted from Yugoslavia passed through the
eight or so offshore companies – fronts, really – registered by Papadopoulos’
law firm. And it’s not just me saying this – it’s been established by [UN war
crimes investigator Morten] Torkildsen.
“The consequences will be huge. Just think about who is involved.”
According to Djordjevic, the billions of dollars that left Yugoslavia at the
time are “one of the major reasons” for the dire economic situation in Serbia
today.
“To this day, you can still find soup kitchens for the destitute in Belgrade,
an otherwise modern city. I’ve heard stories that bring tears to your eyes.
People are suffering. They won’t give up until they get justice.
“So if some people here think this will go away, they are dreaming,” warned
Djordjevic.
According to Torkildsen’s report, most of the dirty money was pocketed by Serb
tycoons. A key person in the money-laundering scheme was Mihalj Kertes,
formerly the director of Yugoslavia’s customs department. On several trips to
Cyprus between 1998 to 1999, Kertes brought with him suitcases full of cash
worth an estimated total of $508 million.
Kertes is currently under investigation in Serbia as an accomplice to Milosevic
in the assassination of political opponents.
In Cyprus, back in 2002 the then Attorney-general Alecos Markides launched an
investigation into the “Cypriot connection” of the Serb money affair. One of
the suspects was the Papadopoulos law firm.
The investigation was based partly on Djordjevic’s own claims and
documentation. Four years on, there has been no word about its findings.
Djordjevic believes it’s been buried.
But more than mere apathy, local authorities have on occasion resorted to
deliberate sabotage, he alleges.
For no apparent reason, his application to have his one-year temporary
residency permit extended has been pending since January.
That means that if he were to travel abroad he wouldn’t be allowed back in the
country.
Djordjevic needs to travel for two main reasons: he now earns a living as a
consultant to companies looking to set up shop in Serbia; and he needs to bring
witnesses for his court cases.
“Is it a coincidence that this happened during the court hearings? I sent the
Interior Minister a letter demanding an explanation for the delay. Normally
these things take a month, maximum.
The response I got was ‘warm regards’ from the minister, but no explanation
whatsoever.
“In all my years in Cyprus, I never did anything wrong, not even got a parking
ticket. But I guess they’re trying everything to stop me. They won’t succeed.”
10/10/06 Cyprus Mail 2006
By Denis Macshane
Published: October 11 2006 03:00 | Last
updated: October 11 2006 03:00
Europe is doing its level best to
tell Turkey it is no longer wanted as part of the European Union. It is a high-risk
game with little to gain and a great deal to lose. How much longer will this
sec-ular, democratic, Muslim country look westwards to a European future,
instead of turning east?
Take the proclamation by Jacques
Chirac, president of France, on a recent visit to Armenia. Indulging his hosts
and delighting the politically active Armenian diaspora in France, Mr Chirac
said Turkey should recognise the massacre of hundreds of thousands of Armenians
in the turmoil of the first world war as "genocide". In doing so, he
unilaterally created a new condition of EU membership for Turkey. This is
rather like Tony Blair popping up in Madagascar or Algeria and telling France
to apologise for the postwar massacres undertaken by French soldiers as they
put down uprisings.
The Armenian massacres are a dreadful
scar in the memory of that proud people, torn apart by the many wars and
foreign interventions of the 20th century. But it was the decaying elements of
the Ottoman Empire that killed the Armenians, not the modern Turkish Republic.
If the EU is to demand apologies for historic misdeeds from its existing
members, let alone potential members, then it may as well dissolve itself.
After Mr Chirac's statement, Olli Rehn,
EU enlargement commissioner, reiterated that recognition of a genocide is not
an official precondition of membership. It was a welcome correction. But how do
you explain away the European Commission president, José Manuel Barroso, saying
that the era of EU enlargement is over?
This problem goes beyond the bluster of
bureaucrats in Brussels or an elderly French president on his way out of
office. In April 2004, European foreign ministers solemnly agreed to open trade
links with northern Cyprus. They have broken that promise. I took part in that
negotiation, and I find it shameful that powerful European states are unable to
enforce their own decisions.
Turkey wakes up almost every month to
find a new hurdle on its path to Europe. The mishandling of "the Turkish
question" would seem laugh-able were it not so important. The implicit
repudiation of its European ambitions is already fuelling support for radical
groups in Turkish domestic politics who argue that Europe is reneging on its
pledge to negotiate seriously. This matters because Turkey is pivotal to Britain
and other European states realising their interests overseas. Today, scores of
thousands of Europe's best soldiers are fighting the anti-democratic forces of
jihadist terror networks from the shores of Lebanon to the frontier mountains
of Pakistan. If Europe wants to promote democracy in the region, Turkey is an
indispensable ally.
Turkey, of course, does much to drive
its friends in the west quite mad. The trials of writers and journalists are an
insult to any notion of democracy. The occupation of northern Cyprus and
refusal to normalise relations with Nicosia is intolerable - but is likely to
last forever if Europe continues to patronise the Turks. However, the enormous
progress in rule of law, freedom of intellectual activity and the defence of
the secular state against illiberal religious fundamentalism remains an
important advance in the struggle to defend democracy.
Europe cannot rely on its loyalty
because Turkey has alternatives. It can create a Black Sea alliance with
Vladimir Putin's increasingly authoritarian Russia. It could even forge a
coalition with a nuclear-armed Iran; the neighbours have rarely threatened each
other in the past. There are energy-rich republics to Turkey's east that share
its language and culture. Islamists in Turkey have long advocated a
rapprochement with Pakistan to create a crescent of influence and power linking
a series of Islamic states governed by strong semi-military regimes. An
independent Turkey, free of ties to the EU, could also clash with European
foreign policy goals by aggressively pursuing its interests in the
Mediterranean or the Middle East.
Turkey's friends need to lead a
diplomatic offensive to ensure the EU honours its obligations. Leaving Turkey
turning on the spit of European debate - roasted by condescension, ignorance
and hostility - will transform one of Europe's greatest assets into a source of
conflict and tension. For good or ill Europe is now intervening in a region
full of problems in Iran, Iraq and Israel-Palestine. Making an enemy of Turkey will
make solving any of these problems far more difficult.
The writer is Labour MP for Rotherham.
He was Europe minister between 2002 and 2005
FINANCIAL
TIMES
Lobby group protests ‘bloody logo’
By Simon Bahceli
‘Being trapped by the past is not going to help Cyprus’
A MAP of Cyprus with dripping blood representing the occupied north is the
latest target for London-based pressure group Embargoed! , who say the image is
insulting to Turkish Cypriots.
Embargoed! made an impact earlier this year when it launched a poster campaign
that showed naked footballers protesting against the exclusion of Turkish
Cypriot sportsmen and women from international competitions.
The picture was accompanied by the racy title, “Balls to the embargoes!”. This
time, however, it is a logo used by the National Federation of Cypriots (NFC)
in Britain that is at the centre of their latest campaign.
“For Turkish Cypriots, the sight of the bloody map is utterly offensive. Its
crude and vulgar imagery demonises north Cyprus and vilifies Turks,” Dr Fusun
Nadiri, an active Embargoed! member said in a press released sent by
Embargoed!, adding that it was “false and cruel to imply only Greek Cypriots
suffered and all the suffering was inflicted by Turkey”.
The protest was triggered by the use of the bloody map logo in a two-page
advertisement in the Haringey Advertiser calling for Cypriots to gather for the
NFC’s annual Rally for Cyprus. In response to the advertisement, Embargoed!
wrote to both the NFC and the Advertising Standards Association (ASA) asking
that steps be taken to prevent future use of the offending logo.
Nadiri warned Greek Cypriots that “being trapped by the past is not going to
help Cyprus” and that “the best way to reconcile the two sides is to avoid
anything that fuels hatred of the other”. She added that, “both sides have
endured major trauma and only by acknowledging this can we move forward to a
peaceful future built on the recognition of the collective and individual
rights of both Greek and Turkish Cypriots.”
Embargoed! say they have yet to receive a response from the ASA, but have begun
an campaign of lobbying MPs and collecting names for a petition against the
logo. The group say they have received the support of a number of MPs and
councillors who agreed that the logo is “damaging” to relations between the two
communities.
In his letter to NFC head Haris Sophoclides Embargoed! head Bulent Osman called
on Greek Cypriots to move on from the stance he believes they have maintained
since 1974 and follow the Turkish Cypriot community’s lead in revising its view
of past events.
“In the past three or four years, Turkish Cypriots have undergone enormous
changes politically and psychologically. They have sought to come to terms with
the events of 1963-74 and beyond, not just from their own perspective, but from
that of their neighbours,” Osman said.
He uses the example of a recent change in the history syllabus in Turkish
Cypriot schools that, he says, no longer demonises Greek Cypriots and gives a
“more balanced version of history, celebrating multiculturalism and championing
tolerance”.
“These are the seeds to a peaceful future,” Osman concluded.
A spokesman from the NFC yesterday told the Cyprus Mail the logo was not meant
to be offensive to Turkish Cypriots, and that what some may have thought was
dripping blood was the in fact the uneven shape of the Green Line. The
spokesman added that the message “I will not forget” that accompanied the logo
referred to the suffering of all Cypriots, whether Greek or Turkish, even
though the message was written only in Greek and English.
Embargoed! spokeswoman Ipek Ozerim rejected the NFC’s spokesman’s explanation
by saying, “That logo has been around for years and we all know what it
represents”.
Cyprus Mail 20/10/2006