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24 novembre 2004

LEFKOSA (AA) - President Rauf Denktas of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) said on Monday about confessions of Greek Cypriot Andreas Dimitriu, a former member of EOKA, "it is a quite striking statement. Their conscience has begun talking, and it is a positive development."

President Denktas stressed that the Greek Cypriot leadership should apologize from the Turkish Cypriots for the massacres it committed between 1963 and 1974.

"I hope that the Greek Cypriot leadership will explain how and why events of 1963-1974 started. We expect them to apologize from Turkish Cypriot people, and to start assessing requests for compensation. In order to secure confidence of Turkish Cypriot people, the Greek Cypriot side should bring to justice those who were responsible for the massacres. I call on everyone, especially Europeans, to judge those confessions carefully," he added.

67-year-old Andreas Dimitriu confessed that they killed Turkish Cypriot people in Taskent 30 years ago, and the officials were aware of it.

In an interview with the Greek Cypriot Alithia newspaper, Dimitriu said, "we gathered Turkish Cypriot men in the village. I thought that they would have been used in exchange of captives. I did not know that the men would have been killed. Those men were taken away by soldiers coming from Hirokitia. The same soldiers raped some young women for revenge."

A total of 89 Turkish Cypriots were killed on August 14th, 1974, and they were buried in mass graves.

Anadolu Agency