The EEK (Revolutionary Workers’ Party) of Greece and the DİP (the Initiative for the Revolutionary Workers’ Party) of Turkey, both sections of the CRFI in their respective countries, note with disgust the outrageous statement by the Turkish actor Atilla Olgaç concerning his deeds during the Turkish military intervention in Cyprus in 1974. During this statement, made during a TV show to millions of incredulous spectators, the actor confessed to shooting on the forehead and killing a 19-year old Cypriot prisoner of war whose hands were tied after the latter spat at him and his superior. He went on to say that he killed nine other Cypriots, not elaborating on the details of these cases. Having defended his remarks to Turkish papers during interviews the next day, he then made a turnabout to retract his confession, claiming that he had mixed up the truth with the events he had imagined for a script he was writing. The question of whether the retraction was made under the pressure of Turkish authorities or as a result of the actor’s own embarrasment should not overshadow the immense significance of his previous confession.
The confession to this abominable act should without fail be the basis for an investigation and due legal procedure. This, however, is only the tip of the iceberg. It is a secret around the block that the Turkish and Greek armies as well as the chauvinist forces of the two communities of Cyprus, in particular the EOKA-B and TMT, committed atrocities not only against combatants but also against civilians repeatedly. This fact is one of the phenomena of recent history that poisons the relations between the two communities of Cyprus and between the two countries of Greece and Turkey.
We appeal to the workers’ movement and the left in the three countries, Cyprus, Greece and Turkey, to work for the establishment of a tripartite Workers’ Tribunal to look into the atrocities committed by all sides during the period 1963-1974. This Tribunal should consist of reputed defenders of human rights in the three countries, with both communities of Cyprus being represented, and should be authorised to access all necessary documents and examine all witnesses deemed relevant to the issue.
An internationalist stance on this issue may contribute immensely to a new kind of relationship between the two communities of Cyprus based on a refusal of chauvinism, in counterposition to the current so-called “solutions” proposed to the question of Cyprus under the aegis of imperialist circles.
_EEK (Revolutionary Workers’ Party) Grece
_DİP (Initiative for the Revolutionary Workers’ Party) Turkey
