Tuesday 3 February 2009

MISSING PERSONS: SHOCKING NEW TESTIMONY SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED

In a shocking revelation on Turkish Star TV Turkish actor Attila Olgac confessed last week that he killed Greek Cypriot prisoners of war in cold blood during the invasion of the Turkish army in 1974.

“I killed ten people”, he said and explained that the first one he shot on the head was a 19-year old Greek Cypriot national guardsman who was tied with hands behind his back. "As I went to him he spat on my face and I shot him in the head" he said.
Olgac, who stars in a popular TV series “The valley of the wolves”, said that after he killed the Greek Cypriot soldier he killed “nine more”.
More than 1,600 of Greek Cypriots have been missing since 1974 and although 400 identifications by DNA have revealed the identity of the deceased, accounts by people like Attila Olgac should provide info on the identity, location and circumstances under which these particular deaths and “disappearances” occurred.
Regarded as a serious breach of Article 13, of the Geneva Convention, the next day of the confession found the leadership of the Cyprus government, legal experts and The Committee of the Missing Persons, planning the next move.
It is important that this atrocity is examined and investigated with great determination. The time has come to question the responsibility of the Turkish army for the war crimes it committed during the invasion of 1974.
The Cyprus Government has to insist that the Turkish Army withdraws from the island and the necessary steps need to be taken to investigate the testimony of Attilla Olgac and all other crimes committed during the 1974 invasion.
Turkey continues to withhold all rights to searching for missing persons in the occupied areas of Cyprus and refuses to release any records concerning the missing people.
We believe our demand for the withdrawal of Turkish troops can only be strengthened by this latest confession”.
It has to be remembered that after a military coup by the Greek junta against the legal government of President Makarios, Turkey invaded Cyprus and has since occupied 37% of the territory of our country.