Below is slide no. 18 of Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Power Point presentation on the Cyprus issue. Please note the photograph on the lower right:
http://www.mfa.gov.tr/data/DISPOLITIKA/KIBRIS/CYPRUSISSUE.ppt
It isn’t just the blatant lies and distortion of facts that fill this presentation. It is also the deliberate negligence which adds insult to injury. By misusing the image which symbolizes Turkey’s military invasion and illegal occupation of northern Cyprus as well as the human rights violations including murder, rape and torture committed by the invaders and their Turkish-Cypriot counterparts, it is a paltry attempt to deceive the world by unjustifiably accusing Greek-Cypriots of aggression in Cyprus.
The five men depicted in the photo, Antonis Korellis, Panagiotis Nikolaou, Christoforos Skordis, Ioannis Papayiannis and Ioannis Xatzikyriakou, all reservists of the Cypriot National Guard, were murdered in cold blood only days after the July 1974 Turkish invasion and their bodies dumped in a well in Tziaos in clear violation of the Geneva Convention regarding the treatment of POWs. The photo was taken by Turkish journalist Erkin Konuskever shortly after they were captured.
Such propagandist tactics are used by Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, no less. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu needs to correct the deliberate misinformation and distortion of facts in this Power Point presentation as well as in the official Cyprus site of the Foreign Ministry (http://www.mfa.gov.tr/sub.en.mfa?55806b36-748e-4504-bab5-4ca952070a1c) and apologize for these offensive and sacrilegious actions of his Ministry.
Georgios Gialtouridis
Newton, MA